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.[1] 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

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Gold Valéria Gyenge
  Hungary
Silver Éva Novák
  Hungary
Bronze Evelyn Kawamoto
  United States

Results

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Heats

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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 Delia Meulenkamp   United States 5:21.4 Q
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

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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 5:16.9 Q
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 Delia Meulenkamp   United States 5:27.9
7 Denise Norton   Australia 5:30.9
8 Huguette Peters   Belgium 5:36.5

Final

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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

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Women's 400 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
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