| | Event type

100 metres Backstroke, Women

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	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	Final
1	79	Judith Grinham	GBR	1:13.1 (1 h1)	1:12.9 (1)	Gold
2	88	Carin Cone	USA	1:13.9 (1 h2)	1:12.9 (2)	Silver
3	78	Margaret Edwards	GBR	1:13.0 (1 h3)	1:13.1 (3)	Bronze
4	77	Helga Schmidt	GER	1:14.8 (3 h3)	1:13.4 (4)
5	90	Maureen Murphy	USA	1:14.8 (4 h3)	1:14.1 (5)
6	80	Julie Hoyle	GBR	1:15.0 (3 h2)	1:14.3 (6)
7	64	Sara Barber	CAN	1:14.3 (2 h3)	1:14.3 (7)
8	73	Gerganiya Beckitt	AUS	1:14.8 (2 h2)	1:14.7 (8)
9	98	Éva Pajor	HUN	1:15.3 (4 h2)	–
=10	83	Jean Stewart	NZL	1:15.4 (5 h2)	–
=10	70	Moira Abernethy	RSA	1:15.4 (6 h2)	–
12	86	Maria Both	ROU	1:15.8 (2 h1)	–
13	74	Patricia Huntingford	AUS	1:16.0 (5 h3)	–
14	91	Lyudmila Klipova	URS	1:16.1 (3 h1)	–
=15	89	Mary Anne Marchino	USA	1:16.2 (4 h1)	–
=15	85	Elżbieta Gellner	POL	1:16.2 (5 h1)	–
17	75	Pam Singleton	AUS	1:17.0 (6 h1)	–
=18	76	Lenora Fisher	CAN	1:17.5 (7 h1)	–
=18	82	Pip Gould	NZL	1:17.5 (6 h3)	–
20	99	Judit Temes	HUN	1:17.6 (7 h3)	–
21	9	Ginette Sendral	FRA	1:19.1 (8 h1)	–
22	84	Jocelyn von Giese	PHI	1:20.0 (7 h2)	–
23	81	Martha Gultom	INA	1:21.7 (8 h3)	–

Round One

Date	3 December 1956 — 16:00
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Margaret Edwards	GBR	1:13.0	QOR
2	–	Judith Grinham	GBR	1:13.1	QOR
3	–	Carin Cone	USA	1:13.9	Q
4	–	Sara Barber	CAN	1:14.3	Q
=5	–	Gerganiya Beckitt	AUS	1:14.8	Q
=5	–	Helga Schmidt	GER	1:14.8	Q
=5	–	Maureen Murphy	USA	1:14.8	Q
8	–	Julie Hoyle	GBR	1:15.0	Q
9	–	Éva Pajor	HUN	1:15.3
=10	–	Jean Stewart	NZL	1:15.4
=10	–	Moira Abernethy	RSA	1:15.4
12	–	Maria Both	ROU	1:15.8
13	–	Patricia Huntingford	AUS	1:16.0
14	–	Lyudmila Klipova	URS	1:16.1
=15	–	Mary Anne Marchino	USA	1:16.2
=15	–	Elżbieta Gellner	POL	1:16.2
17	–	Pam Singleton	AUS	1:17.0
=18	–	Lenora Fisher	CAN	1:17.5
=18	–	Pip Gould	NZL	1:17.5
20	–	Judit Temes	HUN	1:17.6
21	–	Ginette Sendral	FRA	1:19.1
22	–	Jocelyn von Giese	PHI	1:20.0
23	–	Martha Gultom	INA	1:21.7

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Judith Grinham	GBR	1:13.1	QOR
2	–	Maria Both	ROU	1:15.8
3	–	Lyudmila Klipova	URS	1:16.1
4	–	Mary Anne Marchino	USA	1:16.2
5	–	Elżbieta Gellner	POL	1:16.2
6	–	Pam Singleton	AUS	1:17.0
7	–	Lenora Fisher	CAN	1:17.5
8	–	Ginette Sendral	FRA	1:19.1

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Carin Cone	USA	1:13.9	Q
2	–	Gerganiya Beckitt	AUS	1:14.8	Q
3	–	Julie Hoyle	GBR	1:15.0	Q
4	–	Éva Pajor	HUN	1:15.3
5	–	Jean Stewart	NZL	1:15.4
6	–	Moira Abernethy	RSA	1:15.4
7	–	Jocelyn von Giese	PHI	1:20.0

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Margaret Edwards	GBR	1:13.0	QOR
2	–	Sara Barber	CAN	1:14.3	Q
3	–	Helga Schmidt	GER	1:14.8	Q
4	–	Maureen Murphy	USA	1:14.8	Q
5	–	Patricia Huntingford	AUS	1:16.0
6	–	Pip Gould	NZL	1:17.5
7	–	Judit Temes	HUN	1:17.6
8	–	Martha Gultom	INA	1:21.7

Final Round

Date	5 December 1956 — 20:50

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Judith Grinham	GBR	1:12.9	WR
2	–	Carin Cone	USA	1:12.9	=WR
3	–	Margaret Edwards	GBR	1:13.1
4	–	Helga Schmidt	GER	1:13.4
5	–	Maureen Murphy	USA	1:14.1
6	–	Julie Hoyle	GBR	1:14.3
7	–	Sara Barber	CAN	1:14.3
8	–	Gerganiya Beckitt	AUS	1:14.7