| | Event type

100 metres Freestyle, Women

Date	26 – 28 July 1952
Status	Olympic
Location	Helsingin Uimastadion, Helsinki
Participants	41 from 19 countries

The 100m Freestyle was one of the most ferociously contested events of any sport in the 1952 Olympics. With ten metres to go the lead was held by the sixteen year old South African Joan Harrison but such was the closeness of the race that Harrison was not even to win a medal. Hungary’s Judit Temes held a lead for much of the race but with six swimmers fighting for the victory, the Hungarian Katalin Szőke found a final burst of energy to touch first. Only a third of a second covered the next five finishers.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	Katalin Szőke	HUN	1:07.1 (1 h3)	1:07.2 (2 h2)	1:06.8 (1)	Gold
2	Hannie Termeulen	NED	1:07.3 (1 h2)	1:07.1 (3 h1)	1:07.0 (2)	Silver
3	Judit Temes	HUN	1:05.5 (1 h5)	1:07.4 (5 h1)	1:07.1 (3)	Bronze
4	Joan Harrison	RSA	1:06.5 (1 h4)	1:07.2 (1 h2)	1:07.1 (4)
5	Jody Alderson	USA	1:07.4 (2 h4)	1:06.6 (1 h1)	1:07.1 (5)
6	Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher	NED	1:06.7 (1 h1)	1:06.7 (2 h1)	1:07.3 (6)
7	Marilee Stepan	USA	1:07.7 (1 h6)	1:07.4 (4 h1)	1:08.0 (7)
8	Angela Barnwell	GBR	1:07.6 (3 h4)	1:07.2 (3 h2)	1:08.6 (8)
9	Ragnhild Hveger	DEN	1:08.6 (2 h5)	1:07.7 (6 h1)	–
10	Ilona Novák	HUN	1:07.7 (2 h1)	1:07.8 (4 h2)	–
11	Koosje van Voorn	NED	1:07.4 (2 h3)	1:08.1 (5 h2)	–
=12	Marjorie McQuade	AUS	1:07.9 (2 h6)	1:08.2 (7 h1)	–
=12	Greta Andersen	DEN	1:08.0 (2 h2)	1:08.2 (6 h2)	–
=12	Judy Roberts	USA	1:08.2 (3 h2)	1:08.2 (7 h2)	–
15	Elisabeth Rechlin	GER	1:08.5 (3 h1)	1:08.5 (8 h2)	–
16	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:08.0 (4 h4)	1:08.7 (8 h1)	–
17	Josette Arène	FRA	1:09.1 (3 h3)	–	–
18	Mette Ove Petersen	DEN	1:09.6 (4 h1)	–	–
19	Maud Berglund	SWE	1:09.8 (3 h5)	–	–
20	Lillian Preece	GBR	1:10.0 (4 h5)	–	–
21	Jean Botham	GBR	1:10.5 (4 h3)	–	–
=22	Ana María Schultz	ARG	1:10.6 (3 h6)	–	–
=22	Gaby Tanguy	FRA	1:10.6 (4 h6)	–	–
24	Marianne Lundquist	SWE	1:10.8 (4 h2)	–	–
25	Wera Schäferkordt	GER	1:10.9 (5 h2)	–	–
26	Romana Calligaris	ITA	1:11.0 (6 h2)	–	–
27	Ritva Järvinen	FIN	1:11.5 (5 h5)	–	–
28	Denise Norton	AUS	1:11.8 (5 h4)	–	–
29	Kay McNamee	CAN	1:12.9 (5 h6)	–	–
=30	Maria Nardi	ITA	1:13.2 (5 h1)	–	–
=30	Sadako Yamashita	JPN	1:13.2 (6 h1)	–	–
32	Gladys Priestley	CAN	1:13.4 (6 h4)	–	–
33	Raili Riuttala	FIN	1:13.5 (7 h4)	–	–
34	Sybille Verckist	BEL	1:13.7 (6 h5)	–	–
35	Fumiko Sakaguchi	JPN	1:14.6 (5 h3)	–	–
36	Irene Strong	CAN	1:15.1 (6 h3)	–	–
37	Shizue Miyabe	JPN	1:16.6 (7 h5)	–	–
=38	Cynthia Eager	HKG	1:16.8 (7 h1)	–	–
=38	Susy Vaterlaus	SUI	1:16.8 (6 h6)	–	–
40	Ritva Koivula	FIN	1:17.3 (7 h6)	–	–
41	Dolly Nazir	IND	1:24.6 (7 h2)	–	–
DNS	Ginette Jany	FRA	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	Ragnhild Goetz	VEN	– (DNS h3)	–	–

Round One (26 July 1952 — 17:00)

Fastest 16 advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	7	Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher	NED	– (–) –	1:06.7	Q
2	5	Ilona Novák	HUN	– (–) –	1:07.7	Q
3	4	Elisabeth Rechlin	GER	– (–) –	1:08.5	Q
4	3	Mette Ove Petersen	DEN	– (–) –	1:09.6
5	8	Maria Nardi	ITA	– (–) –	1:13.2
6	1	Sadako Yamashita	JPN	– (–) –	1:13.2
7	2	Cynthia Eager	HKG	– (–) –	1:16.8
DNS	6	Ginette Jany	FRA	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Hannie Termeulen	NED	– (–) –	1:07.3	Q
2	2	Greta Andersen	DEN	– (–) –	1:08.0	Q
3	3	Judy Roberts	USA	– (–) –	1:08.2	Q
4	7	Marianne Lundquist	SWE	– (–) –	1:10.8
5	1	Wera Schäferkordt	GER	– (–) –	1:10.9
6	4	Romana Calligaris	ITA	– (–) –	1:11.0
7	6	Dolly Nazir	IND	– (–) –	1:24.6

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	2	Katalin Szőke	HUN	– (–) –	1:07.1	Q
2	5	Koosje van Voorn	NED	– (–) –	1:07.4	Q
3	7	Josette Arène	FRA	– (–) –	1:09.1
4	3	Jean Botham	GBR	– (–) –	1:10.5
5	6	Fumiko Sakaguchi	JPN	– (–) –	1:14.6
6	1	Irene Strong	CAN	– (–) –	1:15.1
DNS	4	Ragnhild Goetz	VEN	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Joan Harrison	RSA	– (–) –	1:06.5	Q
2	4	Jody Alderson	USA	– (–) –	1:07.4	Q
3	5	Angela Barnwell	GBR	– (–) –	1:07.6	Q
4	6	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	– (–) –	1:08.0	Q
5	2	Denise Norton	AUS	– (–) –	1:11.8
6	3	Gladys Priestley	CAN	– (–) –	1:13.4
7	7	Raili Riuttala	FIN	– (–) –	1:13.5

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Judit Temes	HUN	– (–) –	1:05.5	QOR
2	5	Ragnhild Hveger	DEN	– (–) –	1:08.6	Q
3	4	Maud Berglund	SWE	– (–) –	1:09.8
4	3	Lillian Preece	GBR	– (–) –	1:10.0
5	6	Ritva Järvinen	FIN	– (–) –	1:11.5
6	2	Sybille Verckist	BEL	– (–) –	1:13.7
7	7	Shizue Miyabe	JPN	– (–) –	1:16.6

Heat Six

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Marilee Stepan	USA	– (–) –	1:07.7	Q
2	5	Marjorie McQuade	AUS	– (–) –	1:07.9	Q
3	6	Ana María Schultz	ARG	– (–) –	1:10.6
4	7	Gaby Tanguy	FRA	– (–) –	1:10.6
5	4	Kay McNamee	CAN	– (–) –	1:12.9
6	2	Susy Vaterlaus	SUI	– (–) –	1:16.8
7	3	Ritva Koivula	FIN	– (–) –	1:17.3

Semi-Finals (27 July 1952 — 17:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Jody Alderson	USA	– (–) –	1:06.6	Q
2	–	Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher	NED	– (–) –	1:06.7	Q
3	–	Hannie Termeulen	NED	– (–) –	1:07.1	Q
4	–	Marilee Stepan	USA	– (–) –	1:07.4	Q
5	–	Judit Temes	HUN	– (–) –	1:07.4	Q
6	–	Ragnhild Hveger	DEN	– (–) –	1:07.7
7	–	Marjorie McQuade	AUS	– (–) –	1:08.2
8	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	– (–) –	1:08.7

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	–	Joan Harrison	RSA	– (–) –	1:07.2	Q
2	–	Katalin Szőke	HUN	– (–) –	1:07.2	Q
3	–	Angela Barnwell	GBR	– (–) –	1:07.2	Q
4	–	Ilona Novák	HUN	– (–) –	1:07.8
5	–	Koosje van Voorn	NED	– (–) –	1:08.1
6	–	Greta Andersen	DEN	– (–) –	1:08.2
7	–	Judy Roberts	USA	– (–) –	1:08.2
8	–	Elisabeth Rechlin	GER	– (–) –	1:08.5

Final (28 July 1952 — 17:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	2	Katalin Szőke	HUN	– (–) –	1:06.8
2	3	Hannie Termeulen	NED	– (–) –	1:07.0
3	8	Judit Temes	HUN	– (–) –	1:07.1
4	6	Joan Harrison	RSA	– (–) –	1:07.1
5	4	Jody Alderson	USA	– (–) –	1:07.1
6	5	Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher	NED	– (–) –	1:07.3
7	1	Marilee Stepan	USA	– (–) –	1:08.0
8	7	Angela Barnwell	GBR	– (–) –	1:08.6