Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke


The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics, took place on 26–29 July, at the Helsinki Swimming Stadium. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the sixth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 33 competitors from 19 nations participated in the event.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
The following records were established during the competition:
DateRoundNameNationalityTimeORWR
26 JulyHeat 1Éva Novák-Gerard2:54.0OR
27 JulySemifinal 2Éva Székely2:54.0OR
29 JulyFinalÉva Székely2:51.7OR

Hungarian Éva Székely used the butterfly stroke in this event, which was permissible at the time. At the 1956 Summer Olympics, the 200m breaststroke event only allowed the orthodox breaststroke to be used, and a new 100m butterfly event was created.

Results

Heats

Semifinals

Final