Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

Women's 200 metre breaststroke at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Venue	Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez
Date	22 October (heats) 23 October (final)
Competitors	31 from 20 nations
Winning time	2:44.4 (OR)
Medalists
Sharon Wichman   United States   Đurđica Bjedov   Yugoslavia   Galina Prozumenshchikova   Soviet Union

Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m		women
1500 m	men
Backstroke
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
Breaststroke
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
Butterfly
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
Individual medley
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
Freestyle relay
4×100 m	men	women
4×200 m	men
Medley relay
4×100 m	men	women

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics, took place on October 22–23, at the Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the tenth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 31 competitors from 20 nations participated in the event.^[1] American Catie Ball was the large favourite to win the event, as she had broken the world record in this event the last three times.^[2] However, she was suffering from a virus infection and was forced to withdraw from the heats.^[3] Her 16-year-old teammate Sharon Wichman won the event, breaking bronze medalist Galina Prozumenshchikova's Olympic record in the final.^[4]

Records

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

World record	Catie Ball (USA)	2:38.5 s	Los Angeles, United States	26 August 1968	[5]
Olympic record	Galina Prozumenshchikova (URS)	2:46.4 s	Tokyo, Japan	12 October 1964	[6]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Time	OR	WR
23 October	Final	Sharon Wichman	United States	2:44.4	OR

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Lane[7]	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	1	Wichman, SharonSharon Wichman	United States	2:46.8	Q
2	4	6	Prozumenshchikova, GalinaGalina Prozumenshchikova	Soviet Union	2:47.8	Q
3	5	2	Norbis, Ana MaríaAna María Norbis	Uruguay	2:49.4	Q
4	3	1	Babanina, SvetlanaSvetlana Babanina	Soviet Union	2:49.8	Q
4	5	4	Grebennikova, AllaAlla Grebennikova	Soviet Union	2:49.8	Q
6	3	3	Jamison, CathyCathy Jamison	United States	2:50.1	Q
7	3	4	Bjedov, ĐurđicaĐurđica Bjedov	Yugoslavia	2:50.2	Q
8	4	3	Shibata, ChienoChieno Shibata	Japan	2:50.6	Q
9	2	6	Slattery, JillJill Slattery	Great Britain	2:51.2
10	1	3	Filippovits, ChristlChristl Filippovits	Austria	2:51.3
11	2	4	Oynick, TamaraTamara Oynick	Mexico	2:52.4
12	2	3	Eberle, VreniVreni Eberle	West Germany	2:52.5
13	1	2	Playfair, JudyJudy Playfair	Australia	2:52.9
14	4	2	McKenzie, SueSue McKenzie	Australia	2:53.1
15	1	4	Harrison, DorothyDorothy Harrison	Great Britain	2:55.1
16	5	3	Nishigawa, YoshimiYoshimi Nishigawa	Japan	2:55.3
17	3	2	Brage, YvonneYvonne Brage	Sweden	2:56.3
18	5	7	O'Connor, AnnAnn O'Connor	Ireland	2:56.4
19	4	1	Barnes, Jo-AnneJo-Anne Barnes	Australia	2:57.4
20	5	6	Bimolt, KlenieKlenie Bimolt	Netherlands	2:57.9
21	4	4	Takemoto, YukariYukari Takemoto	Japan	2:57.9
22	4	5	Ingvadóttir, EllenEllen Ingvadóttir	Iceland	2:58.2
23	3	6	Nir, ShlomitShlomit Nir	Israel	2:58.5
24	2	2	Casas, VíctoriaVíctoria Casas	Mexico	3:01.0
25	2	5	Harris, DianaDiana Harris	Great Britain	3:03.4
26	3	6	de la Portilla, Ana ElenaAna Elena de la Portilla	Mexico	3:03.5
27	5	5	Wilmes, ArletteArlette Wilmes	Luxembourg	3:06.7
28	1	5	García, HedyHedy García	Philippines	3:08.1
29	1	1	Orejuela, TamaraTamara Orejuela	Ecuador	3:08.5
30	4	7	Moreño, MaríaMaría Moreño	El Salvador	3:15.4
31	5	1	Vicens, LianaLiana Vicens	Puerto Rico	3:16.2

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Wichman, SharonSharon Wichman	United States	2:44.4	OR[4]
	Bjedov, ĐurđicaĐurđica Bjedov	Yugoslavia	2:46.4
	Prozumenshchikova, GalinaGalina Prozumenshchikova	Soviet Union	2:47.0
4	Grebennikova, AllaAlla Grebennikova	Soviet Union	2:47.1
5	Jamison, CathyCathy Jamison	United States	2:48.4
6	Babanina, SvetlanaSvetlana Babanina	Soviet Union	2:48.4
7	Shibata, ChienoChieno Shibata	Japan	2:51.5
8	Norbis, Ana MaríaAna María Norbis	Uruguay	2:51.9

Sources

• "The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968: The Official Report of the Organising Committee" (PDF). Volume Three, Part 1. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad, Mexico 68. 1968. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
• Albert Schoenfeld, ed. (November 1968). "Results from the 1968 Olympic Games (Mexico City)" (PDF). Swimming World & Junior Swimmer. Volume 9, Issue 11. Albert Schoenfeld. ISSN 0039-7431. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
• "Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2 July 2012.

References

1. "Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
2. "LCM Women Records" (PDF). USA Swimming. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
3. "Catie Ball". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
4. OCGOM, p. 369
5. Schoenfeld, p. 15
6. "The Games of the XVIII Olympiad Tokyo 1964: The Official Report of the Organising Committee" (PDF). Volume Two, Part 2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XVIII Olympiad Tokyo. 1964. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
7. Schoenfeld, pp. 55-56