Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics, took place on October 22–23, at the Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the tenth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 31 competitors from 20 nations participated in the event.[1] American Catie Ball was the large favourite to win the event, as she had broken the world record in this event the last three times.[2] However, she was suffering from a virus infection and was forced to withdraw from the heats.[3] Her 16-year-old teammate Sharon Wichman won the event, breaking bronze medalist Galina Prozumenshchikova's Olympic record in the final.[4]

Women's 200 metre breaststroke
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
VenueAlberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez
Date22 October (heats)
23 October (final)
Competitors31 from 20 nations
Winning time2:44.4 (OR)
Medalists
Sharon Wichman  United States
Đurđica Bjedov  Yugoslavia
Galina Prozumenshchikova  Soviet Union
Swimming at the
1968 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Individual medley
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4×100 mmenwomen
4×200 mmen
Medley relay
4×100 mmenwomen

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:

World record Catie Ball (USA)2:38.5 sLos Angeles, United States26 August 1968[5]
Olympic record Galina Prozumenshchikova (URS)2:46.4 sTokyo, Japan12 October 1964[6]

The following records were established during the competition:

DateRoundNameNationalityTimeORWR
23 OctoberFinalSharon Wichman United States2:44.4OR

Results

Heats
RankHeatLane[7]NameNationalityTimeNotes
121 Sharon Wichman United States 2:46.8Q
246 Galina Prozumenshchikova Soviet Union 2:47.8Q
352 Ana María Norbis Uruguay 2:49.4Q
431 Svetlana Babanina Soviet Union 2:49.8Q
454 Alla Grebennikova Soviet Union 2:49.8Q
633 Cathy Jamison United States 2:50.1Q
734 Đurđica Bjedov Yugoslavia 2:50.2Q
843 Chieno Shibata Japan 2:50.6Q
926 Jill Slattery Great Britain 2:51.2
1013 Christl Filippovits Austria 2:51.3
1124 Tamara Oynick Mexico 2:52.4
1223 Vreni Eberle West Germany 2:52.5
1312 Judy Playfair Australia 2:52.9
1442 Sue McKenzie Australia 2:53.1
1514 Dorothy Harrison Great Britain 2:55.1
1653 Yoshimi Nishigawa Japan 2:55.3
1732 Yvonne Brage Sweden 2:56.3
1857 Ann O'Connor Ireland 2:56.4
1941 Jo-Anne Barnes Australia 2:57.4
2056 Klenie Bimolt Netherlands 2:57.9
2144 Yukari Takemoto Japan 2:57.9
2245 Ellen Ingvadóttir Iceland 2:58.2
2336 Shlomit Nir Israel 2:58.5
2422 Víctoria Casas Mexico 3:01.0
2525 Diana Harris Great Britain 3:03.4
2636 Ana Elena de la Portilla Mexico 3:03.5
2755 Arlette Wilmes Luxembourg 3:06.7
2815 Hedy García Philippines 3:08.1
2911 Tamara Orejuela Ecuador 3:08.5
3047 María Moreño El Salvador 3:15.4
3151 Liana Vicens Puerto Rico 3:16.2

Final
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Sharon Wichman United States 2:44.4OR[4]
Đurđica Bjedov Yugoslavia 2:46.4
Galina Prozumenshchikova Soviet Union 2:47.0
4 Alla Grebennikova Soviet Union 2:47.1
5 Cathy Jamison United States 2:48.4
6 Svetlana Babanina Soviet Union 2:48.4
7 Chieno Shibata Japan 2:51.5
8 Ana María Norbis Uruguay 2:51.9

Sources
  • "The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968: The Official Report of the Organising Committee" (PDF). Volume Three, Part 1. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad, Mexico 68. 1968. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  • Albert Schoenfeld, ed. (November 1968). "Results from the 1968 Olympic Games (Mexico City)" (PDF). Swimming World & Junior Swimmer. Volume 9, Issue 11. Albert Schoenfeld. ISSN 0039-7431. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  • "Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2012.

References
  1. "Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  2. "LCM Women Records" (PDF). USA Swimming. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  3. "Catie Ball". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  4. OCGOM, p. 369
  5. Schoenfeld, p. 15
  6. "The Games of the XVIII Olympiad Tokyo 1964: The Official Report of the Organising Committee" (PDF). Volume Two, Part 2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XVIII Olympiad Tokyo. 1964. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  7. Schoenfeld, pp. 55-56
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.