Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres

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Women's 100 metres
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Venue Melbourne Cricket Ground
DateNovember 24th, 1956 (heats & semifinals)
November 26th, 1956 (final)
Competitors34 from 18 nations
Winning time11.5
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Betty Cuthbert Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
Silver medal icon.svg Christa Stubnick Flag of Germany.svg  United Team of Germany
Bronze medal icon.svg Marlene Mathews-Willard Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
  1952
1960  
Video on YouTube Official Video @16:22 TV-icon-2.svg
Video on YouTube Official Video @16:22

The women's 100 metres competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held at the Olympic Stadium on November 29–30. [1]

In the final, Betty Cuthbert clearly beat her teammate Marlene Mathews-Willard out of the blocks, with Heather Armitage and Isabelle Daniels out quickly in close contention. Christa Stubnick had a burst of acceleration to quickly draw even with Daniels as Armitage was unable to hold her speed. Cuthbert expanded upon her slight advantage to pull away to a clear win. Stubnick was able to separate slightly from Daniels with Mathews-Willard steadily gaining from the back. Mathews-Willard caught Daniels and almost nipped Stubnick, clearly the fastest moving athlete at the finish.

Competition format

The women's 100 metres competition started with six heats, where the fastest two from each heat qualified to one of the two semifinals groups. The three fastest runners from each semifinals group advanced to the final.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Shirley Strickland  (AUS)11.3 Warsaw, Poland August 4, 1955
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Helen Stephens  (USA)11.5 Berlin, Germany August 4, 1936

Results

Heats

Heat 1

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1 Giuseppina Leone Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 11.8Q
2 Vira Kalashnykova-Krepkina Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 11.9Q
3 Mae Faggs US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 12.2
4 Micheline Fluchot Flag of France.svg  France 12.4
5 Janet Jesudason Flag of Singapore (1946-1959).svg  Singapore 13.2
Mary Rao Flag of India.svg  India DNF

Heat 2

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1 Marlene Mathews-Willard Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 11.5Q, OR
2 Galina Rezchikova Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 11.8Q
3 Lucinda Williams US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 12.0
4 Maria Kusion-Bibro Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 12.2
5 Maureen Rever Flag of Canada (1921-1957).svg  Canada 12.2
6 Franca Peggion Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 12.4
7 Mary Klass Flag of Singapore (1946-1959).svg  Singapore 12.6

Heat 3

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1 Betty Cuthbert Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 11.4Q, OR
2 Isabelle Daniels US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 11.6Q
3 Anne Pashley Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 11.7
4 Barbara Janiszewska Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 12.2
5 Maria Musso Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 12.2
6 Diane Matheson Flag of Canada (1921-1957).svg  Canada 12.4

Heat 4

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1 Heather Armitage Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 11.5Q
2 Gisela Birkemeyer Flag of Germany.svg  United Team of Germany 11.7Q
3 Shirley Strickland Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 11.7
4 Eleanor Haslam Flag of Canada (1921-1957).svg  Canada 11.8
5 Halina Górecka Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 12.2
6 Maeve Kyle Flag of Ireland (3-2).svg  Ireland 12.3

Heat 5

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1 Galina Popova Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 11.6Q
2 Catherine Capdevielle Flag of France.svg  France 11.7Q
3 Inge Fuhrmann Flag of Germany.svg  United Team of Germany 12.2
4 Annie Choong Flag of Malaya.svg  Malaya 12.5

Heat 6

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1 Christa Stubnick Flag of Germany.svg  United Team of Germany 11.7Q
2 June Foulds Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 11.9Q
3 Margaret Stuart Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 12.3
4 Elaine Winter Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg  South Africa 12.5
5 Claudette Masdammer Flag of British Guiana (1955-1966).svg  Guyana 12.7

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1 Christa Stubnick Flag of Germany.svg  United Team of Germany 11.9Q
2 Betty Cuthbert Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 12.0Q
3 Giuseppina Leone Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 12.1Q
4 June Foulds Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 12.1
5 Galina Popova Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 12.2
6 Catherine Capdevielle Flag of France.svg  France 12.4

Semifinal 2

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1 Marlene Mathews-Willard Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 11.6Q
2 Heather Armitage Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 11.6Q
3 Isabelle Daniels US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 11.7Q
4 Gisela Birkemeyer Flag of Germany.svg  United Team of Germany 11.9
5 Vira Kalashnykova-Krepkina Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 11.9
6 Galina Reshchikova Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 12.1

Final

Left-right: Isabelle Daniels, Giuseppina Leone, Betty Cuthbert, Marlene Mathews, Heather Armitage, Christa Stubnick Women 100m final 1956 Olympics.jpg
Left-right: Isabelle Daniels, Giuseppina Leone, Betty Cuthbert, Marlene Mathews, Heather Armitage, Christa Stubnick
RankAthleteCountryTime
Gold medal icon.svg Betty Cuthbert Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 11.5
Silver medal icon.svg Christa Stubnick Flag of Germany.svg  United Team of Germany 11.7
Bronze medal icon.svg Marlene Mathews-Willard Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 11.7
4 Isabelle Daniels US flag 48 stars.svg  United States 11.8
5 Giuseppina Leone Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 11.9
6 Heather Armitage Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 12.0

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Women's 100 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2017.