Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres
The women's 200 metres sprint event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between September 3 and September 5.
Results
Heats
Held on September 3 from 3pmThe top two runners in each of the six heats, plus the next two fastest advanced to the semifinal round.
Heat one
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Giuseppina Leone | 23.90 | ||
| 2 | Lucinda Williams | 24.10 | ||
| 3 | Hannelore Raepke | 24.32 | ||
| 4 | Pat Duggan | 24.80 |
Heat two
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gisela Köhler-Birkemeyer | 24.32 | ||
| 2 | Catherine Capdevielle | 24.46 | ||
| 3 | Ulla-Britt Wieslander | 24.82 | ||
| 4 | Jean Hiscock | 24.85 | ||
| 5 | Ilana Karaszyk | 26.69 |
Heat three
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jutta Heine | 24.04 | ||
| 2 | Norma Croker-Fleming | 24.35 | ||
| 3 | Alena Stolzová | 24.85 | ||
| 4 | Lyudmila Ignatyeva | 24.90 | ||
| 5 | Valerie Morgan | 25.39 |
Heat four
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Barbara Lerczak-Janiszewska-Sobotta | 24.08 | ||
| 2 | Mariya Itkina | 24.20 | ||
| 3 | Antónia Munkácsi | 24.53 | ||
| 4 | Mona Sulaiman | 25.98 |
Heat five
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dorothy Hyman | 23.82 | ||
| 2 | Celina Jesionowska | 24.45 | ||
| 3 | Eleanor Haslam | 24.63 | ||
| 4 | Ernestine Pollards | 24.64 | ||
| 5 | Olga Šikovec | 24.95 |
Heat six
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Wilma Rudolph | 23.30 | OR | |
| 2 | Valentyna Maslovska | 24.12 | ||
| 3 | Jenny Smart | 24.12 | ||
| 4 | Halina Richter-Górecka-Herrmann | 24.31 | ||
| 5 | Maeve Kyle | 25.06 | ||
| 6 | Erzsébet Heldt | 25.50 |
Semifinals
Held on September 5 from 3:40pmThe fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.
Heat one
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Wilma Rudolph | 23.79 | ||
| 2 | Jutta Heine | 24.15 | ||
| 3 | Barbara Lerczak-Janiszewska-Sobotta | 24.36 | ||
| 4 | Norma Croker-Fleming | 24.44 | ||
| 5 | Jenny Smart | 24.74 | ||
| 6 | Valentina Maslovskaya | 24.77 | ||
| 7 | Catherine Capdevielle | 25.04 |
Heat two
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Giuseppina Leone | 24.69 | ||
| 2 | Dorothy Hyman | 24.78 | ||
| 3 | Mariya Itkina | 24.81 | ||
| 4 | Gisela Köhler-Birkemeyer | 25.05 | ||
| 5 | Lucinda Williams | 25.14 | ||
| 6 | Celina Jesionowska | 25.45 |
Final
Held on September 5 at 5:10pm| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| Wilma Rudolph | 24.13 | |||
| Jutta Heine | 24.58 | |||
| Dorothy Hyman | 24.82 | |||
| 4 | Mariya Itkina | 24.85 | ||
| 5 | Barbara Lerczak-Janiszewska-Sobotta | 24.96 | ||
| 6 | Giuseppina Leone | 25.01 |
Key: OR = Olympic record
Note: For the only time in Olympic sprint history, every finalist ran their fastest time for the event in the heats and their slowest time in the final, owing to rain, head winds and the schedule where the finalists had less than 90 minutes rest between the semi final and final, instead of the usual entire day.