# Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics, took place on 26–29 July, at the Helsinki Swimming Stadium. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the sixth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 33 competitors from 19 nations participated in the event.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record | Éva Novák-Gerard (HUN) | 2:48.5 s | Moscow, Soviet Union | 5 May 1951 |
| Olympic record | Nel van Vliet (NED) | 2:57.2 s | London, United Kingdom | 31 July 1948 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | OR |
| 26 July | Heat 1 | Éva Novák-Gerard | Hungary | 2:54.0 | OR |
| 27 July | Semifinal 2 | Éva Székely | Hungary | 2:54.0 | OR |
| 29 July | Final | Éva Székely | Hungary | 2:51.7 | OR |
Hungarian Éva Székely used the butterfly stroke in this event, which was permissible at the time. At the 1956 Summer Olympics, the 200m breaststroke event only allowed the orthodox breaststroke to be used, and a new 100m butterfly event was created.

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Éva Novák-Gerard | Hungary | 2:54.0 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 4 | Éva Székely | Hungary | 2:55.1 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Jytte Hansen | Denmark | 2:57.7 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Elenor Gordon | Great Britain | 2:58.6 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Klára Killermann | Hungary | 2:59.1 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | Nel Garritsen | Netherlands | 2:59.4 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | Lies Bonnier | Netherlands | 3:00.6 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | Ulla-Britt Eklund | Sweden | 3:01.2 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | Mariya Havrysh | Soviet Union | 3:01.6 | Q |
| 10 | 1 | Ursula Happe | Germany | 3:02.7 | Q |
| 10 | 3 | Kazuko Sakamoto | Japan | 3:02.7 | Q |
| 12 | 4 | Raymonde Vergauwen | Belgium | 3:02.8 | Q |
| 13 | 2 | Nancy Lyons | Australia | 3:04.4 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | Jean Wrigley | Great Britain | 3:04.5 | Q |
| 15 | 1 | Rika Bruins | Netherlands | 3:04.7 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | Kaija Mäkelä | Finland | 3:04.7 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | Valerie Harris | Great Britain | 3:04.6 | |
| 18 | 5 | Masayo Aoki | Japan | 3:05.6 | |
| 19 | 3 | Odette Lusien | France | 3:06.7 | |
| 20 | 1 | Vera Kostina | Soviet Union | 3:07.3 | |
| 21 | 4 | Kirsten Hedegaard Jensen | Denmark | 3:07.5 | |
| 22 | 3 | Eileen Ward Petersen | Denmark | 3:09.3 | |
| 23 | 2 | Roza Zenziveyeva | Soviet Union | 3:10.5 | |
| 24 | 1 | Ilse Albert | Austria | 3:12.5 | |
| 25 | 1 | Gail Peters | United States | 3:13.3 | |
| 26 | 4 | Irene Strong | Canada | 3:13.5 | |
| 27 | 5 | Della Sehorn | United States | 3:13.7 | |
| 28 | 1 | Margrit Knabenhans | Switzerland | 3:17.4 | |
| 29 | 2 | Judy Cornell | United States | 3:17.7 | |
| 30 | 2 | Irene Kwok | Hong Kong | 3:19.2 | |
| 31 | 5 | Liselotte Kobi | Switzerland | 3:22.0 | |
| 32 | 4 | Dolly Nazir | India | 3:37.9 | |
| 33 | 3 | Arati Saha | India | 3:40.8 | |
| 34 | 2 | Aleksandra Mróz | Poland | — | DSQ |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Éva Székely | Hungary | 2:54.0 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 1 | Éva Novák-Gerard | Hungary | 2:55.8 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Klára Killermann | Hungary | 2:56.5 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Elenor Gordon | Great Britain | 2:57.8 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Mariya Havrysh | Soviet Union | 2:58.6 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | Nel Garritsen | Netherlands | 2:59.5 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Jytte Hansen | Denmark | 2:59.5 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Ulla-Britt Eklund | Sweden | 2:59.6 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | Lies Bonnier | Netherlands | 3:00.3 | |
| 10 | 1 | Rika Bruins | Netherlands | 3:02.4 | |
| 11 | 2 | Raymonde Vergauwen | Belgium | 3:02.6 | |
| 12 | 2 | Jean Wrigley | Great Britain | 3:03.2 | |
| 13 | 2 | Ursula Happe | Germany | 3:03.8 | |
| 14 | 1 | Kazuko Sakamoto | Japan | 3:04.2 | |
| 15 | 1 | Nancy Lyons | Australia | 3:05.6 | |
| 16 | 2 | Kaija Mäkelä | Finland | 3:06.2 | |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Éva Székely | Hungary | 2:51.7 | OR |
| | Éva Novák-Gerard | Hungary | 2:54.4 | |
| | Elenor Gordon | Great Britain | 2:57.6 | |
| 4 | Klára Killermann | Hungary | 2:57.6 | |
| 5 | Jytte Hansen | Denmark | 2:57.8 | |
| 6 | Mariya Havrysh | Soviet Union | 2:58.9 | |
| 7 | Ulla-Britt Eklund | Sweden | 3:01.8 | |
| 8 | Nel Garritsen | Netherlands | 3:02.1 | |

## Sources

* Edward A. Doyle, ed. (1956). "The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XVI Olympiad Melbourne 1956" (PDF). Organising Committee for the Games of the XVI Melbourne. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
* Sulo Kolkka, ed. (1955). "The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XV Olympiad Helsinki 1952" (PDF). Organising Committee for the Games of the XV Olympiad Helsinki. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
* "Swimming at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2012.