Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle

Swimming at the
1952 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m men   women
400 m men   women
1500 m men
Backstroke
100 m men   women
Breaststroke
200 m men   women
Freestyle relay
4×100 m   women
4×200 m men  

The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between July 31 and August 2 at the Swimming Stadium. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of sixteen lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Gold Valéria Gyenge
Hungary (HUN)
Silver Éva Novák
Hungary (HUN)
Bronze Evelyn Kawamoto
United States (USA)

Results

Heats

Sixteen fastest swimmers advanced to semi-finals.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Ana María Schultz Argentina 5:26.1 Q
2 Huguette Peters Belgium 5:29.8 Q
3 Mette Petersen Denmark 5:30.6
4 Grace Wood Great Britain 5:31.2
5 Kay McNamee Canada 5:50.5
6 Geertje Wielema Netherlands 6:02.6

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Ragnhild Hveger Denmark 5:19.6 Q
2 Éva Székely Hungary 5:20.9 Q
3 Judy Davies Australia 5:21.2 Q
4 Deliana Meulenkamp United States 5:21.4
5 Lillian Preece Great Britain 5:32.1
6 Sybille Verckist Belgium 5:40.1
7 Ritva Järvinen Finland 5:53.5

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Valéria Gyenge Hungary 5:22.6 Q
2 Carolyn Green United States 5:23.8 Q
3 Colette Thomas France 5:36.8
4 Elisabeth Rechlin Germany 5:38.0
5 Johanna Termeulen Netherlands 5:45.5
6 Gladys Priestley Canada 5:52.7
7 Cynthia Eager Hong Kong 5:55.8

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Evelyn Kawamoto United States 5:16.6 Q
2 Daphne Wilkinson Great Britain 5:16.6 Q
3 Joan Harrison South Africa 5:21.8 Q
4 Ingegärd Fredin Sweden 5:28.7 Q
5 Ginette Jany France 5:32.6
6 Irma Heyting-Schumacher Netherlands 5:45.2
7 Sadako Yamashita Japan 5:48.4

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Éva Novák Hungary 5:19.1 Q
2 Greta Andersen Denmark 5:21.3 Q
3 Piedade Coutinho-Tavares Brazil 5:26.9 Q
4 Denise Norton Australia 5:28.5 Q
5 Marianne Lundqvist Sweden 5:34.4
6 Josette Arene France 5:44.1
7 Misako Tamura Japan 5:59.0

Semifinals

Eight fastest swimmers advanced to the finals.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Evelyn Kawamoto United States 5:21.2 Q
2 Éva Novák Hungary 5:21.3 Q
3 Ana María Schultz Argentina 5:22.0 Q
4 Greta Andersen Denmark 5:22.1 Q
5 Joan Harrison South Africa 5:23.1
6 Judy Davies Australia 5:25.6
7 Piedade Coutinho-Tavares Brazil 5:28.5
Ingegärd Fredin Sweden -

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Valéria Gyenge Hungary 5:16.9Q
2 Carolyn Green United States 5:18.3 Q
3 Éva Székely Hungary 5:19.3 Q
4 Ragnhild Hveger Denmark 5:19.5 Q
5 Daphne Wilkinson Great Britain 5:27.2
6 Deliana Meulenkamp United States 5:27.9
7 Denise Norton Australia 5:30.9
8 Huguette Peters Belgium 5:36.5

Final

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
Valéria Gyenge Hungary 5:12.1 OR
Éva Novák Hungary 5:13.7
Evelyn Kawamoto United States 5:14.6
4 Carolyn Green United States 5:16.5
5 Ragnhild Hveger Denmark 5:16.9
6 Éva Székely Hungary 5:17.9
7 Ana María Schultz Argentina 5:24.0
8 Greta Andersen Denmark 5:27.0

Key: OR = Olympic record

References