Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

Women's 200 metre breaststroke
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
VenueSwimming and Diving Stadium
Date29 November (heats)
30 November (final)
Competitors14 from 10 nations
Winning time2:53.1 (OR)
Medalists
   Germany
   Hungary
   Germany
Swimming at the
1956 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m men   women
400 m men   women
1500 m men
Backstroke
100 m men   women
Breaststroke
200 m men   women
Butterfly
100 m   women
200 m men
Freestyle relay
4×100 m   women
4×200 m men  

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics, took place on November 29–30, at the Swimming and Diving Stadium. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the seventh appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 14 competitors from 10 nations participated in the event.[1] This was a decrease from the 1952 Summer Olympics (33 competitors from 19 nations), because the breaststroke event was split into the 200m orthodox breaststroke and the 100m butterfly event.[2][3]

Records

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

World record  Ada den Haan (NED) 2:46.4 s Naarden, Netherlands 13 November 1956 [4]
Olympic record  Éva Novák-Gerard (HUN) 2:54.0 s Helsinki, Finland 26 July 1952 [4]

Hungarian Éva Székely originally held the Olympic record in the event after swimming a time of 2:51.7 four years ago.[5] However Székely had used the butterfly stroke for her swim, which was now disallowed as a new 100 metre event had been introduced. Éva Novák-Gerard's time of 2:54.0 in 1952 at the same event was instead replaced as the current Olympic record.[6]

The following records were established during the competition:

DateRoundNameNationalityTimeORWR
November 30 Final Ursula Happe Germany 2:53.1 OR

Ursula Happe's Olympic record was set using a technique of swimming long distances underwater during her run. This technique would later be disallowed by FINA in the late 1950s to ensure the majority of the race was swum on the surface.[7][8]

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 1 Happe, UrsulaUrsula Happe Germany 2:54.1 Q
2 1 Killermann, KláraKlára Killermann Hungary 2:54.6 Q
3 1 Gordon, ElenorElenor Gordon Great Britain 2:55.4 Q
4 2 Székely, ÉvaÉva Székely Hungary 2:55.8 Q
5 2 Jeričević, VinkaVinka Jeričević Yugoslavia 2:56.0 Q
6 2 ten Elsen, Eva-MariaEva-Maria ten Elsen Germany 2:57.5 Q
7 2 Gosden, ChristineChristine Gosden Great Britain 2:58.2 Q
7 1 Sears, MaryMary Sears United States 2:58.2 Q
9 2 Hansen, JytteJytte Hansen Denmark 2:59.8
10 1 Goossens, ColetteColette Goossens Belgium 3:00.5
11 2 Novák-Gerard, ÉvaÉva Novák-Gerard Hungary 3:02.7
12 2 Evans, BarbaraBarbara Evans Australia 3:03.6
13 1 Zennaro, ElenaElena Zennaro Italy 3:05.2
14 1 Tobing, RiaRia Tobing Indonesia 3:14.2

Finals

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1st Happe, UrsulaUrsula Happe Germany 2:53.1 OR[4]
2nd Székely, ÉvaÉva Székely Hungary 2:54.8
3rd ten Elsen, Eva-MariaEva-Maria ten Elsen Germany 2:55.1
4 Jeričević, VinkaVinka Jeričević Yugoslavia 2:55.8
5 Killermann, KláraKlára Killermann Hungary 2:56.1
6 Gordon, ElenorElenor Gordon Great Britain 2:56.1
7 Sears, MaryMary Sears United States 2:57.2
8 Gosden, ChristineChristine Gosden Great Britain 2:59.2

Sources

References

  1. "Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  2. "Swimming at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  3. Doyle, p. 77.
  4. 1 2 3 Doyle, p. 614.
  5. Kolkka, p. 591.
  6. Doyle, p. 588.
  7. Maglischo, Ernest W. "Breaststroke". Swimming Fastest. Human Kinetics. p. 219. ISBN 0736031804.
  8. Mallon, Bill (1988). "Olympic Records by Sport; Summer Sports". The Olympic Record Book. Garland Publishing. p. 240. ISBN 0824029488.
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