Women 200m Breaststroke Swimming Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki, Finland - Tuesday, 29th July - Gold Medal: Éva Székely, Hungary
Final time gap L Y 1. Éva Székely Hungary2:51.7 OR - 25 2. Éva Novák-Gérard Hungary2:54.4 +2.7s - 22 3. Elenor Gordon-McKay Great Britain2:57.6 +5.9s - 19 4. Klára Killermann-Bartos Hungary2:57.6 +5.9s - 23 5. Jytte Hansen Denmark2:57.8 +6.1s - 20 6. Mariya Gavrish Soviet Union2:58.9 +7.2s - 21 7. Ulla-Britt Eklund Sweden3:01.8 +10.1s - 17 8. Petronella Fredrika Garritsen Netherlands3:02.1 +10.4s - 19
Venue: Helsinki Swimming Stadium. 33 Competitors from 19 Nations. World Record: Éva Novák-Gérard, Hungary 2:48.5 Moscow, Soviet Union 5 May 1951 Olympic Record: Petronella "Nel" van Vliet, Netherlands 2:57.2 London, Great Britain 31 July 1948
The final was a battle of contrasting styles. Székely was a butterfly swimmer whilst Novák favoured the orthodox breaststroke. It was the butterfly technique that won out, as Székely finished well ahead of
Novák with a Hungarian sweep of the medals only thwarted by the finishing effort of Elenor Gordon. Gordon spotted her finish better than Klára Killermann-Bartos. In sixth place was the Ukrainian Mariya Havrysh, the only Soviet swimming finalist of the 1952 Games.
First 8 times advanced to Final .
Semi 1 time gap L Y Rk. 1. Éva Novák-Gérard Hungary2:55.8 +1.8s - 22 2. 2. Klára Killermann-Bartos Hungary2:56.5 +2.5s - 23 3. 3. Mariya Gavrish Soviet Union2:58.6 +4.6s - 21 5. 4. Jytte Hansen Denmark2:59.5 +5.5s - 20 6. 5. Lies Bonnier Netherlands3:00.3 +6.3s - 27 9. 6. Hendrika Bruins Netherlands3:02.4 +8.4s - 18 10. 7. Kazuko Sakamoto Japan3:04.2 +10.2s - 16 14. 8. Nancy Lyons Australia3:05.6 +11.6s - 22 15.
Semi 2 time gap L Y Rk. 1. Éva Székely Hungary2:54.0 - 25 1. 2. Elenor Gordon-McKay Great Britain2:57.8 +3.8s - 19 4. 3. Petronella Fredrika Garritsen Netherlands2:59.5 +5.5s - 19 6. 4. Ulla-Britt Eklund Sweden2:59.6 +5.6s - 17 8. 5. Raymonda Elisa Vergauwen Belgium3:02.6 +8.6s - 24 11. 6. Jean Wrigley Great Britain3:03.2 +9.2s - 16 12. 7. Ursula Happe Germany3:03.8 +9.8s - 25 13. 8. Kaija Anneli Mäkelä-Syvelahti Finland3:06.2 +12.2s - 21 16.
World record holder Éva Novák-Gérard headed a trio of Hungarians who would contend for Olympic glory. Novák-Gérard and Éva Székely had been third and fourth respectively in London but were favoured to improve their finishing positions in Helsinki. All three Hungarians record times were under the existing Olympic Record in the preliminaries as did the Scottish swimmer, Elenor Gordon but the reigning European champion, Raymonda Vergauwen of Belguim, missed a place in the final.
Heat 1 time gap L Y Rk. 1. Éva Novák-Gérard Hungary2:54.0 3 22 1. 2. Ursula Happe Germany3:02.7 +8.7s 1 25 10. 3. Hendrika Bruins Netherlands3:04.7 +10.7s 4 18 16. 4. Vera Kostina Soviet Union3:07.3 +13.3s 5 _ 20. 5. Ilse Albert Austria3:12.5 +18.5s 6 23 24. 6. Gail Peters United States3:13.3 +19.3s 2 23 25. 7. Margrit Knabenhans Switzerland3:17.4 +23.4s 7 17 28.
Heat 2 time gap L Y Rk. 1. Lies Bonnier Netherlands3:00.6 +6.6s 2 27 7. 2. Nancy Lyons Australia3:04.4 +10.4s 6 22 13. 3. Valerie Gladys Harris Great Britain3:04.6 +10.6s 3 16 15. 4. Roza Zenziveeva Soviet Union3:10.5 +16.5s 4 21 23. 5. Julia May Cornell United States3:17.7 +23.7s 1 19 29. 6. Irene Anita Kwok Hong Kong3:19.2 +25.2s 5 18 30. -. Aleksandra Mroz PolandDSQ 7 17 -.
Heat 3 time gap L Y Rk. 1. Elenor Gordon-McKay Great Britain2:58.6 +4.6s 5 19 4. 2. Klára Killermann-Bartos Hungary2:59.1 +5.1s 1 23 5. 3. Kazuko Sakamoto Japan3:02.7 +8.7s 6 16 10. 4. Odette Lusien-Casteur France3:06.7 +12.7s 4 24 19. 4. Eileen Ward Petersen Denmark3:09.3 +15.3s 2 15 22. 6. Arati Saha India3:40.8 +46.8s 3 _ 33.
Heat 4 time gap L Y Rk. 1. Éva Székely Hungary2:55.1 +1.1s 5 25 2. 2. Raymonda Elisa Vergauwen Belgium3:02.8 +8.8s 7 24 12. 3. Jean Wrigley Great Britain3:04.5 +10.5s 3 16 14. 4. Kaija Anneli Mäkelä-Syvelahti Finland3:04.7 +10.7s 4 21 16. 5. Kirsten Hedegaard Jensen Denmark3:07.5 +13.5s 1 17 21. 6. Irene Strong Canada3:13.5 +19.5s 6 23 26. 7. Dolly Rustom Nazir India3:37.9 +43.9s 2 _ 32.
Heat 5 time gap L Y Rk. 1. Jytte Hansen Denmark2:57.7 +3.7s 7 20 3. 2. Petronella Fredrika Garritsen Netherlands2:59.4 +5.4s 6 19 6. 3. Ulla-Britt Eklund Sweden3:01.2 +7.2s 3 17 8. 4. Mariya Gavrish Soviet Union3:01.6 +7.6s 2 21 9. 5. Masayo Aoki Japan3:05.6 +11.6s 4 16 18. 6. Della Sehorn United States3:13.7 +19.7s 5 25 27. 7. Liselotte Kobi Switzerland3:22.0 +28.0s 1 22 31.
Prepared and maintained by Todor Krastev
todor1966@yahoo.com
Last updated: 15 May 2022Facebook Todor Krastev