| | Event type

400 metres Freestyle, Women

Date	5 – 7 December 1956
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympic Park Swimming and Diving Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants	26 from 13 countries

In preparation races for the Melbourne Olympics Lorraine Crapp broke the world record, set by Ragnhild Hveger of Denmark in 1940. As in the 100 m freestyle that was contested a few days earlier, Crapp’s main rival was fellow countrywoman Dawn Fraser, but over the longer distance Crapp was favoured to reverse the result of the earlier race and become Olympic champion.

The final matched the popular prediction with Fraser leading the race in the early stages before the superior stamina of Crapp became the decisive factor. Crapp won the gold medal with a huge margin of eight seconds to spare over Fraser with 14-year-old Californian Sylvia Ruuska finishing third. All three medallists would compete in 1960 in Rome although only Fraser would compete outside a relay.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Lorraine Crapp	AUS	5:00.2 (1 h4)	4:54.6 (1)	Gold
2	Dawn Fraser	AUS	5:02.5 (1 h3)	5:02.5 (2)	Silver
3	Sylvia Ruuska	USA	5:10.3 (2 h3)	5:07.1 (3)	Bronze
4	Marley Shriver	USA	5:07.6 (1 h2)	5:12.9 (4)
5	Ripszima Székely	HUN	5:10.5 (3 h3)	5:14.2 (5)
6	Sandra Morgan	AUS	5:07.8 (2 h2)	5:14.3 (6)
7	Héda Frost	FRA	5:14.4 (2 h1)	5:15.4 (7)
8	Valéria Gyenge	HUN	5:14.2 (1 h1)	5:21.0 (8)
9	Susan Gray	USA	5:16.7 (2 h4)	–
=10	Susan Roberts	RSA	5:16.8 (4 h3)	–
=10	Natalie Myburgh	RSA	5:16.8 (3 h4)	–
12	Karin Larsson	SWE	5:18.3 (3 h1)	–
13	Marrion Roe	NZL	5:18.5 (4 h4)	–
14	Ingrid Künzel	GER	5:20.8 (3 h2)	–
15	Beth Whittall	CAN	5:21.7 (4 h1)	–
16	Margaret Girvan	GBR	5:23.6 (5 h4)	–
17	Colette Thomas	FRA	5:23.9 (5 h3)	–
18	Gilda Aranda	MEX	5:24.2 (6 h4)	–
19	Birgitta Wängberg	SWE	5:27.0 (6 h3)	–
20	Eiko Wada	JPN	5:27.2 (7 h3)	–
21	Gladys Priestley	CAN	5:27.5 (4 h2)	–
22	Yukiko Otaka	JPN	5:28.7 (7 h4)	–
23	Anita Hellström	SWE	5:29.2 (5 h2)	–
24	Viviane Gouverneur	FRA	5:29.7 (6 h2)	–
25	Winifred Griffin	NZL	5:31.0 (5 h1)	–
26	Gertrudes Lozada	PHI	5:34.2 (6 h1)	–
DNS	Jeanette Myburgh	RSA	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	Margaret Northrop	KEN	– (DNS h2)	–

Round One (5 December 1956 — 15:20)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	6	Valéria Gyenge	HUN	1:09.8 (1) 1:20.2 (2)	2:30.0 (1) 1:23.5 (2)	3:53.5 (2) 1:20.7 (2)	5:14.2	Q
2	5	Héda Frost	FRA	1:12.3 (2) 1:18.3 (1)	2:30.6 (2) 1:20.8 (1)	3:51.4 (1) 1:23.0 (4)	5:14.4	Q
3	4	Karin Larsson	SWE	1:13.2 (=3) 1:21.4 (3)	2:34.6 (3) 1:23.9 (4)	3:58.5 (3) 1:19.8 (1)	5:18.3
4	1	Beth Whittall	CAN	1:13.6 (5) 1:22.2 (4)	2:35.8 (4) 1:23.6 (3)	3:59.4 (4) 1:22.3 (3)	5:21.7
5	3	Winifred Griffin	NZL	1:14.6 (6) 1:23.0 (5)	2:37.6 (6) 1:25.9 (5)	4:03.5 (5) 1:27.5 (5)	5:31.0
6	7	Gertrudes Lozada	PHI	1:13.2 (=3) 1:23.8 (6)	2:37.0 (5) 1:29.4 (6)	4:06.4 (6) 1:27.8 (6)	5:34.2
DNS	2	Jeanette Myburgh	RSA	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	4	Marley Shriver	USA	1:11.2 (2) 1:18.8 (1)	2:30.0 (2) 1:19.5 (1)	3:49.5 (1) 1:18.1 (2)	5:07.6	QOR
2	6	Sandra Morgan	AUS	1:10.2 (1) 1:19.6 (2)	2:29.8 (1) 1:21.1 (2)	3:50.9 (2) 1:16.9 (1)	5:07.8	Q
3	2	Ingrid Künzel	GER	1:11.4 (3) 1:22.4 (3)	2:33.8 (3) 1:24.9 (3)	3:58.7 (3) 1:22.1 (3)	5:20.8
4	3	Gladys Priestley	CAN	1:14.1 (6) 1:23.3 (5)	2:37.4 (6) 1:25.7 (4)	4:03.1 (4) 1:24.4 (5)	5:27.5
5	5	Anita Hellström	SWE	1:12.3 (4) 1:23.6 (6)	2:35.9 (4) 1:27.4 (5)	4:03.3 (5) 1:25.9 (6)	5:29.2
6	1	Viviane Gouverneur	FRA	1:13.2 (5) 1:22.8 (4)	2:36.0 (5) 1:30.7 (6)	4:06.7 (6) 1:23.0 (4)	5:29.7
DNS	7	Margaret Northrop	KEN	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	5	Dawn Fraser	AUS	1:08.9 (1) 1:17.1 (1)	2:26.0 (1) 1:18.6 (1)	3:44.6 (1) 1:17.9 (1)	5:02.5	QOR
2	3	Sylvia Ruuska	USA	1:11.7 (3) 1:18.6 (2)	2:30.3 (2) 1:19.8 (2)	3:50.1 (2) 1:20.2 (3)	5:10.3	Q
3	6	Ripszima Székely	HUN	1:11.9 (4) 1:19.2 (3)	2:31.1 (3) 1:21.0 (3)	3:52.1 (3) 1:18.4 (2)	5:10.5	Q
4	7	Susan Roberts	RSA	1:10.9 (2) 1:21.6 (4)	2:32.5 (4) 1:23.0 (4)	3:55.5 (4) 1:21.3 (4)	5:16.8
5	2	Colette Thomas	FRA	1:13.2 (7) 1:22.7 (5)	2:35.9 (5) 1:23.7 (5)	3:59.6 (5) 1:24.3 (7)	5:23.9
6	4	Birgitta Wängberg	SWE	1:12.8 (6) 1:23.6 (6)	2:36.4 (6) 1:26.5 (6)	4:02.9 (6) 1:24.1 (6)	5:27.0
7	1	Eiko Wada	JPN	1:12.6 (5) 1:24.9 (7)	2:37.5 (7) 1:26.6 (7)	4:04.1 (7) 1:23.1 (5)	5:27.2

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	6	Lorraine Crapp	AUS	1:09.6 (1) 1:16.2 (1)	2:25.8 (1) 1:16.8 (1)	3:42.6 (1) 1:17.6 (1)	5:00.2	QOR
2	4	Susan Gray	USA	1:12.8 (3) 1:21.5 (2)	2:34.3 (3) 1:22.4 (=2)	3:56.7 (2) 1:20.0 (3)	5:16.7
3	3	Natalie Myburgh	RSA	1:14.4 (6) 1:21.8 (3)	2:36.2 (5) 1:22.4 (=2)	3:58.6 (4) 1:18.2 (2)	5:16.8
4	5	Marrion Roe	NZL	1:10.8 (2) 1:22.3 (5)	2:33.1 (2) 1:24.2 (=4)	3:57.3 (3) 1:21.2 (4)	5:18.5
5	1	Margaret Girvan	GBR	1:13.4 (4) 1:22.4 (6)	2:35.8 (4) 1:24.4 (6)	4:00.2 (5) 1:23.4 (6)	5:23.6
6	2	Gilda Aranda	MEX	1:15.4 (7) 1:22.2 (4)	2:37.6 (7) 1:24.2 (=4)	4:01.8 (6) 1:22.4 (5)	5:24.2
7	7	Yukiko Otaka	JPN	1:13.5 (5) 1:23.2 (7)	2:36.7 (6) 1:25.4 (7)	4:02.1 (7) 1:26.6 (7)	5:28.7

Final (7 December 1956 — 19:30)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	4	Lorraine Crapp	AUS	1:06.9 (=1) 1:13.9 (2)	2:20.8 (1) 1:15.9 (1)	3:36.7 (1) 1:17.9 (1)	4:54.6	OR
2	5	Dawn Fraser	AUS	1:06.9 (=1) 1:14.4 (3)	2:21.3 (2) 1:18.9 (3)	3:40.2 (2) 1:22.3 (7)	5:02.5
3	2	Sylvia Ruuska	USA	1:09.2 (3) 1:19.1 (4)	2:28.3 (4) 1:19.6 (4)	3:47.9 (3) 1:19.2 (=2)	5:07.1
4	3	Marley Shriver	USA	1:12.0 (6) 1:20.0 (5)	2:32.0 (5) 1:21.5 (6)	3:53.5 (5) 1:19.4 (4)	5:12.9
5	7	Ripszima Székely	HUN	1:12.7 (7) 1:21.0 (=6)	2:33.7 (7) 1:21.3 (5)	3:55.0 (7) 1:19.2 (=2)	5:14.2
6	6	Sandra Morgan	AUS	1:11.5 (5) 1:10.4 (1)	2:21.9 (3) 1:32.6 (8)	3:54.5 (6) 1:19.8 (5)	5:14.3
7	8	Héda Frost	FRA	1:13.5 (8) 1:21.0 (=6)	2:34.5 (8) 1:18.8 (2)	3:53.3 (4) 1:22.1 (6)	5:15.4
8	1	Valéria Gyenge	HUN	1:11.2 (4) 1:22.2 (8)	2:33.4 (6) 1:24.2 (7)	3:57.6 (8) 1:23.4 (8)	5:21.0