Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics, took place on 26–29 July, at the Helsinki Swimming Stadium. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the sixth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 33 competitors from 19 nations participated in the event.[1]

Women's 200 metre breaststroke
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
VenueHelsinki Swimming Stadium
Date26 July (heats)
27 July (semifinals)
29 July (final)
Competitors34 from 19 nations
Winning time2:51.7 (OR)
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Éva Székely  Hungary
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Éva Novák-Gerard  Hungary
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Elenor Gordon  Great Britain
← 1948
1956 →

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:

World record   Éva Novák-Gerard (HUN) 2:48.5 s Moscow, Soviet Union 5 May 1951 [2]
Olympic record   Nel van Vliet (NED) 2:57.2 s London, United Kingdom 31 July 1948 [2]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Name Nationality Time OR WR
26 July Heat 1 Éva Novák-Gerard   Hungary 2:54.0 OR
27 July Semifinal 2 Éva Székely   Hungary 2:54.0 OR
29 July Final Éva Székely   Hungary 2:51.7 OR

Hungarian Éva Székely used the butterfly stroke in this event, which was permissible at the time. At the 1956 Summer Olympics, the 200m breaststroke event only allowed the orthodox breaststroke to be used, and a new 100m butterfly event was created.[3]

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 1 Éva Novák-Gerard   Hungary 2:54.0 Q, OR[4]
2 4 Éva Székely   Hungary 2:55.1 Q
3 5 Jytte Hansen   Denmark 2:57.7 Q
4 3 Elenor Gordon   Great Britain 2:58.6 Q
5 3 Klára Killermann   Hungary 2:59.1 Q
6 5 Nel Garritsen   Netherlands 2:59.4 Q
7 2 Lies Bonnier   Netherlands 3:00.6 Q
8 5 Ulla-Britt Eklund   Sweden 3:01.2 Q
9 5 Mariya Havrysh   Soviet Union 3:01.6 Q
10 1 Ursula Happe   Germany 3:02.7 Q
10 3 Kazuko Sakamoto   Japan 3:02.7 Q
12 4 Raymonde Vergauwen   Belgium 3:02.8 Q
13 2 Nancy Lyons   Australia 3:04.4 Q
14 4 Jean Wrigley   Great Britain 3:04.5 Q
15 1 Rika Bruins   Netherlands 3:04.7 Q
16 4 Kaija Mäkelä   Finland 3:04.7 Q
17 2 Valerie Harris   Great Britain 3:04.6
18 5 Masayo Aoki   Japan 3:05.6
19 3 Odette Lusien   France 3:06.7
20 1 Vera Kostina   Soviet Union 3:07.3
21 4 Kirsten Hedegaard Jensen   Denmark 3:07.5
22 3 Eileen Ward Petersen   Denmark 3:09.3
23 2 Roza Zenziveyeva   Soviet Union 3:10.5
24 1 Ilse Albert   Austria 3:12.5
25 1 Gail Peters   United States 3:13.3
26 4 Irene Strong   Canada 3:13.5
27 5 Della Sehorn   United States 3:13.7
28 1 Margrit Knabenhans   Switzerland 3:17.4
29 2 Judy Cornell   United States 3:17.7
30 2 Irene Kwok   Hong Kong 3:19.2
31 5 Liselotte Kobi   Switzerland 3:22.0
32 4 Dolly Nazir   India 3:37.9
33 3 Arati Saha   India 3:40.8
34 2 Aleksandra Mróz   Poland DSQ[4]

Semifinals

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Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 2 Éva Székely   Hungary 2:54.0 Q, OR[4]
2 1 Éva Novák-Gerard   Hungary 2:55.8 Q
3 1 Klára Killermann   Hungary 2:56.5 Q
4 2 Elenor Gordon   Great Britain 2:57.8 Q
5 1 Mariya Havrysh   Soviet Union 2:58.6 Q
6 2 Nel Garritsen   Netherlands 2:59.5 Q
7 1 Jytte Hansen   Denmark 2:59.5 Q
8 2 Ulla-Britt Eklund   Sweden 2:59.6 Q
9 1 Lies Bonnier   Netherlands 3:00.3
10 1 Rika Bruins   Netherlands 3:02.4
11 2 Raymonde Vergauwen   Belgium 3:02.6
12 2 Jean Wrigley   Great Britain 3:03.2
13 2 Ursula Happe   Germany 3:03.8
14 1 Kazuko Sakamoto   Japan 3:04.2
15 1 Nancy Lyons   Australia 3:05.6
16 2 Kaija Mäkelä   Finland 3:06.2

Final

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Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
  Éva Székely   Hungary 2:51.7 OR[4]
  Éva Novák-Gerard   Hungary 2:54.4
  Elenor Gordon   Great Britain 2:57.6
4 Klára Killermann   Hungary 2:57.6
5 Jytte Hansen   Denmark 2:57.8
6 Mariya Havrysh   Soviet Union 2:58.9
7 Ulla-Britt Eklund   Sweden 3:01.8
8 Nel Garritsen   Netherlands 3:02.1

Sources

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  • Edward A. Doyle, ed. (1956). "The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XVI Olympiad Melbourne 1956" (PDF). Organising Committee for the Games of the XVI Melbourne. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  • Sulo Kolkka, ed. (1955). "The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XV Olympiad Helsinki 1952" (PDF). Organising Committee for the Games of the XV Olympiad Helsinki. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  • "Swimming at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2012.

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  2. ^ a b Kolkka, p. 590.
  3. ^ Doyle, p. 588.
  4. ^ a b c d Kolkka, p. 591.