Date | 3 – 5 December 1956 |
---|---|
Status | Olympic |
Location | Olympic Park Swimming and Diving Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria |
Participants | 23 from 14 countries |
The withdrawal of the strong Netherlands swimming team from the Melbourne Games opened up the event to domination by a rampaging horde of teenagers. The oldest of the eight finalists, Helga Schmidt of Germany, would not turn 20 until February 1957.
In what was considered an open contest the British pair of Judith Grinham and Margaret Edwards clearly produced the best times in the heats but the final proved to be extremely close with all the finalists in contention until the final strokes of the race. To poolside observers Grinham, Carin Cone of the USA and Edwards all seemed to touch the wall at the same time with the official timing system crediting Grinham and Cone with a dead heat in world record time. Since a tie was not possible according to the rules, the decision on the gold medal was made by the official jury and, after 15 minutes of deliberation, it was decided by majority decision that Grinham was the Olympic champion.
Although the oldest of the three medal winners was only 17 at the time, this was the only Olympic Games that any of them attended. Grinham retired on her 20th birthday.
Pos | Swimmer | NOC | R1 | Final | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Judith Grinham | GBR | 1:13.1 (1 h1) | 1:12.9 (1) | Gold | ||
2 | Carin Cone | USA | 1:13.9 (1 h2) | 1:12.9 (2) | Silver | ||
3 | Margaret Edwards | GBR | 1:13.0 (1 h3) | 1:13.1 (3) | Bronze | ||
4 | Helga Schmidt | GER | 1:14.8 (3 h3) | 1:13.4 (4) | |||
5 | Maureen Murphy | USA | 1:14.8 (4 h3) | 1:14.1 (5) | |||
6 | Julie Hoyle | GBR | 1:15.0 (3 h2) | 1:14.3 (6) | |||
7 | Sara Barber | CAN | 1:14.3 (2 h3) | 1:14.3 (7) | |||
8 | Gerganiya Beckitt | AUS | 1:14.8 (2 h2) | 1:14.7 (8) | |||
9 | Éva Pajor | HUN | 1:15.3 (4 h2) | – | |||
=10 | Jean Stewart | NZL | 1:15.4 (5 h2) | – | |||
=10 | Moira Abernethy | RSA | 1:15.4 (6 h2) | – | |||
12 | Maria Both | ROU | 1:15.8 (2 h1) | – | |||
13 | Patricia Huntingford | AUS | 1:16.0 (5 h3) | – | |||
14 | Lyudmila Klipova | URS | 1:16.1 (3 h1) | – | |||
=15 | Mary Anne Marchino | USA | 1:16.2 (4 h1) | – | |||
=15 | Elżbieta Gellner | POL | 1:16.2 (5 h1) | – | |||
17 | Pam Singleton | AUS | 1:17.0 (6 h1) | – | |||
=18 | Lenora Fisher | CAN | 1:17.5 (7 h1) | – | |||
=18 | Pip Gould | NZL | 1:17.5 (6 h3) | – | |||
20 | Judit Temes | HUN | 1:17.6 (7 h3) | – | |||
21 | Ginette Sendral | FRA | 1:19.1 (8 h1) | – | |||
22 | Jocelyn von Giese | PHI | 1:20.0 (7 h2) | – | |||
23 | Martha Gultom | INA | 1:21.7 (8 h3) | – |
Fastest eight advanced to the final.
Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | Judith Grinham | GBR | 1:13.1 | |||
2 | 8 | Maria Both | ROU | 1:15.8 | |||
3 | 6 | Lyudmila Klipova | URS | 1:16.1 | |||
4 | 5 | Mary Anne Marchino | USA | 1:16.2 | |||
5 | 4 | Elżbieta Gellner | POL | 1:16.2 | |||
6 | 1 | Pam Singleton | AUS | 1:17.0 | |||
7 | 2 | Lenora Fisher | CAN | 1:17.5 | |||
8 | 7 | Ginette Sendral | FRA | 1:19.1 |
Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | Carin Cone | USA | 1:13.9 | |||
2 | 6 | Gerganiya Beckitt | AUS | 1:14.8 | |||
3 | 7 | Julie Hoyle | GBR | 1:15.0 | |||
4 | 5 | Éva Pajor | HUN | 1:15.3 | |||
5 | 4 | Jean Stewart | NZL | 1:15.4 | |||
6 | 1 | Moira Abernethy | RSA | 1:15.4 | |||
7 | 2 | Jocelyn von Giese | PHI | 1:20.0 |
Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | Margaret Edwards | GBR | 1:13.0 | |||
2 | 1 | Sara Barber | CAN | 1:14.3 | |||
3 | 3 | Helga Schmidt | GER | 1:14.8 | |||
4 | 8 | Maureen Murphy | USA | 1:14.8 | |||
5 | 4 | Patricia Huntingford | AUS | 1:16.0 | |||
6 | 5 | Pip Gould | NZL | 1:17.5 | |||
7 | 2 | Judit Temes | HUN | 1:17.6 | |||
8 | 7 | Martha Gultom | INA | 1:21.7 |
Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | Judith Grinham | GBR | 1:12.9 | |||
2 | 3 | Carin Cone | USA | 1:12.9 | |||
3 | 4 | Margaret Edwards | GBR | 1:13.1 | |||
4 | 1 | Helga Schmidt | GER | 1:13.4 | |||
5 | 2 | Maureen Murphy | USA | 1:14.1 | |||
6 | 8 | Julie Hoyle | GBR | 1:14.3 | |||
7 | 6 | Sara Barber | CAN | 1:14.3 | |||
8 | 7 | Gerganiya Beckitt | AUS | 1:14.7 |