# Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1964 Summer Olympics, took place on 11–12 October, at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the ninth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 27 competitors from 15 nations participated in the event. Soviet Union's Galina Prozumenshchikova and Svetlana Babanina won their country's first medals in this event, with a gold and bronze medal respectively. 14-year-old Claudia Kolb's silver medal was the United States' second ever medal in this event, after Agnes Geraghty's silver in the inaugural event in 1924. In the heats, Australian Christine Barnetson was disqualified for an incorrect breaststroke, and Hungarian Márta Egerváry withdrew from the competition.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record | Galina Prozumenshchikova (URS) | 2:45.4 s | Berlin, East Germany | 17 May 1964 |
| Olympic record | Anita Lonsbrough (GBR) | 2:49.5 s | Rome, Italy | 27 August 1960 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | OR |
| 11 October | Heat 2 | Bärbel Grimmer | United Team of Germany | 2:48.6 | OR |
| 11 October | Heat 3 | Svetlana Babanina | Soviet Union | 2:48.3 | OR |
| 12 October | Final | Galina Prozumenshchikova | Soviet Union | 2:46.4 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | 1 | Svetlana Babanina | Soviet Union | 2:48.3 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | Bärbel Grimmer | United Team of Germany | 2:48.6 | Q, OR |
| 3 | 3 | 7 | Stella Mitchell | Great Britain | 2:48.8 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 1 | Galina Prozumenshchikova | Soviet Union | 2:49.0 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 6 | Claudia Kolb | United States | 2:49.7 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | Ursula Küper | United Team of Germany | 2:50.1 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 2 | Jill Slattery | Great Britain | 2:50.2 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | 1 | Klenie Bimolt | Netherlands | 2:50.7 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | 7 | Marguerite Ruygrok | Australia | 2:53.1 | |
| 10 | 1 | 6 | Wiltrud Urselmann | United Team of Germany | 2:53.2 | |
| 11 | 4 | 1 | Vivien Haddon | New Zealand | 2:53.4 | |
| 12 | 4 | 3 | Truus Looijs | Netherlands | 2:54.5 | |
| 13 | 2 | 7 | Jacqueline Enfield | Great Britain | 2:54.9 | |
| 14 | 1 | 4 | Tammy Hazleton | United States | 2:55.0 | |
| 15 | 2 | 5 | Gretta Kok | Netherlands | 2:55.4 | |
| 16 | 3 | 5 | Isabel Castañe | Spain | 2:55.7 | |
| 17 | 1 | 3 | Noriko Yamamoto | Japan | 2:57.0 | |
| 18 | 4 | 6 | Sandra Nitta | United States | 2:58.4 | |
| 19 | 4 | 5 | Christl Filippovits | Austria | 2:59.2 | |
| 20 | 3 | 4 | Linda McGill | Australia | 2:59.4 | |
| 21 | 4 | 7 | Yoshiko Morizane | Japan | 2:59.9 | |
| 22 | 2 | 6 | Susana Peper | Argentina | 3:00.0 | |
| 23 | 1 | 5 | Zsuzsa Kovács | Hungary | 3:06.7 | |
| 24 | 3 | 2 | Marny Jolly | Malaysia | 3:11.0 | |
| 25 | 1 | 2 | Margaret Harding | Puerto Rico | 3:16.0 | |
| 26 | 4 | 4 | Li Hin Yu | Hong Kong | 3:22.2 | |
| 27 | 2 | 3 | Christine Barnetson | Australia | — | DSQ |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | Galina Prozumenshchikova | Soviet Union | 2:46.4 | OR |
| | 2 | Claudia Kolb | United States | 2:47.6 | |
| | 4 | Svetlana Babanina | Soviet Union | 2:48.6 | |
| 4 | 3 | Stella Mitchell | Great Britain | 2:49.0 | |
| 5 | 1 | Jill Slattery | Great Britain | 2:49.6 | |
| 6 | 5 | Bärbel Grimmer | United Team of Germany | 2:51.0 | |
| 7 | 8 | Klenie Bimolt | Netherlands | 2:51.3 | |
| 8 | 7 | Ursula Küper | United Team of Germany | 2:53.9 | |