Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle
The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between 31 July and 2 August at the Swimming Stadium. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated. 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
Results
Heats
Sixteen fastest swimmers advanced to semi-finals.
Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ana María Schultz | | 5:26.1 | Q |
| 2 | Huguette Peters | | 5:29.8 | Q |
| 3 | Mette Petersen | | 5:30.6 | |
| 4 | Grace Wood | | 5:31.2 | |
| 5 | Kay McNamee | | 5:50.5 | |
| 6 | Geertje Wielema | | 6:02.6 | |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ragnhild Hveger | | 5:19.6 | Q |
| 2 | Éva Székely | | 5:20.9 | Q |
| 3 | Judy Davies | | 5:21.2 | Q |
| 4 | Delia Meulenkamp | | 5:21.4 | Q |
| 5 | Lillian Preece | | 5:32.1 | |
| 6 | Sybille Verckist | | 5:40.1 | |
| 7 | Ritva Järvinen | | 5:53.5 | |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Valéria Gyenge | | 5:22.6 | Q |
| 2 | Carolyn Green | | 5:23.8 | Q |
| 3 | Colette Thomas | | 5:36.8 | |
| 4 | Elisabeth Rechlin | | 5:38.0 | |
| 5 | Johanna Termeulen | | 5:45.5 | |
| 6 | Gladys Priestley | | 5:52.7 | |
| 7 | Cynthia Eager | | 5:55.8 | |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Evelyn Kawamoto | | 5:16.6 | Q |
| 2 | Daphne Wilkinson | | 5:16.6 | Q |
| 3 | Joan Harrison | | 5:21.8 | Q |
| 4 | Ingegärd Fredin | | 5:28.7 | Q |
| 5 | Ginette Jany | | 5:32.6 | |
| 6 | Irma Heyting-Schumacher | | 5:45.2 | |
| 7 | Sadako Yamashita | | 5:48.4 | |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Éva Novák | | 5:19.1 | Q |
| 2 | Greta Andersen | | 5:21.3 | Q |
| 3 | Piedade Coutinho-Tavares | | 5:26.9 | Q |
| 4 | Denise Norton | | 5:28.5 | Q |
| 5 | Marianne Lundqvist | | 5:34.4 | |
| 6 | Josette Arene | | 5:44.1 | |
| 7 | Misako Tamura | | 5:59.0 | |
Semifinals
Eight fastest swimmers advanced to the finals.
Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Evelyn Kawamoto | | 5:21.2 | Q |
| 2 | Éva Novák | | 5:21.3 | Q |
| 3 | Ana María Schultz | | 5:22.0 | Q |
| 4 | Greta Andersen | | 5:22.1 | Q |
| 5 | Joan Harrison | | 5:23.1 | |
| 6 | Judy Davies | | 5:25.6 | |
| 7 | Piedade Coutinho-Tavares | | 5:28.5 | |
| Ingegärd Fredin | | – | |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Valéria Gyenge | | 5:16.9 | Q |
| 2 | Carolyn Green | | 5:18.3 | Q |
| 3 | Éva Székely | | 5:19.3 | Q |
| 4 | Ragnhild Hveger | | 5:19.5 | Q |
| 5 | Daphne Wilkinson | | 5:27.2 | |
| 6 | Delia Meulenkamp | | 5:27.9 | |
| 7 | Denise Norton | | 5:30.9 | |
| 8 | Huguette Peters | | 5:36.5 | |
Final
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| Valéria Gyenge | | 5:12.1 | OR |
| Éva Novák | | 5:13.7 | |
| Evelyn Kawamoto | | 5:14.6 | |
| 4 | Carolyn Green | | 5:16.5 | |
| 5 | Ragnhild Hveger | | 5:16.9 | |
| 6 | Éva Székely | | 5:17.9 | |
| 7 | Ana María Schultz | | 5:24.0 | |
| 8 | Greta Andersen | | 5:27.0 | |
Key: OR = Olympic record
