# Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres

The Women's 400 metres competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico was held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 14–16.

## Summary

In the final, running in lane 1, Lillian Board went out fast, making up the stagger on Aurelia Pentón in lane 2. In lane 4, Jarvis Scott did the same to Colette Besson in lane 5 who was passing Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen in 6. On the backstretch, Scott opened up a clear lead on the field. Through the final turn, Natalya Pechonkina in lane 8 started to make headway against Scott's lead, with Board sandwiching the challenge from the inside. Coming off the turn, Board attacked and took the lead, Besson was still more than two metres behind Scott, but the rush was on. Besson shot past Scott and gained on Board with every step. After her early exuberance, Scott had no answer. Besson passed Board 10 metres before the line with Pechonkina taking bronze well ahead of Janet Simpson.

## Competition format

The Women's 200m competition consisted of heats (Round 1), Semifinals and a Final. The four fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the Semifinals. The four fastest competitors from each of the Semifinal races qualified for the final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Shin Geum-Dan (PRK) | 51.9 | Pyongyang, North Korea | October 23, 1962 |
| Olympic record | Betty Cuthbert (AUS) | 52.0 | Tokyo, Japan | October 17, 1964 |

## Results
### Round 1
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Colette Besson | France | 53.1 | Q |
| 2 | Jarvis Scott | United States | 53.5 | Q |
| 3 | Helga Henning | West Germany | 53.5 | Q |
| 4 | Joan Fisher | Canada | 54.6 | Q |
| 5 | Enriqueta Basilio | Mexico | 55.6 | |
| 6 | Joyce Bennett | Australia | 56.5 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Aurelia Pentón | Cuba | 52.8 | Q |
| 2 | Lillian Board | Great Britain | 52.9 | Q |
| 3 | Ingrīda Verbele | Soviet Union | 54.0 | Q |
| 4 | Una Morris | Jamaica | 54.1 | Q |
| 5 | Anne Covell | Canada | 54.3 | |
| 6 | Anna Chmelková | Czechoslovakia | 54.9 | |
| 7 | Antónia Munkácsi | Hungary | 55.6 | |
| 8 | Jean Robotham | Costa Rica | 58.2 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen | Netherlands | 53.1 | Q |
| 2 | Esther Stroy | United States | 53.5 | Q |
| 3 | Janet Simpson | Great Britain | 53.6 | Q |
| 4 | Monique Noirot | France | 53.6 | Q |
| 5 | Tekla Chemabwai | Kenya | 54.0 | |
| 6 | Sandra Brown | Australia | 55.4 | |
| 7 | Hana Shezifi | Israel | 56.3 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Natalya Pechonkina | Soviet Union | 53.7 | Q |
| 2 | Mary Green | Great Britain | 53.9 | Q |
| 3 | Karin Wallgren | Sweden | 54.2 | Q |
| 4 | Lois Anne Drinkwater | United States | 54.5 | Q |
| 5 | Donata Govoni | Italy | 54.7 | |
| 6 | Eeva Haimi | Finland | 55.0 | |
| 7 | Josefa Vicent | Uruguay | 56.3 | |
| 8 | Olajumoke Bodunrin | Nigeria | 57.0 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Helga Henning | West Germany | 53.3 | Q |
| 2 | Colette Besson | France | 53.6 | Q |
| 3 | Janet Simpson | Great Britain | 54.0 | Q |
| 4 | Aurelia Pentón | Cuba | 54.0 | Q |
| 5 | Esther Stroy | United States | 54.3 | |
| 6 | Una Morris | Jamaica | 54.6 | |
| 7 | Ingrīda Verbele | Soviet Union | 54.6 | |
| 8 | Joan Fisher | Canada | 55.2 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lillian Board | Great Britain | 52.5 | Q |
| 2 | Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen | Netherlands | 52.6 | Q |
| 3 | Natalya Pechonkina | Soviet Union | 52.8 | Q |
| 4 | Jarvis Scott | United States | 53.2 | Q |
| 5 | Mary Green | Great Britain | 53.6 | |
| 6 | Karin Wallgren | Sweden | 53.9 | |
| 7 | Monique Noirot | France | 54.2 | |
| 8 | Lois Drinkwater | United States | 57.3 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Colette Besson | France | 52.0 |
| | Lillian Board | Great Britain | 52.1 |
| | Natalya Pechonkina | Soviet Union | 52.2 |
| 4 | Janet Simpson | Great Britain | 52.5 |
| 5 | Aurelia Pentón | Cuba | 52.7 |
| 6 | Jarvis Scott | United States | 52.7 |
| 7 | Helga Henning | West Germany | 52.8 |
| 8 | Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen | Netherlands | 53.0 |