# Swimming at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics, took place on July 21, at the Olympic Pool in Montreal, Canada. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre (160 ft) Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the twelfth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 39 competitors from 22 nations participated in the event.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record | Karla Linke (GDR) | 2:34.99 s | Vienna, Austria | 19 August 1974 |
| Olympic record | Beverley Whitfield (AUS) | 2:41.71 s | Munich, West Germany | 29 August 1972 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | OR | WR |
| 21 July | Heat 1 | Marina Kosheveya | Soviet Union | 2:35.14 | OR | |
| 21 July | Final | Marina Kosheveya | Soviet Union | 2:33.35 | OR | WR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Marina Kosheveya | Soviet Union | 2:35.14 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 5 | Karla Linke | East Germany | 2:37.13 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Hannelore Anke | East Germany | 2:37.13 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Lyubov Rusanova | Soviet Union | 2:37.45 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Marina Yurchenya | Soviet Union | 2:37.92 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Debbie Rudd | Great Britain | 2:38.26 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | Margaret Kelly | Great Britain | 2:39.01 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | Carola Nitschke | East Germany | 2:39.06 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Joann Baker | Canada | 2:39.27 | |
| 10 | 5 | Wijda Mazereeuw | Netherlands | 2:39.59 | |
| 11 | 3 | Lisa Borsholt | Canada | 2:39.94 | |
| 12 | 2 | Susanne Nielsson | Denmark | 2:41.09 | |
| 13 | 2 | Ann-Sofi Roos | Sweden | 2:41.38 | |
| 14 | 2 | Christine Jarvis | Great Britain | 2:41.61 | |
| 15 | 2 | Laura Siering | United States | 2:41.66 | |
| 16 | 1 | Marcia Morey | United States | 2:41.85 | |
| 17 | 4 | Dagmar Rehak | West Germany | 2:41.98 | |
| 18 | 4 | Anna Skolarczyk | Poland | 2:42.05 | |
| 19 | 2 | Gabriele Askamp | West Germany | 2:42.58 | |
| 20 | 4 | Judith Hudson | Australia | 2:43.88 | |
| 21 | 2 | Kazuyo Inaba | Japan | 2:44.08 | |
| 22 | 5 | Toshiko Haruoka | Japan | 2:44.11 | |
| 23 | 3 | Melanie MacKay | Canada | 2:45.08 | |
| 24 | 4 | Anette Fredriksson | Sweden | 2:45.31 | |
| 25 | 5 | Janis Hape | United States | 2:45.57 | |
| 26 | 3 | Annick de Susini | France | 2:45.63 | |
| 27 | 3 | Karin Deleurand | Denmark | 2:45.96 | |
| 28 | 3 | Chiharu Mori | Japan | 2:46.04 | |
| 29 | 4 | Colette Crabbe | Belgium | 2:47.16 | |
| 30 | 5 | Véronique Brisy | Belgium | 2:47.55 | |
| 31 | 1 | Cristina Teixeira | Brazil | 2:47.69 | |
| 32 | 1 | Allison Smith | Australia | 2:50.11 | |
| 33 | 1 | Beatriz Camuñas | Mexico | 2:50.78 | |
| 34 | 4 | Angela López | Puerto Rico | 2:52.71 | |
| 35 | 5 | Nancy Deano | Philippines | 2:53.08 | |
| 36 | 3 | Elena Ospitaletche | Uruguay | 2:53.60 | |
| 37 | 1 | Dacyl Pérez | Venezuela | 2:56.76 | |
| 38 | 2 | Patricia Spohn | Argentina | 2:59.51 | |
| 39 | 1 | Éva Kiss | Hungary | — | DNS |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Marina Kosheveya | Soviet Union | 2:33.35 | WR |
| | Marina Yurchenya | Soviet Union | 2:36.08 | |
| | Lyubov Rusanova | Soviet Union | 2:36.22 | |
| 4 | Hannelore Anke | East Germany | 2:36.49 | |
| 5 | Karla Linke | East Germany | 2:36.97 | |
| 6 | Carola Nitschke | East Germany | 2:38.27 | |
| 7 | Margaret Kelly | Great Britain | 2:38.37 | |
| 8 | Debbie Rudd | Great Britain | 2:39.01 | |

## Sources

* "Games of the XXI Olympiad; Montréal 1976" (PDF). Volume Three. COJO 76. 1976. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
* Albert Schoenfeld, ed. (September 1976). "Results from the 1976 Olympic Games (Montreal)" (PDF). Swimming World & Junior Swimmer. Albert Schoenfeld. p. 90. ISSN 0039-7431. Retrieved 5 July 2012.