Women 200m Breaststroke Swimming Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki, Finland - Tuesday, 29th July

Women 200m Breaststroke Swimming Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki, Finland - Tuesday, 29th July - Gold Medal: Éva Székely, Hungary

Final		time	gap	L	Y
1. Éva Székely	Hungary	2:51.7	OR	-	25
2. Éva Novák-Gérard	Hungary	2:54.4	+2.7s	-	22
3. Elenor Gordon-McKay	Great Britain	2:57.6	+5.9s	-	19
4. Klára Killermann-Bartos	Hungary	2:57.6	+5.9s	-	23
5. Jytte Hansen	Denmark	2:57.8	+6.1s	-	20
6. Mariya Gavrish	Soviet Union	2:58.9	+7.2s	-	21
7. Ulla-Britt Eklund	Sweden	3:01.8	+10.1s	-	17
8. Petronella Fredrika Garritsen	Netherlands	3:02.1	+10.4s	-	19

Venue: Helsinki Swimming Stadium. 33 Competitors from 19 Nations.

World Record: Éva Novák-Gérard, Hungary 2:48.5 Moscow, Soviet Union 5 May 1951

Olympic Record: Petronella "Nel" van Vliet, Netherlands 2:57.2 London, Great Britain 31 July 1948

Todor 66	index Swimming OG
index Helsinki 1952	index Swimming Helsinki 1952


Men 100m Freestyle	Women 100m Freestyle
Men 400m Freestyle	Women 400m Freestyle
Men 1500m Freestyle
Men 100m Backstroke	Women 100m Backstroke
Men 200m Breaststroke	Women 200m Breaststroke
Men 4x200m Freestyle Relay	Women 4x100m Freestyle Relay

It was virtually mixed Breaststroke and Butterfly event.
1956 Women 100m Butterfly	1956 Women 200m Breaststroke
Women 200m Breaststroke History	1948 Women 200m Breaststroke

The final was a battle of contrasting styles. Székely was a butterfly swimmer whilst Novák favoured the orthodox breaststroke. It was the butterfly technique that won out, as Székely finished well ahead of Novák with a Hungarian sweep of the medals only thwarted by the finishing effort of Elenor Gordon. Gordon spotted her finish better than Klára Killermann-Bartos. In sixth place was the Ukrainian Mariya Havrysh, the only Soviet swimming finalist of the 1952 Games.

Semi-Finals - Sunday, 27th July

First 8 times advanced to Final.

Semi 1		time	gap	L	Y	Rk.
1. Éva Novák-Gérard	Hungary	2:55.8	+1.8s	-	22	2.
2. Klára Killermann-Bartos	Hungary	2:56.5	+2.5s	-	23	3.
3. Mariya Gavrish	Soviet Union	2:58.6	+4.6s	-	21	5.
4. Jytte Hansen	Denmark	2:59.5	+5.5s	-	20	6.
5. Lies Bonnier	Netherlands	3:00.3	+6.3s	-	27	9.
6. Hendrika Bruins	Netherlands	3:02.4	+8.4s	-	18	10.
7. Kazuko Sakamoto	Japan	3:04.2	+10.2s	-	16	14.
8. Nancy Lyons	Australia	3:05.6	+11.6s	-	22	15.

Semi 2		time	gap	L	Y	Rk.
1. Éva Székely	Hungary	2:54.0		-	25	1.
2. Elenor Gordon-McKay	Great Britain	2:57.8	+3.8s	-	19	4.
3. Petronella Fredrika Garritsen	Netherlands	2:59.5	+5.5s	-	19	6.
4. Ulla-Britt Eklund	Sweden	2:59.6	+5.6s	-	17	8.
5. Raymonda Elisa Vergauwen	Belgium	3:02.6	+8.6s	-	24	11.
6. Jean Wrigley	Great Britain	3:03.2	+9.2s	-	16	12.
7. Ursula Happe	Germany	3:03.8	+9.8s	-	25	13.
8. Kaija Anneli Mäkelä-Syvelahti	Finland	3:06.2	+12.2s	-	21	16.

World record holder Éva Novák-Gérard headed a trio of Hungarians who would contend for Olympic glory. Novák-Gérard and Éva Székely had been third and fourth respectively in London but were favoured to improve their finishing positions in Helsinki. All three Hungarians record times were under the existing Olympic Record in the preliminaries as did the Scottish swimmer, Elenor Gordon but the reigning European champion, Raymonda Vergauwen of Belguim, missed a place in the final.

Heats - Saturday, 26th July

First 16 times advanced to Semi-Final.

Heat 1		time	gap	L	Y	Rk.
1. Éva Novák-Gérard	Hungary	2:54.0		3	22	1.
2. Ursula Happe	Germany	3:02.7	+8.7s	1	25	10.
3. Hendrika Bruins	Netherlands	3:04.7	+10.7s	4	18	16.
4. Vera Kostina	Soviet Union	3:07.3	+13.3s	5	_	20.
5. Ilse Albert	Austria	3:12.5	+18.5s	6	23	24.
6. Gail Peters	United States	3:13.3	+19.3s	2	23	25.
7. Margrit Knabenhans	Switzerland	3:17.4	+23.4s	7	17	28.

Heat 2		time	gap	L	Y	Rk.
1. Lies Bonnier	Netherlands	3:00.6	+6.6s	2	27	7.
2. Nancy Lyons	Australia	3:04.4	+10.4s	6	22	13.
3. Valerie Gladys Harris	Great Britain	3:04.6	+10.6s	3	16	15.
4. Roza Zenziveeva	Soviet Union	3:10.5	+16.5s	4	21	23.
5. Julia May Cornell	United States	3:17.7	+23.7s	1	19	29.
6. Irene Anita Kwok	Hong Kong	3:19.2	+25.2s	5	18	30.
-. Aleksandra Mroz	Poland	DSQ		7	17	-.

Heat 3		time	gap	L	Y	Rk.
1. Elenor Gordon-McKay	Great Britain	2:58.6	+4.6s	5	19	4.
2. Klára Killermann-Bartos	Hungary	2:59.1	+5.1s	1	23	5.
3. Kazuko Sakamoto	Japan	3:02.7	+8.7s	6	16	10.
4. Odette Lusien-Casteur	France	3:06.7	+12.7s	4	24	19.
4. Eileen Ward Petersen	Denmark	3:09.3	+15.3s	2	15	22.
6. Arati Saha	India	3:40.8	+46.8s	3	_	33.

Heat 4		time	gap	L	Y	Rk.
1. Éva Székely	Hungary	2:55.1	+1.1s	5	25	2.
2. Raymonda Elisa Vergauwen	Belgium	3:02.8	+8.8s	7	24	12.
3. Jean Wrigley	Great Britain	3:04.5	+10.5s	3	16	14.
4. Kaija Anneli Mäkelä-Syvelahti	Finland	3:04.7	+10.7s	4	21	16.
5. Kirsten Hedegaard Jensen	Denmark	3:07.5	+13.5s	1	17	21.
6. Irene Strong	Canada	3:13.5	+19.5s	6	23	26.
7. Dolly Rustom Nazir	India	3:37.9	+43.9s	2	_	32.

Heat 5		time	gap	L	Y	Rk.
1. Jytte Hansen	Denmark	2:57.7	+3.7s	7	20	3.
2. Petronella Fredrika Garritsen	Netherlands	2:59.4	+5.4s	6	19	6.
3. Ulla-Britt Eklund	Sweden	3:01.2	+7.2s	3	17	8.
4. Mariya Gavrish	Soviet Union	3:01.6	+7.6s	2	21	9.
5. Masayo Aoki	Japan	3:05.6	+11.6s	4	16	18.
6. Della Sehorn	United States	3:13.7	+19.7s	5	25	27.
7. Liselotte Kobi	Switzerland	3:22.0	+28.0s	1	22	31.

Prepared and maintained by Todor Krastev

todor1966@yahoo.com
Last updated: 15 May 2022
Facebook Todor Krastev