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.

Australia (3)  Germany (1)  France (3)  Japan (2)  Canada (2)

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

Valeria Gyenge (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 )