1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m (women)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	29 athletes from 22 countries
Competition location	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Competition phase	October 14, 1968 (preliminary) October 15, 1968 (semi-finals) October 16, 1968 (final)
Medalists Colette Besson ( FRA )   Lillian Board ( GBR )   Natalja Pechonkina ( URS )

The women's 400-meter run at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was held on October 14, 15 and 16, 1968 at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario . 29 athletes took part.

The French Colette Besson became Olympic champion . The silver medal went to the British Lillian Board , while the bronze went to Natalja Pechonkina from the Soviet Union.

Runners from the GDR (officially East Germany), Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.
For the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany - Helga Henning started. She survived the preliminary round and was then able to qualify for the final. Here she took seventh place.

Existing records

World record	51.9 s	Shin Kim-dan ( North Korea )	Pyongyang , North Korea	October 23, 1962
Olympic record	52.0 s	Betty Cuthbert ( Australia )	Tokyo finals , Japan	17th October 1964

Conducting the competition

The British Lillian Board with her silver medal

The athletes started a total of four heats on October 14th. In the preliminary round as well as in the semi-finals, the four best running teams qualified for the next round. The semi-finals took place on October 15th and the final on October 16th.

Time schedule

October 14, 10:40 a.m .: Preliminary
October 15, 3:20 p.m .: Semi-finals
October 16, 5 p.m .: Final

Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)

The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue.

Preliminary round

Date: October 14, 1960, from 10:40 a.m.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Colette Besson	France	53.1 s	53.11 s
2	Jarvis Scott	United States	53.5 s	53.53 s
3	Helga Henning	BR Germany	53.5 s	53.58 s
4th	Joan Fisher	Canada	54.6 s	54.62 s
5	Enriqueta Basilio	Mexico	55.6 s	55.47 s
6th	Joyce Bennett	Australia	56.5 s	56.56 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Aurelia Pentón	Cuba	52.8 s	52.86 s
2	Lillian Board	Great Britain	52.9 s	53.00 s
3	Ingrīda Verbele	Soviet Union	54.0 s	54.07 s
4th	Una Morris	Jamaica	54.1 s	54.19 s
5	Anne Covell	Canada	54.3 s	54.34 s
6th	Anna Chmelková	Czechoslovakia	54.9 s	54.91 s
7th	Antónia Munkácsi	Hungary	55.6 s	55.61 s
8th	Jean Robotham	Costa Rica	58.2 s	58.25 s

Forward 3

At the age of 15, Esther Stroy from the USA was the youngest starter in the athletics competitions.

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Hermina van der Hoeven	Netherlands	53.1 s	53.17 s
2	Esther Stroy	United States	53.5 s	53.58 s
3	Janet Simpson	Great Britain	53.6 s	53.63 s
4th	Monique Noirot	France	53.6 s	53.67 s
5	Tekla Chemabwai	Kenya	54.0 s	54.05 s
6th	Sandra Brown	Australia	55.4 s	55.43 s
7th	Channa Shezifi	Israel	56.3 s	56.38 s

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Natalia Pechonkina	Soviet Union	53.7 s	53.73 s
2	Mary Green	Great Britain	53.9 s	54.00 s
3	Karin Wallgren	Sweden	54.2 s	54.30 s
4th	Lois Anne Drinkwater	United States	54.5 s	54.56 s
5	Donata Govoni	Italy	54.7 s	54.77 s
6th	Eeva Haimi	Finland	55.0 s	55.01 s
7th	Josefa Vicent	Uruguay	56.3 s	56.34 s
8th	Olajumoke Bodunrin	Nigeria	57.0 s	57.09 s

Semifinals

Date: October 15, 1960, from 3:20 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Helga Henning	BR Germany	53.3 s	53.33 s
2	Colette Besson	France	53.6 s	53.62 s
3	Janet Simpson	Great Britain	54.0 s	54.01 s
4th	Aurelia Pentón	Cuba	54.0 s	54.08 s
5	Esther Stroy	United States	54.3 s	54.35 s
6th	Una Morris	Jamaica	54.6 s	54.63 s
7th	Ingrīda Verbele	Soviet Union	54.6 s	54.67 s
8th	Joan Fisher	Canada	55.2 s	55.37 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Lillian Board	Great Britain	52.5 s	52.56 s
2	Hermina van der Hoeven	Netherlands	52.6 s	52.69 s
3	Natalia Pechonkina	Soviet Union	52.8 s	52.83 s
4th	Jarvis Scott	United States	53.2 s	53.22 s
5	Mary Green	Great Britain	53.6 s	53.64 s
6th	Karin Wallgren	Sweden	53.9 s	53.93 s
7th	Monique Noirot	France	54.2 s	54.30 s
8th	Lois Anne Drinkwater	United States	57.3 s	57.39 s

final

space	Surname	nation	Official time hand-stopped	Unofficial time electronically	annotation
1	Colette Besson	France	52.0 s	52.03 s	ORe
2	Lillian Board	Great Britain	52.1 s	52.12 s
3	Natalia Pechonkina	Soviet Union	52.2 s	52.25 s
4th	Janet Simpson	Great Britain	52.5 s	52.57 s
5	Aurelia Pentón	Cuba	52.7 s	52.75 s
6th	Jarvis Scott	United States	52.7 s	52.79 s
7th	Helga Henning	BR Germany	52.8 s	52.89 s
8th	Hermina van der Hoeven	Netherlands	53.0 s	53.02 s

Date: October 16, 1960, 5 p.m.

The British Lillan Board was the favorite. Only Yves Durand Saint-Omer, coach of the French Colette Besson, believed that his athlete would be capable of this race at really big times.

In the final, the US runner Jarvis Scott took the lead, but after 300 meters she was overtaken by Board, which was running on the inner lane. The British woman looked like the sure Olympic champion. It was only in the middle of the home straight that Besson, who was still clearly behind in fourth place, came up with quick steps and passed all the runners in front of her, including the board. With her final sprint, Colette Besson secured the gold medal. Lillian Board came in second and the Soviet athlete Natalja Petschonkina took bronze. The first three runners were separated from each other by only a tenth of a second in this high-class race. Colette Besson set Betty Cuthbert's Olympic record with her winning time and only missed Shin Kim-dan's world record by a tenth of a second. As a North Korean, the world record holder was not allowed to take part in these games.

Colette Besson won the first Olympic gold medal for France over 400 meters .

Natalja Petschonkina won the first Soviet medal in this discipline.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 382f

Video

• 1968 Olympics 400m Women - Lillian Board , published May 25, 2008 on youtube.com, accessed November 10, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 400m , accessed November 10, 2017
• Official report - summary p. 58f., English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017
• Official report of the Olympic Games 1968 p. 534f, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 641 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 10, 2017
2. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017 
3. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 534, engl./frz. (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017 
4. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 534f, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017 
5. ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 535, engl./frz. (PDF), accessed on November 10, 2017 
6. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, p. 382
7. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 10, 2017