1956 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 400m Freestyle (Women)
sport | swim |
competition | 400 meters freestyle |
gender | Women |
place | Swimming and Diving Stadium , Melbourne |
Attendees | 26 swimmers from 13 nations |
Competition phase | December 5th and 7th, 1956 |
Medals |
Lorraine Crapp ( AUS ) Dawn Fraser (AUS) Sylvia Ruuska ( USA )
|
The contest over 400 meters freestyle of women at the 1956 Summer Olympics in the Australian city of Melbourne was on 5 and 7 December at the Swimming and Diving Stadium discharged.
Participating Nations
A total of 26 swimmers from 13 nations took part in the competition.
- Mexico (1)
- New Zealand (2)
- Philippines (1)
- South African Union (2)
- Sweden (3)
- Hungary (2)
- United States (3)
- United Kingdom (1)
Records
Previous records
World record | Lorraine Crapp | Australia | 4: 47.2 min | Sydney , Australia | October 20, 1956 |
Olympic record | Valéria Gyenge | Hungary | 5: 12.1 min | Helsinki , Finland | 2nd August 1952 |
New records
The following records were set during the competition:
date | run | Surname | nation | time | OR | WR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec 5 | Forward 2 | Marley Shriver | United States | 5: 07.6 min | OR | - |
Dec 5 | Forward 3 | Dawn Fraser | Australia | 5: 02.5 min | OR | - |
Dec 5 | Forward 4 | Lorraine Crapp | Australia | 5: 00.2 min | OR | - |
7th Dec | final | Lorraine Crapp | Australia | 4: 54.6 min | OR | - |
Prelims
There were four preliminary runs on December 5th. The eight fastest swimmers of all heats qualified for the final two days later.
Forward 1
rank | Surname | nation | time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Valéria Gyenge | Hungary | 5: 14.2 min |
2 | Héda Frost | France | 5: 14.4 min |
3 | Karin Larsson | Sweden | 5: 18.3 min |
4th | Beth Whittall | Canada | 5: 21.7 min |
5 | Winifred Griffin | New Zealand | 5: 31.0 min |
6th | Gertrude Lozada | Philippines | 5: 34.2 min |
Forward 2
The American Marley Shriver improved the Olympic record by 4.5 s to 5: 07.6 min.
rank | Surname | nation | time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Marley Shriver | United States | 5: 07.6 min |
2 | Sandra Morgan | Australia | 5: 07.8 min |
3 | Ingrid Künzel | Germany | 5: 20.8 min |
4th | Gladys Priestley | Canada | 5: 27.5 min |
5 | Anita Hellström | Sweden | 5: 29.2 min |
6th | Viviane governor | France | 5: 29.7 min |
Forward 3
The Australian Dawn Fraser improved the Olympic record set up in the preliminary run by 5.1 s to the new best time of 5: 02.5 min.
rank | Surname | nation | time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Dawn Fraser | Australia | 5: 02.5 min |
2 | Sylvia Ruuska | United States | 5: 10.3 min |
3 | Ripszima Székely | Hungary | 5: 10.5 min |
4th | Susan Roberts | South African Union | 5: 16.8 min |
5 | Colette Thomas | France | 5: 23.9 min |
6th | Birgitta Wängberg | Sweden | 5: 27.0 min |
7th | Eiko Wada | Japan | 5: 27.2 min |
Forward 4
Fraser's team-mate Lorraine Crapp improved the Olympic record again: The new record time of 5: 00.2 minutes was only to remain in place until the final.
rank | Surname | nation | time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Lorraine Crapp | Australia | 5: 00.2 min |
2 | Susan Gray | United States | 5: 16.7 min |
3 | Natalie Myburgh | South African Union | 5: 16.8 min |
4th | Marrion Roe | New Zealand | 5: 18.5 min |
5 | Margaret Girvan | United Kingdom | 5: 23.6 min |
6th | Gilda Aranda | Mexico | 5: 24.2 min |
7th | Yukiko Otaka | Japan | 5: 28.7 min |
final
The final took place on December 7th. With a winning time of 4: 54.6 minutes, the Australian Lorraine Crapp set a new Olympic record: She improved her own best time, set in the fourth heat, by a further 5.6 seconds.
rank | Surname | nation | time |
---|---|---|---|
Lorraine Crapp | Australia | 4: 54.6 min | |
Dawn Fraser | Australia | 5: 02.6 min | |
Sylvia Ruuska | United States | 5: 07.1 min | |
4th | Marley Shriver | United States | 5: 12.9 min |
5 | Ripszima Székely | Hungary | 5: 14.2 min |
6th | Sandra Morgan | Australia | 5: 14.3 min |
7th | Héda Frost | France | 5: 15.4 min |
8th | Valéria Gyenge | Hungary | 5: 21.0 min |
Web links
- 1956 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 400 m freestyle in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )