1956 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 4 × 100 m freestyle (women)

sport	swim
competition	4 x 100 meter freestyle relay
gender	Women
place	Swimming and Diving Stadium , Melbourne
Attendees	40 swimmers from 10 nations
Competition phase	December 4th and 6th, 1956
Medals	Australia United States South African Union

The relay competition for women’s 4 x 100 meter freestyle at the 1956 Olympic Games in the Australian metropolis of Melbourne was held on December 4th and 6th in the Swimming and Diving Stadium .

Participating Nations

A total of 44 swimmers from 10 nations took part in the competition.

Australia (5)  Germany (4)  France (4)  Japan (4)

Canada (4)  South African Union (4)  Sweden (4)

Hungary (4)  United States (7)  United Kingdom (4)

Records

Existing records

World record	Australia Lorraine Crapp , Dawn Fraser , Faith Leech and Margaret Gibson	4: 19.7 min	Melbourne , Australia	October 25, 1956
Olympic record	Hungary Ilona Novák , Judit Temes , Éva Novák and Katalin Szőke	4: 24.4 min	Helsinki , Finland	August 1, 1952

New record

The following record was set during the competition:

date	run	Nation / name	time	record
6 Dec	final	Australia Dawn Fraser , Faith Leech , Sandra Morgan and Lorraine Crapp	4: 17.1 min	OR / WR

Prelims

There were two preliminary runs on December 4th. The eight fastest seasons of both heats qualified for the final two days later.

Forward 1

rank	nation	Names	time
1	South African Union	Natalie Myburgh (1: 07.3 min) Susan Roberts (1: 06.5 min) Moira Abernethy (1: 08.2 min) Jeanette Myburgh (1: 04.8 min)	4: 26.8 min
2	United States	Betty Brey (1: 07.9 min) Nancy Simons (1: 05.5 min) Kay Knapp (1: 08.2 min) Marley Shriver (1: 05.7 min)	4: 27.3 min
3	Germany	Ingrid Künzel (1: 07.6 min) Hertha Haase (1: 05.5 min) Kati Jansen (1: 07.0 min) Birgit Klomp (1: 07.4 min)	4: 27.5 min
4th	United Kingdom	Frances Hogben (1: 08.3 min) Judith Grinham (1: 08.6 min) Margaret Girvan (1: 09.3 min) Fearne Ewart (1: 07.4 min)	4: 34.6 min
5	France	Odile Vouaux (1: 08.4 min) Viviane Gouverneur (1: 10.4 min) Ginette Jany-Sendral (1: 10.6 min) Héda Frost (1: 07.2 min)	4: 36.6 min

Forward 2

rank	nation	Names	time
1	Australia	Margaret Gibson (1: 06.4 min) Sandra Morgan (1: 05.4 min) Dawn Fraser (1: 07.3 min) Faith Leech (1: 05.9 min)	4: 25.0 min
2	Hungary	Judit Temes (1: 07.1 min) Mária Littomeritzky (1: 07.1 min) Katalin Szőke (1: 07.0 min) Valéria Gyenge (1: 06.9 min)	4: 28.1 min
3	Canada	Virginia Grant (1: 06.7 min) Gladys Priestley (1: 07.7 min) Sara Barber (1: 08.1 min) Helen Stewart (1: 06.8 min)	4: 29.3 min
4th	Sweden	Anita Hellström (1: 08.3 min) Birgitta Wängberg (1: 07.7 min) Karin Larsson (1: 07.4 min) Kate Jobson (1: 06.7 min)	4: 30.1 min
5	Japan	Hitomi Jinno (1: 07.8 min) Eiko Wada (1: 08.1 min) Yoshiko Sato (1: 08.8 min) Yukiko Otaka (1: 11.3 min)	4: 35.8 min

final

The winners: Sandra Morgan, Dawn Fraser, Lorraine Crapp and Faith Leech (from left)

The final took place on December 6th. The Australian relay set a new world record as well as a new Olympic record with 4: 17.1 minutes : it improved the world record time by 2.6 seconds and the Olympic record by 7.3 seconds.

rank	nation	Names	time
	Australia	Dawn Fraser (1: 04.0 min) Faith Leech (1: 05.3 min) Sandra Morgan (1: 04.7 min) Lorraine Crapp (1: 03.1 min)	4: 17.1 min world record
	United States	Sylvia Ruuska (1: 06.3 min) Shelley Mann (1: 03.9 min) Nancy Simons (1: 04.6 min) Joan Rosazza (1: 04.4 min)	4: 19.2 min
	South African Union	Natalie Myburgh (1: 07.7 min) Susan Roberts (1: 05.3 min) Moira Abernethy (1: 08.0 min) Jeanette Myburgh (1: 04.7 min)	4: 25.7 min
4th	Germany	Ingrid Künzel (1: 06.6 min) Hertha Haase (1: 06.7 min) Kati Jansen (1: 05.7 min) Birgit Klomp (1: 07.1 min)	4: 26.1 min
5	Canada	Helen Stewart (1: 07.1 min) Gladys Priestley (1: 07.1 min) Sara Barber (1: 07.5 min) Virginia Grant (1: 06.6 min)	4: 28.3 min
6th	Sweden	Anita Hellström (1: 08.8 min) Birgitta Wängberg (1: 07.7 min) Karin Larsson (1: 07.4 min) Kate Jobson (1: 06.1 min)	4: 30.0 min
7th	Hungary	Mária Littomeritzky (1: 09.9 min) Katalin Szőke (1: 06.7 min) Judit Temes (1: 06.7 min) Valéria Gyenge (1: 07.8 min)	4: 31.1 min
8th	United Kingdom	Frances Hogben (1: 08.8 min) Judith Grinham (1: 09.0 min) Margaret Girvan (1: 09.4 min) Fearne Ewart (1: 08.6 min)	4: 35.8 min

Web links

• 1956 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 4 × 100 m freestyle in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )