Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle

Swimming at the
1952 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
200 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4 × 100 mwomen
4 × 200 mmen

The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between 31 July and 2 August at the Swimming Stadium.[1] This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of sixteen lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Gold Valéria Gyenge
 Hungary
Silver Éva Novák
 Hungary
Bronze Evelyn Kawamoto
 United States

Results

Heats

Sixteen fastest swimmers advanced to semi-finals.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Ana María Schultz  Argentina 5:26.1 Q
2 Huguette Peters  Belgium 5:29.8 Q
3 Mette Petersen  Denmark 5:30.6
4 Grace Wood  Great Britain 5:31.2
5 Kay McNamee  Canada 5:50.5
6 Geertje Wielema  Netherlands 6:02.6

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Ragnhild Hveger  Denmark 5:19.6 Q
2 Éva Székely  Hungary 5:20.9 Q
3 Judy Davies  Australia 5:21.2 Q
4 Delia Meulenkamp  United States 5:21.4 Q
5 Lillian Preece  Great Britain 5:32.1
6 Sybille Verckist  Belgium 5:40.1
7 Ritva Järvinen  Finland 5:53.5

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Valéria Gyenge  Hungary 5:22.6 Q
2 Carolyn Green  United States 5:23.8 Q
3 Colette Thomas  France 5:36.8
4 Elisabeth Rechlin  Germany 5:38.0
5 Johanna Termeulen  Netherlands 5:45.5
6 Gladys Priestley  Canada 5:52.7
7 Cynthia Eager  Hong Kong 5:55.8

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Evelyn Kawamoto  United States 5:16.6 Q
2 Daphne Wilkinson  Great Britain 5:16.6 Q
3 Joan Harrison  South Africa 5:21.8 Q
4 Ingegärd Fredin  Sweden 5:28.7 Q
5 Ginette Jany  France 5:32.6
6 Irma Heyting-Schumacher  Netherlands 5:45.2
7 Sadako Yamashita  Japan 5:48.4

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Éva Novák  Hungary 5:19.1 Q
2 Greta Andersen  Denmark 5:21.3 Q
3 Piedade Coutinho-Tavares  Brazil 5:26.9 Q
4 Denise Norton  Australia 5:28.5 Q
5 Marianne Lundqvist  Sweden 5:34.4
6 Josette Arene  France 5:44.1
7 Misako Tamura  Japan 5:59.0

Semifinals

Eight fastest swimmers advanced to the finals.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Evelyn Kawamoto  United States 5:21.2 Q
2 Éva Novák  Hungary 5:21.3 Q
3 Ana María Schultz  Argentina 5:22.0 Q
4 Greta Andersen  Denmark 5:22.1 Q
5 Joan Harrison  South Africa 5:23.1
6 Judy Davies  Australia 5:25.6
7 Piedade Coutinho-Tavares  Brazil 5:28.5
Ingegärd Fredin  Sweden –

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Valéria Gyenge  Hungary 5:16.9 Q
2 Carolyn Green  United States 5:18.3 Q
3 Éva Székely  Hungary 5:19.3 Q
4 Ragnhild Hveger  Denmark 5:19.5 Q
5 Daphne Wilkinson  Great Britain 5:27.2
6 Delia Meulenkamp  United States 5:27.9
7 Denise Norton  Australia 5:30.9
8 Huguette Peters  Belgium 5:36.5

Final

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Valéria Gyenge  Hungary 5:12.1 OR
2 Éva Novák  Hungary 5:13.7
3 Evelyn Kawamoto  United States 5:14.6
4 Carolyn Green  United States 5:16.5
5 Ragnhild Hveger  Denmark 5:16.9
6 Éva Székely  Hungary 5:17.9
7 Ana María Schultz  Argentina 5:24.0
8 Greta Andersen  Denmark 5:27.0

Key: OR = Olympic record

References

  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Women's 400 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2016.