# Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1960 Summer Olympics, took place on August 26–27, at the Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the eighth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 30 competitors from 19 nations participated in the event. British gold-medalist Anita Lonsbrough became the first swimmer to break the world record in this event, with a time of 2:49.5 in the final.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record | Wiltrud Urselmann (FRG) | 2:50.2 s | Aachen, West Germany | 6 June 1960 |
| Olympic record | Ursula Happe (EUA) | 2:53.1 s | Melbourne, Australia | 30 November 1956 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | OR | WR |
| August 26 | Heat 2 | Anita Lonsbrough | Great Britain | 2:53.3 | OR | |
| August 26 | Heat 3 | Wiltrud Urselmann | United Team of Germany | 2:52.0 | OR | |
| August 27 | Final | Anita Lonsbrough | Great Britain | 2:49.5 | OR | WR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | Wiltrud Urselmann | United Team of Germany | 2:52.0 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | Anita Lonsbrough | Great Britain | 2:53.3 | Q, OR |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Ada den Haan | Netherlands | 2:54.0 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 4 | Barbara Göbel | United Team of Germany | 2:54.2 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 5 | Gretta Kok | Netherlands | 2:55.2 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 2 | Patty Kempner | United States | 2:55.5 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 6 | Dorrit Kristensen | Denmark | 2:56.2 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | 4 | Anne Warner | United States | 2:56.3 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 3 | Christine Gosden | Great Britain | 2:56.9 | |
| 10 | 4 | 7 | Elena Zennaro | Italy | 2:57.0 | |
| 11 | 1 | 3 | Rosemary Lassig | Australia | 2:57.4 | |
| 12 | 1 | 5 | Yoshiko Takamatsu | Japan | 2:57.6 | |
| 13 | 2 | 5 | Klára Killermann | Hungary | 2:58.7 | |
| 14 | 2 | 3 | Barbro Eriksson | Sweden | 2:59.8 | |
| 15 | 4 | 6 | Inge Andersen | Denmark | 2:59.9 | |
| 16 | 4 | 2 | Janet Hogan | Australia | 3:00.3 | |
| 17 | 2 | 6 | Amélie Mirkowitch | France | 3:01.5 | |
| 18 | 4 | 3 | Marta Kadlecová | Czechoslovakia | 3:01.7 | |
| 19 | 1 | 2 | Michèle Pialat | France | 3:02.2 | |
| 20 | 2 | 2 | Christl Filippovits | Austria | 3:02.6 | |
| 21 | 2 | 7 | Lyudmila Korobova | Soviet Union | 3:02.7 | |
| 22 | 1 | 6 | Eve Maurer | Soviet Union | 3:03.1 | |
| 23 | 1 | 1 | Meg Miners | Rhodesia | 3:05.2 | |
| 24 | 3 | 7 | Judith McHale | Canada | 3:07.7 | |
| 25 | 1 | 7 | Christl Wöber | Austria | 3:09.3 | |
| 26 | 2 | 1 | Luciana Marcellini | Italy | 3:09.8 | |
| 27 | 1 | 8 | Maya Hungerbühler | Switzerland | 3:10.1 | |
| 28 | 3 | 8 | Isabel Castañe | Spain | 3:10.4 | |
| 29 | 4 | 1 | Regina Veloso | Portugal | 3:13.3 | |
| 30 | 3 | 1 | Suzette Schmidlin | Switzerland | — | DNS |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Anita Lonsbrough | Great Britain | 2:49.5 | WR |
| | 4 | Wiltrud Urselmann | United Team of Germany | 2:50.0 | |
| | 6 | Barbara Göbel | United Team of Germany | 2:53.6 | |
| 4 | 3 | Ada den Haan | Netherlands | 2:54.4 | |
| 5 | 2 | Gretta Kok | Netherlands | 2:54.6 | |
| 6 | 8 | Anne Warner | United States | 2:55.4 | |
| 7 | 7 | Patty Kempner | United States | 2:55.5 | |
| 8 | 1 | Dorrit Kristensen | Denmark | 2:55.7 | |

## Sources

* "The Games of the XVII Olympiad Rome 1960" (PDF). Volume Two, Part 2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XVII Olympiad Rome. 1960. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
* "LCM Women Records" (PDF). USA Swimming. 9 May 2012. p. 15. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
* "Swimming at the 1960 Rome 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.