| | Event type

100 metres Backstroke, Women

Date	11 – 13 August 1936
Status	Olympic
Location	Schwimmstadion, Reichssportfeld, Berlin
Participants	21 from 12 countries

The first sensation of this event happened before one of the potential medallists had even set foot in Germany. Eleanor Holm, the glamorous American who had won this event in Los Angeles, was removed from the US team because of her behaviour on the boat bringing her from America. She was accused, amongst other charges, of being blind drunk following a party. Holm was still present in the Olympic swimming stadium but only covering the Games for a press agency.

Even if Holm had participated the favourite would still have been the Netherlands’ Rie Mastenbreok, who held the world record. As the competition progressed it was Mastenbroek’s sixteen year old team-mate Nida Senff who proved to be the star performer, she set the fastest times in both heats and semi-finals as Mastenbroek’s more extensive schedule perhaps weighed against her. The final seemed to have been decided when Senff built up an apparently unassailable lead at halfway but she made what appeared to be a disastrous error and failed to touch the wall. Rather than risk disqualification she turned round and went back but dropped from first to sixth. Mastenbroek moved ahead of the pack but she clipped the lane dividers and lost enough time for Senff to close back on her. With twenty metres left Senff edged into the lead and held on to win the championship.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	174	Nida Senff	NED	1:16.6 (1 h1)	1:17.1 (1 h1)	1:18.9 (1)	Gold
2	173	Rie Mastenbroek	NED	1:22.0 (2 h3)	1:19.1 (1 h2)	1:19.2 (2)	Silver
3	457	Alice Bridges	USA	1:19.2 (1 h2)	1:20.4 (3 h2)	1:19.4 (3)	Bronze
4	458	Edith Motridge	USA	1:21.0 (1 h3)	1:19.1 (2 h1)	1:19.6 (4)
5	91	Tove Brunnstrøm Madsen	DEN	1:20.4 (2 h1)	1:19.1 (3 h1)	1:20.4 (5)
6	139	Lorna Frampton	GBR	1:20.9 (3 h1)	1:19.6 (2 h2)	1:20.6 (6)
7	141	Phyllis Harding	GBR	1:22.1 (3 h2)	1:19.8 (4 h1)	1:21.5 (7)
8	172	Truus Kerkmeester	NED	1:21.2 (2 h2)	1:21.3 (4 h2)	–
9	140	Audrey Hancock	GBR	1:23.6 (3 h3)	1:21.6 (5 h2)	–
10	506	Anni Stolte	GER	1:23.1 (4 h1)	1:21.7 (5 h1)	–
11	22	Pat Norton	AUS	1:22.3 (4 h2)	1:21.9 (6 h1)	–
12	92	Tove Nielsen	DEN	1:25.3 (4 h3)	1:22.0 (6 h2)	–
13	505	Christel Rupke	GER	1:23.7 (5 h2)	–	–
14	112	Thérèse Blondeau	FRA	1:23.8 (6 h2)	–	–
15	20	Kitty Mackay	AUS	1:24.6 (5 h1)	–	–
16	68	Mary McConkey	CAN	1:25.3 (5 h3)	–	–
17	409	Irén Győrffy	HUN	1:25.8 (6 h1)	–	–
18	291	Roma Wagner	AUT	1:28.4 (7 h2)	–	–
19	69	Noel Oxenbury	CAN	1:28.9 (7 h1)	–	–
20	53	Sieglinde Lenk	BRA	1:32.0 (8 h1)	–	–
21	79	Yang Xiuqiong	CHN	1:36.4 (6 h3)	–	–
DNS	66	Irene Pirie-Milton	CAN	– (DNS h2)	–	–

Round One

Date	11 August 1936 — 8:00
Format	Top four in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Nida Senff	NED	1:16.6	QOR
2	–	Alice Bridges	USA	1:19.2	Q
3	–	Tove Brunnstrøm Madsen	DEN	1:20.4	Q
4	–	Lorna Frampton	GBR	1:20.9	Q
5	–	Edith Motridge	USA	1:21.0	Q
6	–	Truus Kerkmeester	NED	1:21.2	Q
7	–	Rie Mastenbroek	NED	1:22.0	Q
8	–	Phyllis Harding	GBR	1:22.1	Q
9	–	Pat Norton	AUS	1:22.3	Q
10	–	Anni Stolte	GER	1:23.1	Q
11	–	Audrey Hancock	GBR	1:23.6	Q
12	–	Christel Rupke	GER	1:23.7
13	–	Thérèse Blondeau	FRA	1:23.8
14	–	Kitty Mackay	AUS	1:24.6
=15	–	Tove Nielsen	DEN	1:25.3	Q
=15	–	Mary McConkey	CAN	1:25.3
17	–	Irén Győrffy	HUN	1:25.8
18	–	Roma Wagner	AUT	1:28.4
19	–	Noel Oxenbury	CAN	1:28.9
20	–	Sieglinde Lenk	BRA	1:32.0
21	–	Yang Xiuqiong	CHN	1:36.4
DNS	–	Irene Pirie-Milton	CAN	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Nida Senff	NED	1:16.6	QOR
2	–	Tove Brunnstrøm Madsen	DEN	1:20.4	Q
3	–	Lorna Frampton	GBR	1:20.9	Q
4	–	Anni Stolte	GER	1:23.1	Q
5	–	Kitty Mackay	AUS	1:24.6
6	–	Irén Győrffy	HUN	1:25.8
7	–	Noel Oxenbury	CAN	1:28.9
8	–	Sieglinde Lenk	BRA	1:32.0

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Alice Bridges	USA	1:19.2	Q
2	–	Truus Kerkmeester	NED	1:21.2	Q
3	–	Phyllis Harding	GBR	1:22.1	Q
4	–	Pat Norton	AUS	1:22.3	Q
5	–	Christel Rupke	GER	1:23.7
6	–	Thérèse Blondeau	FRA	1:23.8
7	–	Roma Wagner	AUT	1:28.4
DNS	–	Irene Pirie-Milton	CAN	–

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Edith Motridge	USA	1:21.0	Q
2	–	Rie Mastenbroek	NED	1:22.0	Q
3	–	Audrey Hancock	GBR	1:23.6	Q
4	–	Tove Nielsen	DEN	1:25.3	Q
5	–	Mary McConkey	CAN	1:25.3
6	–	Yang Xiuqiong	CHN	1:36.4

Semi-Finals

Date	12 August 1936 — 8:00
Format	Top three in each heat and the fastest fourth-place advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Nida Senff	NED	1:17.1	Q
=2	–	Edith Motridge	USA	1:19.1	Q
=2	–	Tove Brunnstrøm Madsen	DEN	1:19.1	Q
=2	–	Rie Mastenbroek	NED	1:19.1	Q
5	–	Lorna Frampton	GBR	1:19.6	Q
6	–	Phyllis Harding	GBR	1:19.8	q
7	–	Alice Bridges	USA	1:20.4	Q
8	–	Truus Kerkmeester	NED	1:21.3
9	–	Audrey Hancock	GBR	1:21.6
10	–	Anni Stolte	GER	1:21.7
11	–	Pat Norton	AUS	1:21.9
12	–	Tove Nielsen	DEN	1:22.0

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Nida Senff	NED	1:17.1	Q
2	–	Edith Motridge	USA	1:19.1	Q
3	–	Tove Brunnstrøm Madsen	DEN	1:19.1	Q
4	–	Phyllis Harding	GBR	1:19.8	q
5	–	Anni Stolte	GER	1:21.7
6	–	Pat Norton	AUS	1:21.9

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Rie Mastenbroek	NED	1:19.1	Q
2	–	Lorna Frampton	GBR	1:19.6	Q
3	–	Alice Bridges	USA	1:20.4	Q
4	–	Truus Kerkmeester	NED	1:21.3
5	–	Audrey Hancock	GBR	1:21.6
6	–	Tove Nielsen	DEN	1:22.0

Final Round

Date	13 August 1936 — 17:10

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Nida Senff	NED	1:18.9
2	–	Rie Mastenbroek	NED	1:19.2
3	–	Alice Bridges	USA	1:19.4
4	–	Edith Motridge	USA	1:19.6
5	–	Tove Brunnstrøm Madsen	DEN	1:20.4
6	–	Lorna Frampton	GBR	1:20.6
7	–	Phyllis Harding	GBR	1:21.5