# Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke

The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place between September 1 and 2. This swimming event used backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

## Medalists

| Gold | Melissa Belote United States |
| Silver | Andrea Gyarmati Hungary |
| Bronze | Susie Atwood United States |

## Results
### Heats

Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Melissa Belote | United States | 1:06.60 |
| 2 | Tina Lek'veishvili | Soviet Union | 1:07.84 |
| 3 | Marianne Vermaat | Netherlands | 1:09.14 |
| 4 | Susanne Niesner | Switzerland | 1:09.16 |
| 5 | Kazu Fujimura | Japan | 1:09.81 |
| 6 | Diana Ashton | Great Britain | 1:10.90 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Wendy Cook-Hogg | Canada | 1:07.00 |
| 2 | Sue Lewis | Australia | 1:08.06 |
| 3 | Deborah Palmer | Australia | 1:08.68 |
| 4 | Annemarie Groen | Netherlands | 1:09.55 |
| 5 | Susan Hunter | New Zealand | 1:10.06 |
| 6 | Kikuyo Ishii | Japan | 1:10.44 |
| 7 | Ildikó Szekeres | Hungary | 1:11.20 |
| 8 | Felicia Ospitaletche | Uruguay | 1:13.99 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Christine Herbst | East Germany | 1:07.96 |
| 2 | Susie Atwood | United States | 1:08.30 |
| 3 | Debra Cain | Australia | 1:08.81 |
| 4 | Sylvie Le Noach | France | 1:09.25 |
| 5 | Nataliya Yershova | Soviet Union | 1:09.26 |
| 6 | Diana Olsson | Sweden | 1:09.86 |
| 7 | Christine Fulcher | Ireland | 1:10.63 |
| 8 | Diana Sutherland | Great Britain | 1:12.12 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Andrea Gyarmati | Hungary | 1:06.56 |
| 2 | Enith Brigitha | Netherlands | 1:06.71 |
| 3 | Annegret Kober | West Germany | 1:08.24 |
| 4 | Angelika Kraus | West Germany | 1:08.92 |
| 5 | Susanne Hilger | East Germany | 1:09.25 |
| 6 | Jacqueline Brown | Great Britain | 1:10.43 |
| 7 | Ong Mei Lin | Malaysia | 1:19.39 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Donna-Marie Gurr | Canada | 1:07.45 |
| 2 | Karen Moe-Thornton | United States | 1:07.69 |
| 3 | Silke Pielen | West Germany | 1:07.70 |
| 4 | Zdenka Gašparač | Yugoslavia | 1:09.72 |
| 5 | Cathy Raftery | Canada | 1:09.72 |
| 6 | Patricia López | Argentina | 1:12.13 |
| 7 | María Cecilia Vargas | Mexico | 1:12.91 |
| 8 | Pat Chan | Singapore | 1:14.24 |

### Semifinals

These took place on Friday 1 September at 17:00.
Semifinal 1 results :
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Melissa Belote | United States | 1:06.08 | OR |
| 2 | Susie Atwood | United States | 1:06.26 | |
| 3 | Karen Moe | United States | 1:06.27 | |
| 4 | Wendy Cook-Hogg | Canada | 1:06.89 | |
| 5 | Tina Lek'veishvili | Soviet Union | 1:07.61 | |
| 6 | Sue Lewis | Australia | 1:07.81 | |
| 7 | Debra Cain | Australia | 1:08.51 | |
| 8 | Marianne Vermaat | Netherlands | 1:09.11 | |
Semifinal 2 results :
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Andrea Gyarmati | Hungary | 1:06.39 |
| 2 | Enith Brigitha | Netherlands | 1:06.49 |
| 3 | Silke Pielen | West Germany | 1:06.98 |
| 4 | Christine Herbst | East Germany | 1:07.34 |
| 5 | Donna-Marie Gurr | Canada | 1:07.37 |
| 6 | Annegret Kober | West Germany | 1:08.01 |
| 7 | Deborah Palmer | Australia | 1:08.29 |
| 8 | Angelika Kraus | West Germany | 1:09.10 |

### Final

This took place on Saturday 2 September at 17:50.
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| | Melissa Belote | United States | 1:05.78 | OR |
| | Andrea Gyarmati | Hungary | 1:06.26 | |
| | Susie Atwood | United States | 1:06.34 | |
| 4 | Karen Moe | United States | 1:06.69 | |
| 5 | Wendy Cook-Hogg | Canada | 1:06.70 | |
| 6 | Enith Brigitha | Netherlands | 1:06.82 | |
| 7 | Christine Herbst | East Germany | 1:07.27 | |
| 8 | Silke Pielen | West Germany | 1:07.36 | |
Key: OR = Olympic record