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

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]

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
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ursula Happe  United Team of Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Éva Székely  Hungary
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Eva-Maria ten Elsen  United Team of Germany
← 1952
1960 →

Records

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

World record   Ada den Haan (NED) 2:46.4 min Naarden, Netherlands 13 November 1956 [4]
Olympic record   Éva Novák-Gerard (HUN) 2:54.0 min 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 min four years ago.[5] However Székely had used the butterfly stroke for her swim, which was now disallowed as a new 100 metres event had been introduced. Éva Novák-Gerard's time of 2:54.0 min in 1952 at the same event was instead replaced as the current Olympic record.[6]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Name Nationality Time OR WR
November 30 Final Ursula Happe   United Team of Germany 2:53.1 min 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

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Heats

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Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 1 Ursula Happe   United Team of Germany 2:54.1 Q
2 1 Klára Killermann   Hungary 2:54.6 Q
3 1 Elenor Gordon   Great Britain 2:55.4 Q
4 2 Éva Székely   Hungary 2:55.8 Q
5 2 Vinka Jeričević   Yugoslavia 2:56.0 Q
6 2 Eva-Maria ten Elsen   United Team of Germany 2:57.5 Q
7 2 Christine Gosden   Great Britain 2:58.2 Q
7 1 Mary Sears   United States 2:58.2 Q
9 2 Jytte Hansen   Denmark 2:59.8
10 1 Colette Goossens   Belgium 3:00.5
11 2 Éva Novák-Gerard   Belgium 3:02.7
12 2 Barbara Evans   Australia 3:03.6
13 1 Elena Zennaro   Italy 3:05.2
14 2 Ria Tobing   Indonesia 3:14.2

Finals

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Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
  Ursula Happe   United Team of Germany 2:53.1 OR[4]
  Éva Székely   Hungary 2:54.8
  Eva-Maria ten Elsen   United Team of Germany 2:55.1
4 Vinka Jeričević   Yugoslavia 2:55.8
5 Klára Killermann   Hungary 2:56.1
6 Elenor Gordon   Great Britain 2:56.1
7 Mary Sears   United States 2:57.2
8 Christine Gosden   Great Britain 2:59.2

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. 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. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  • "Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne 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 1956 Melbourne 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. ^ "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.
  3. ^ Doyle, p. 77.
  4. ^ a b c Doyle, p. 614.
  5. ^ Kolkka, p. 591.
  6. ^ Doyle, p. 588.
  7. ^ Maglischo, Ernest W. (2003). Breaststroke. Human Kinetics. p. 219. ISBN 0736031804. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Mallon, Bill (1988). "Olympic Records by Sport; Summer Sports". The Olympic Record Book. Garland Publishing. p. 240. ISBN 0824029488.