# Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre individual medley

The women's 400 metre individual medley event at the 1972 Summer Olympics took place August 31. This swimming event used medley swimming. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of eight lengths of the pool. The first two lengths were swum using the butterfly stroke, the second pair with the backstroke, the third pair of lengths in breaststroke, and the final two were freestyle. Unlike other events using freestyle, swimmers could not use butterfly, backstroke, or breaststroke for the freestyle leg; most swimmers use the front crawl in freestyle events.

## Medalists

| Gold | Gail Neall Australia |
| Silver | Leslie Cliff Canada |
| Bronze | Novella Calligaris Italy |

## Results
### Heats

Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Gail Neall | Australia | 5:11.89 |
| 2 | Susan Hunter | New Zealand | 5:14.47 |
| 3 | Jaroslava Slavíčková | Czechoslovakia | 5:18.53 |
| 4 | Birutė Užkuraitytė | Soviet Union | 5:20.05 |
| 5 | Helga Niemann | West Germany | 5:21.97 |
| 6 | Shelagh Ratcliffe | Great Britain | 5:24.27 |
| 7 | Helmi Boxberger | West Germany | 5:32.31 |
| 8 | Silvia Borgini | Argentina | 5:44.22 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Hennie Penterman | Netherlands | 5:14.99 |
| 2 | Marlies Pohl | East Germany | 5:15.38 |
| 3 | Jennifer McHugh | Canada | 5:20.25 |
| 4 | Debbie Bengtson | Canada | 5:21.62 |
| 5 | Eva Sigg | Finland | 5:22.92 |
| 6 | Karen Moras | Australia | 5:24.13 |
| 7 | Kirsten Strange-Campbell | Denmark | 5:25.97 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Lynn Vidali | United States | 5:09.67 |
| 2 | Novella Calligaris | Italy | 5:11.16 |
| 3 | Gerda Lassooij | Netherlands | 5:22.09 |
| 4 | Maria Isabel Guerra | Brazil | 5:24.43 |
| 5 | Trine Krogh | Norway | 5:25.08 |
| 6 | Diane Walker | Great Britain | 5:28.82 |
| 7 | Eleni Avlonitou | Greece | 5:32.49 |
| 8 | Béatrice Mottoulle | Belgium | 5:35.38 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Evelyn Stolze | East Germany | 5:06.96 |
| 2 | Jenny Bartz | United States | 5:07.31 |
| 3 | Nina Petrova | Soviet Union | 5:13.42 |
| 4 | Yukari Takemoto | Japan | 5:20.89 |
| 5 | Wijda Mazereeuw | Netherlands | 5:24.00 |
| 6 | Laura Vaca | Mexico | 5:24.63 |
| 7 | Roselina Angee | Colombia | 5:35.44 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Leslie Cliff | Canada | 5:08.64 |
| 2 | Mary Montgomery | United States | 5:13.62 |
| 3 | Angela Franke | East Germany | 5:14.81 |
| 4 | Anita Zarnowiecki | Sweden | 5:15.05 |
| 5 | Susan Richardson | Great Britain | 5:19.53 |
| 6 | Susanne Niesner | Switzerland | 5:25.23 |
| 7 | Gisela Cerezo | Venezuela | 5:29.56 |
| 8 | María Ballesteros | Mexico | 5:31.06 |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| | Gail Neall | Australia | 5:02.97 | WR |
| | Leslie Cliff | Canada | 5:03.57 | |
| | Novella Calligaris | Italy | 5:03.99 | |
| 4 | Jenny Bartz | United States | 5:05.56 | |
| 5 | Evelyn Stolze | East Germany | 5:06.80 | |
| 6 | Mary Montgomery | United States | 5:09.98 | |
| 7 | Lynn Vidali | United States | 5:13.06 | |
| 8 | Nina Petrova | Soviet Union | 5:15.68 | |
Key: WR = World record