Swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke
The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1936 Summer Olympics, took place from 8 to 11 August, at the (50 m) Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 23 competitors from 12 nations participated in the event.[1]
| Women's 200 metre breaststroke at the Games of the XI Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Victory ceremony | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin | ||||||||||||
| Date | 8 August (heats) 9 August (semifinals) 11 August (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 23 from 12 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 3:03.6 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Freestyle | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | |
| Backstroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| Breaststroke | ||
| 200 m | men | women |
| Freestyle relay | ||
| 4×100 m | women | |
| 4×200 m | men | |
The world record holder at the time, Japanese Hideko Maehata, won the event four years after losing the gold medal to Australian Clare Dennis by one tenth of a second. Twentyfour-year-old German silver medalist Martha Genenger broke the Olympic record in her heat on 8 August, but Maebata broke it again in the next heat with a time of 3:01.9 seconds.[1] Danish Inge Sørensen won the bronze medal, becoming the youngest ever female Olympic medalist (12 years, 24 days).[2] Sørensen's compatriot Valborg Christensen was favoured to win a medal in this event, but she was eliminated after finishing fifth in her semifinal.[3]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record |  | 3:00.4 s | Tokyo, Japan | 30 September 1933 | [4][5] |
| Olympic record |  | 3:06.3 s | Los Angeles, United States | 9 August 1932 | [5][6] |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | OR | WR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 August | Heat 2 | Martha Genenger | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:02.9 | OR | |
| 8 August | Heat 3 | Hideko Maehata | .svg.png){kind=small} | 3:01.9 | OR |
Results
Heats
The three fastest swimmers of each heat and the next two fastest swimmers overall (Hanni Hölzner and Dorothy Schiller) advanced to the semifinals on 9 August.[7]
Heat 1
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inge Sørensen |  |
3:06.7 | Q |
| 2 | Kerstin Isberg |  |
3:08.7 | Q |
| 3 | Jopie Waalberg |  |
3:10.4 | Q |
| 4 | Hanni Hölzner | |
3:11.0 | q |
| 5 | Dorothy Schiller | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3:17.4 | q |
| 6 | Vera Kingston |  |
3:21.7 | |
| 7 | Joan Langdon | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3:24.3 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martha Genenger | |
3:02.9 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Jenny Kastein | |
3:07.8 | Q |
| 3 | Unoko Tsuboi | |
3:15.0 | Q |
| 4 | Anja Lappalainen |  |
3:19.1 | |
| 5 | Ann Govednik | |
3:25.3 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hideko Maehata | |
3:01.9 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Valborg Christensen | |
3:07.8 | Q |
| 3 | Margaret Gomm | |
3:15.7 | Q |
| 4 | Iris Cummings | |
3:21.9 | |
| 5 | Eliška Boubelová |  |
3:25.8 | |
| 6 | Tenny Wyss |  |
3:31.3 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trude Wollschläger | |
3:08.5 | Q |
| 2 | Doris Storey | |
3:10.8 | Q |
| 3 | Maria Lenk | .svg.png){kind=small} |
3:17.2 | Q |
| 4 | Edel Nielsen | |
3:21.3 | |
| 5 | Jo Stroomberg | |
3:22.5 |
Semifinals
The three fastest swimmers of both semifinals and the best fourth-place finisher advanced to the final on 11 August.[7]
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hideko Maehata | |
3:03.1 | Q |
| 2 | Inge Sørensen | |
3:06.0 | Q |
| 3 | Hanni Hölzner | |
3:08.8 | Q |
| 4 | Jopie Waalberg | |
3:09.7 | Q |
| 5 | Trude Wollschläger | |
3:10.3 | |
| 6 | Margaret Gomm | |
3:15.8 | |
| 7 | Maria Lenk | |
3:17.7 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martha Genenger | |
3:02.8 | Q |
| 2 | Jenny Kastein | |
3:09.2 | Q |
| 3 | Doris Storey | |
3:09.8 | Q |
| 4 | Kerstin Isberg | |
3:11.4 | |
| 5 | Valborg Christensen | |
3:14.1 | |
| 6 | Unoko Tsuboi | |
3:18.4 | |
| 7 | Dorothy Schiller | |
3:18.5 |
Final
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Hideko Maehata | |
3:03.6 | |
 |
Martha Genenger | |
3:04.2 | |
 |
Inge Sørensen | |
3:07.8 | |
| 4 | Hanni Hölzner | |
3:09.5 | |
| 4 | Jopie Waalberg | |
3:09.5 | |
| 6 | Doris Storey | |
3:09.7 | |
| 7 | Jenny Kastein | |
3:12.8 |
References
General
- "Official Report of the Organising Committee of the Games of the XI Olympiad Berlin" (PDF). The Official Report: Volume 2. Wilhelm Limpert. 1937. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 July 2007. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
Specific
- "Swimming at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- Sherwani, Sabey (24 August 2008). "Who is the youngest Olympic gold medallist?". The Times of India. The Times Group. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- Vinson, Maribel Y. (19 July 1936). "Women in Sports". The New York Times. Arthur Hays Sulzberger. p. S2.
- "Japanese Natators Broke 11 Records". The Washington Post. Eugene Meyer. 24 December 1936. p. 16.
- Limpert 1937, p. 971.
- "Olympic Records Yesterday; Swimming". The New York Times. Arthur Hays Sulzberger. 9 August 1936. p. S1.
- Limpert 1937, p. 972.
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