# Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre freestyle

The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between 26 and 28 July at the Swimming Stadium. 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 two lengths of the pool.

## Medalists

| Gold | Katalin Szőke Hungary |
| Silver | Hannie Termeulen Netherlands |
| Bronze | Judit Temes Hungary |

## Results
### Heats

Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher | Netherlands | 1:06.7 |
| 2 | Ilona Novák | Hungary | 1:07.7 |
| 3 | Elisabeth Rechlin | Germany | 1:08.5 |
| 4 | Mette Ove Petersen | Denmark | 1:09.6 |
| 5 | Maria Nardi | Italy | 1:13.2 |
| 6 | Sadako Yamashita | Japan | 1:13.2 |
| 7 | Cynthia Eager | Hong Kong | 1:16.8 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Hannie Termeulen | Netherlands | 1:07.3 |
| 2 | Greta Andersen | Denmark | 1:08.0 |
| 3 | Judy Roberts | United States | 1:08.2 |
| 4 | Marianne Lundquist | Sweden | 1:10.8 |
| 5 | Vera Schäferkordt | Germany | 1:10.9 |
| 6 | Romana Calligaris | Italy | 1:11.0 |
| 7 | Dolly Nazir | India | 1:24.6 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Katalin Szőke | Hungary | 1:07.1 |
| 2 | Koosje van Voorn | Netherlands | 1:07.4 |
| 3 | Josette Arène | France | 1:09.1 |
| 4 | Jean Botham | Great Britain | 1:10.5 |
| 5 | Fumiko Sakaguchi | Japan | 1:14.6 |
| 6 | Irene Strong | Canada | 1:15.1 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Joan Harrison | South Africa | 1:06.5 |
| 2 | Jody Alderson | United States | 1:07.4 |
| 3 | Angela Barnwell | Great Britain | 1:07.6 |
| 4 | Ingegerd Fredin | Sweden | 1:08.0 |
| 5 | Denise Norton | Australia | 1:11.8 |
| 6 | Gladys Priestley | Canada | 1:13.4 |
| 7 | Raili Riuttala | Finland | 1:13.5 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Judit Temes | Hungary | 1:05.5 | OR |
| 2 | Ragnhild Hveger | Denmark | 1:08.6 | |
| 3 | Maud Berglund | Sweden | 1:09.8 | |
| 4 | Lillian Preece | Great Britain | 1:10.0 | |
| 5 | Ritva Järvinen | Finland | 1:11.5 | |
| 6 | Sybille Verckist | Belgium | 1:13.7 | |
| 7 | Shizue Miyabe | Japan | 1:16.6 | |
Heat 6
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Marilee Stepan | United States | 1:07.7 |
| 2 | Marjorie McQuade | Australia | 1:07.9 |
| 3 | Ana María Schultz | Argentina | 1:10.6 |
| 4 | Gaby Tanguy | France | 1:10.6 |
| 5 | Kay McNamee | Canada | 1:12.9 |
| 6 | Susy Vaterlaus | Switzerland | 1:16.8 |
| 7 | Ritva Koivula | Finland | 1:17.3 |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jody Alderson | United States | 1:06.6 | Q |
| 2 | Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher | Netherlands | 1:06.7 | Q |
| 3 | Hannie Termeulen | Netherlands | 1:07.1 | Q |
| 4 | Marilee Stepan | United States | 1:07.4 | Q |
| 5 | Judit Temes | Hungary | 1:07.4 | Q |
| 6 | Ragnhild Hveger | Denmark | 1:07.7 | |
| 7 | Marjorie McQuade | Australia | 1:08.2 | |
| 8 | Ingegerd Fredin | Sweden | 1:08.7 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Joan Harrison | South Africa | 1:07.2 | Q |
| 2 | Katalin Szőke | Hungary | 1:07.2 | Q |
| 3 | Angela Barnwell | Great Britain | 1:07.2 | Q |
| 4 | Ilona Novák | Hungary | 1:07.8 | |
| 5 | Koosje van Voorn | Netherlands | 1:08.1 | |
| 6 | Greta Andersen | Denmark | 1:08.2 | |
| 7 | Judy Roberts | United States | 1:08.2 | |
| 8 | Elisabeth Rechlin | Germany | 1:08.5 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| | Katalin Szőke | Hungary | 1:06.8 |
| | Hannie Termeulen | Netherlands | 1:07.0 |
| | Judit Temes | Hungary | 1:07.1 |
| 4 | Joan Harrison | South Africa | 1:07.1 |
| 5 | Jody Alderson | United States | 1:07.1 |
| 6 | Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher | Netherlands | 1:07.3 |
| 7 | Marilee Stepan | United States | 1:08.0 |
| 8 | Angela Barnwell | Great Britain | 1:08.6 |