# Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics, took place on October 22–23, at the Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the tenth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 31 competitors from 20 nations participated in the event. American Catie Ball was the large favourite to win the event, as she had broken the world record in this event the last three times. However, she was suffering from a virus infection and was forced to withdraw from the heats. Her 16-year-old teammate Sharon Wichman won the event, breaking bronze medalist Galina Prozumenshchikova's Olympic record in the final.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record | Catie Ball (USA) | 2:38.5 s | Los Angeles, United States | 26 August 1968 |
| Olympic record | Galina Prozumenshchikova (URS) | 2:46.4 s | Tokyo, Japan | 12 October 1964 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | OR | WR |
| 23 October | Final | Sharon Wichman | United States | 2:44.4 | OR | |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | Sharon Wichman | United States | 2:46.8 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 6 | Galina Prozumenshchikova | Soviet Union | 2:47.8 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 2 | Ana María Norbis | Uruguay | 2:49.4 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | Svetlana Babanina | Soviet Union | 2:49.8 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 4 | Alla Grebennikova | Soviet Union | 2:49.8 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | Cathy Jamison | United States | 2:50.1 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 4 | Đurđica Bjedov | Yugoslavia | 2:50.2 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | 3 | Chieno Shibata | Japan | 2:50.6 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 6 | Jill Slattery | Great Britain | 2:51.2 | |
| 10 | 1 | 3 | Christl Filippovits | Austria | 2:51.3 | |
| 11 | 2 | 4 | Tamara Oynick | Mexico | 2:52.4 | |
| 12 | 2 | 3 | Vreni Eberle | West Germany | 2:52.5 | |
| 13 | 1 | 2 | Judy Playfair | Australia | 2:52.9 | |
| 14 | 4 | 2 | Sue McKenzie | Australia | 2:53.1 | |
| 15 | 1 | 4 | Dorothy Harrison | Great Britain | 2:55.1 | |
| 16 | 5 | 3 | Yoshimi Nishigawa | Japan | 2:55.3 | |
| 17 | 3 | 2 | Yvonne Brage | Sweden | 2:56.3 | |
| 18 | 5 | 7 | Ann O'Connor | Ireland | 2:56.4 | |
| 19 | 4 | 1 | Jo-Anne Barnes | Australia | 2:57.4 | |
| 20 | 5 | 6 | Klenie Bimolt | Netherlands | 2:57.9 | |
| 21 | 4 | 4 | Yukari Takemoto | Japan | 2:57.9 | |
| 22 | 4 | 5 | Ellen Ingvadóttir | Iceland | 2:58.2 | |
| 23 | 3 | 6 | Shlomit Nir | Israel | 2:58.5 | |
| 24 | 2 | 2 | Víctoria Casas | Mexico | 3:01.0 | |
| 25 | 2 | 5 | Diana Harris | Great Britain | 3:03.4 | |
| 26 | 3 | 6 | Ana Elena de la Portilla | Mexico | 3:03.5 | |
| 27 | 5 | 5 | Arlette Wilmes | Luxembourg | 3:06.7 | |
| 28 | 1 | 5 | Hedy García | Philippines | 3:08.1 | |
| 29 | 1 | 1 | Tamara Orejuela | Ecuador | 3:08.5 | |
| 30 | 4 | 7 | María Moreño | El Salvador | 3:15.4 | |
| 31 | 5 | 1 | Liana Vicens | Puerto Rico | 3:16.2 | |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Sharon Wichman | United States | 2:44.4 | OR |
| | Đurđica Bjedov | Yugoslavia | 2:46.4 | |
| | Galina Prozumenshchikova | Soviet Union | 2:47.0 | |
| 4 | Alla Grebennikova | Soviet Union | 2:47.1 | |
| 5 | Cathy Jamison | United States | 2:48.4 | |
| 6 | Svetlana Babanina | Soviet Union | 2:48.4 | |
| 7 | Chieno Shibata | Japan | 2:51.5 | |
| 8 | Ana María Norbis | Uruguay | 2:51.9 | |

## Sources

* "The Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968: The Official Report of the Organising Committee" (PDF). Volume Three, Part 1. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad, Mexico 68. 1968. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
* Albert Schoenfeld, ed. (November 1968). "Results from the 1968 Olympic Games (Mexico City)" (PDF). Swimming World & Junior Swimmer. Volume 9, Issue 11. Albert Schoenfeld. ISSN 0039-7431. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
* "Swimming at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2012.