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Swimming at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

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Women's 200 metre breaststroke
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Podium of the women's 200 metre breaststroke. Van Vliet (left) and Novák (right)
VenueEmpire Pool
Date30 July (heats)
31 July (semifinals)
3 August (final)
Competitors22 from 14 nations
Winning time2:57.2
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Nel van Vliet  Netherlands
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Nancy Lyons  Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Éva Novák-Gerard  Hungary
← 1936
1952 →

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics, took place from 30 July to 3 August at the Empire Pool. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. It was also the first appearance of the event since the outbreak of World War II. A total of 22 competitors from 14 nations participated in the event.[1]

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:

World record  Nel van Vliet (NED) 2:49.2 s Hilversum, Netherlands 20 July 1947 [2]
Olympic record  Hideko Maehata (JPN) 3:01.9 s Berlin, Germany 11 August 1936 [2]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Name Nationality Time OR WR
30 July Heat 2 Éva Székely  Hungary 3:01.2 OR
30 July Heat 3 Nel van Vliet  Netherlands 2:57.4 OR
31 July Semifinals Nel van Vliet  Netherlands 2:57.0 OR

Hungarian Éva Székely set her Olympic record in the event using the butterfly stroke, which was allowed at the time.[3] At the 1956 Summer Olympics, a new 100m butterfly event was created. The technique was disallowed in the 200m breaststroke event that year and in all future Olympic Games.

Results

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Heats

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The four fastest swimmers in each heat and the next four fastest swimmers overall advanced to the semifinals on 31 July.[2]

Heat 1

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Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Nancy Lyons  Australia 3:02.9 Q
1 Éva Novák-Gerard  Hungary 3:02.9 Q
3 Janny de Groot  Netherlands 3:04.4 Q
4 Elizabeth Church  Great Britain 3:07.4 Q
5 Dorotea Turnbull  Argentina 3:12.2 q
6 Liselotte Kobi  Switzerland 3:16.2 q
7 Jeanne Wilson  United States 3:18.3
8 Anna Ólafsdóttir  Iceland 3:19.9

Heat 2

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Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Éva Székely  Hungary 3:01.2 Q, OR[2]
2 Tonnie Hom  Netherlands 3:06.0 Q
3 Yvonne Vandekerckhove  Belgium 3:09.0 Q
4 Jacqueline Bertrand  France 3:10.7 Q
5 Jean Caplin  Great Britain 3:17.0 q
6 Helga Diederichsen  Mexico 3:27.8
7 Penny Pence  United States 3:28.1

Heat 3

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Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Nel van Vliet  Netherlands 2:57.4 Q, OR[2]
2 Jytte Hansen  Denmark 3:09.1 Q
3 Margit Leskinen  Finland 3:11.4 Q
4 Elenor Gordon  Great Britain 3:13.3 Q
5 Irene Strong  Canada 3:14.2 q
6 Clara LaMore  United States 3:23.6
7 Þórdís Árnadóttir  Iceland 3:26.1

Semifinals

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The three fastest swimmers in each heat and the next two fastest overall advanced to the final on 3 August.[2]

Semifinal 1

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Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Nancy Lyons  Australia 3:00.9 Q
2 Janny de Groot  Netherlands 3:01.4 Q
3 Éva Székely  Hungary 3:02.8 Q
4 Yvonne Vandekerckhove  Belgium 3:09.7
5 Jacqueline Bertrand  France 3:13.1
6 Jean Caplin  Great Britain 3:14.4
6 Dorotea Turnbull  Argentina 3:14.4
8 Irene Strong  Canada 3:16.9

Semifinal 2

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Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Nel van Vliet  Netherlands 2:57.0 Q, OR[2]
2 Éva Novák-Gerard  Hungary 2:58.0 Q
3 Jytte Hansen  Denmark 3:05.5 Q
4 Tonnie Hom  Netherlands 3:05.7 q
5 Elizabeth Church  Great Britain 3:07.1 q
6 Margit Leskinen  Finland 3:10.0
7 Liselotte Kobi  Switzerland 3:13.9
8 Elenor Gordon  Great Britain 3:15.8

Final

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Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Nel van Vliet  Netherlands 2:57.2
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Nancy Lyons  Australia 2:57.7
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Éva Novák-Gerard  Hungary 3:00.2
4 Éva Székely  Hungary 3:02.5
5 Janny de Groot  Netherlands 3:06.2
6 Elizabeth Church  Great Britain 3:06.1
7 Tonnie Hom  Netherlands 3:07.5
8 Jytte Hansen  Denmark 3:08.1

Sources

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  • "The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad" (PDF). The Organising Committee for the XIV Olympiad. 1948. p. 462. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  • "Swimming at the 1948 London Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2012.

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1948 London Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g OCXIVO, p. 590.
  3. ^ Mallon, Bill (1988). "Olympic Records by Sport; Summer Sports". The Olympic Record Book. Garland Publishing. p. 240. ISBN 0824029488.