| Women's 200 metre breaststroke at the Games of the XI Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victory ceremony | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin | ||||||||||||
| Date | 8 August (heats) 9 August (semifinals) 11 August (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 23 from 12 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 3:03.6 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Freestyle | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | |
| Backstroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| Breaststroke | ||
| 200 m | men | women |
| Freestyle relay | ||
| 4 × 100 m | women | |
| 4 × 200 m | men | |
The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1936 Summer Olympics, took place from 8 to 11 August, at the (50 m) Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 23 competitors from 12 nations participated in the event. [1]
The world record holder at the time, Japanese Hideko Maehata, won the event four years after losing the gold medal to Australian Clare Dennis by one tenth of a second. Twenty four-year-old German silver medalist Martha Genenger broke the Olympic record in her heat on 8 August, but Maebata broke it again in the next heat with a time of 3:01.9 seconds. [1] Danish Inge Sørensen won the bronze medal, becoming the youngest ever female Olympic medalist (12 years, 24 days). [2] Sørensen's compatriot Valborg Christensen was favoured to win a medal in this event, but she was eliminated after finishing fifth in her semifinal. [3]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record | 3:00.4 min | Tokyo, Japan | 30 September 1933 | [4] [5] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic record | 3:06.3 min | Los Angeles, United States | 9 August 1932 | [5] [6] |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | OR | WR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 August | Heat 2 | Martha Genenger | 3:02.9 | OR | ||
| 8 August | Heat 3 | Hideko Maehata | 3:01.9 | OR |
The three fastest swimmers of each heat and the next two fastest swimmers overall (Hanni Hölzner and Dorothy Schiller) advanced to the semifinals on 9 August. [7]
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inge Sørensen | 3:06.7 | Q | |
| 2 | Kerstin Isberg | 3:08.7 | Q | |
| 3 | Jopie Waalberg | 3:10.4 | Q | |
| 4 | Hanni Hölzner | 3:11.0 | q | |
| 5 | Dorothy Schiller | 3:17.4 | q | |
| 6 | Vera Kingston | 3:21.7 | ||
| 7 | Joan Langdon | 3:24.3 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martha Genenger | 3:02.9 | Q, OR | |
| 2 | Jenny Kastein | 3:07.8 | Q | |
| 3 | Unoko Tsuboi | 3:15.0 | Q | |
| 4 | Anja Lappalainen | 3:19.1 | ||
| 5 | Ann Govednik | 3:25.3 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hideko Maehata | 3:01.9 | Q, OR | |
| 2 | Valborg Christensen | 3:07.8 | Q | |
| 3 | Margaret Gomm | 3:15.7 | Q | |
| 4 | Iris Cummings | 3:21.9 | ||
| 5 | Eliška Boubelová | 3:25.8 | ||
| 6 | Tenny Wyss | 3:31.3 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trude Wollschläger | 3:08.5 | Q | |
| 2 | Doris Storey | 3:10.8 | Q | |
| 3 | Maria Lenk | 3:17.2 | Q | |
| 4 | Edel Nielsen | 3:21.3 | ||
| 5 | Jo Stroomberg | 3:22.5 |
The three fastest swimmers of both semifinals and the best fourth-place finisher advanced to the final on 11 August. [7]
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hideko Maehata | 3:03.1 | Q | |
| 2 | Inge Sørensen | 3:06.0 | Q | |
| 3 | Hanni Hölzner | 3:08.8 | Q | |
| 4 | Jopie Waalberg | 3:09.7 | Q | |
| 5 | Trude Wollschläger | 3:10.3 | ||
| 6 | Margaret Gomm | 3:15.8 | ||
| 7 | Maria Lenk | 3:17.7 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martha Genenger | 3:02.8 | Q | |
| 2 | Jenny Kastein | 3:09.2 | Q | |
| 3 | Doris Storey | 3:09.8 | Q | |
| 4 | Kerstin Isberg | 3:11.4 | ||
| 5 | Valborg Christensen | 3:14.1 | ||
| 6 | Unoko Tsuboi | 3:18.4 | ||
| 7 | Dorothy Schiller | 3:18.5 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hideko Maehata | 3:03.6 | |||
| Martha Genenger | 3:04.2 | |||
| Inge Sørensen | 3:07.8 | |||
| 4 | Hanni Hölzner | 3:09.5 | ||
| Jopie Waalberg | 3:09.5 | |||
| 6 | Doris Storey | 3:09.7 | ||
| 7 | Jenny Kastein | 3:12.8 |