# Athletics at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres

The women's 200 metres sprint event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between September 3 and September 5. The winning margin was 0.45 seconds.

## Results
### Heats

Held on September 3 from 3pm
The top two runners in each of the six heats (blue), plus the next two fastest (pink) advanced to the semifinal round.
Heat one
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Giuseppina Leone | Italy | 23.90 |
| 2 | Lucinda Williams | United States | 24.10 |
| 3 | Hannelore Raepke | United Team of Germany | 24.32 |
| 4 | Pat Duggan | Australia | 24.80 |
Heat two
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Gisela Köhler-Birkemeyer | United Team of Germany | 24.32 |
| 2 | Catherine Capdevielle | France | 24.46 |
| 3 | Ulla-Britt Wieslander | Sweden | 24.82 |
| 4 | Jean Hiscock | Great Britain | 24.85 |
| 5 | Ilana Karaszyk | Israel | 26.69 |
Heat three
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Jutta Heine | United Team of Germany | 24.04 |
| 2 | Norma Croker-Fleming | Australia | 24.35 |
| 3 | Alena Stolzová | Czechoslovakia | 24.85 |
| 4 | Lyudmila Ignatyeva | Soviet Union | 24.90 |
| 5 | Valerie Morgan | New Zealand | 25.39 |
Heat four
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Barbara Lerczak-Janiszewska-Sobotta | Poland | 24.08 |
| 2 | Mariya Itkina | Soviet Union | 24.20 |
| 3 | Antónia Munkácsi | Hungary | 24.53 |
| 4 | Mona Sulaiman | Philippines | 25.98 |
Heat five
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Dorothy Hyman | Great Britain | 23.82 |
| 2 | Celina Jesionowska | Poland | 24.45 |
| 3 | Eleanor Haslam | Canada | 24.63 |
| 4 | Ernestine Pollards | United States | 24.64 |
| 5 | Olga Šikovec | Yugoslavia | 24.95 |
Heat six
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Wilma Rudolph | United States | 23.30 | OR |
| 2 | Valentyna Maslovska | Soviet Union | 24.12 | |
| 3 | Jenny Smart | Great Britain | 24.12 | |
| 4 | Halina Richter-Górecka-Herrmann | Poland | 24.31 | |
| 5 | Maeve Kyle | Ireland | 25.06 | |
| 6 | Erzsébet Heldt | Hungary | 25.50 | |

### Semifinals

Held on September 5 from 3:40pm
The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.
Heat one
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Wilma Rudolph | United States | 23.79 |
| 2 | Jutta Heine | United Team of Germany | 24.15 |
| 3 | Barbara Lerczak-Janiszewska-Sobotta | Poland | 24.36 |
| 4 | Norma Croker-Fleming | Australia | 24.44 |
| 5 | Jenny Smart | Great Britain | 24.74 |
| 6 | Valentina Maslovskaya | Soviet Union | 24.77 |
| 7 | Catherine Capdevielle | France | 25.04 |
Heat two
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Giuseppina Leone | Italy | 24.69 |
| 2 | Dorothy Hyman | Great Britain | 24.78 |
| 3 | Mariya Itkina | Soviet Union | 24.81 |
| 4 | Gisela Köhler-Birkemeyer | United Team of Germany | 25.05 |
| 5 | Lucinda Williams | United States | 25.14 |
| 6 | Celina Jesionowska | Poland | 25.45 |

### Final

Held on September 5 at 5:10pm
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Wilma Rudolph | United States | 24.13 |
| | Jutta Heine | United Team of Germany | 24.58 |
| | Dorothy Hyman | Great Britain | 24.82 |
| 4 | Mariya Itkina | Soviet Union | 24.85 |
| 5 | Barbara Lerczak-Janiszewska-Sobotta | Poland | 24.96 |
| 6 | Giuseppina Leone | Italy | 25.01 |
Key: OR = Olympic record
Note: For the only time in Olympic sprint history, every finalist ran their fastest time for the event in the heats and their slowest time in the final, owing to rain, head winds and the schedule where the finalists had less than 90 minutes rest between the semi-final and final, instead of the usual entire day.