4 x 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women
| Date | 4 – 6 December 1956 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Olympic Park Swimming and Diving Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Participants | 45 from 10 countries |
Having smashed the world record twice in the previous eight weeks, and with all three individual medallists included in their quartet, it seemed implausible that any team other than the home nation of Australia would win the women’s relay in Melbourne.
Individual 100 m gold medallist Dawn Fraser faltered at the start when she mistakenly thought a false start had been called but recovered and gave the Aussies a healthy lead on leg one before newly crowned Olympic butterfly champion Shelley Mann dragged the USA back into the fray. The race was effectively decided only on the final leg when 400 m champion Lorraine Crapp sprinted away into the distance. Despite the incident at the start Australia still beat the world record yet again. The time for the second place Americans was also under the old world record.
Round One (4 December 1956 — 14:55)
Fastest eight advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | South Africa |  RSA | 4:26.8 | |||||
| Jeanette Myburgh | – | 1:07.3 | 1:07.3 (1) | ||||||
| Susan Roberts | – | 1:06.5 | 2:13.8 (3) | ||||||
| Moira Abernethy | – | 1:08.2 | 3:22.0 (3) | ||||||
| Natalie Myburgh | – | 1:04.8 | 4:26.8 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 4 | United States |  USA | 4:27.3 | |||||
| Betty Brey | – | 1:07.9 | 1:07.9 (3) | ||||||
| Nancy Simons | – | 1:05.5 | 2:13.4 (2) | ||||||
| Kay Knapp | – | 1:08.2 | 3:21.6 (2) | ||||||
| Marley Shriver | – | 1:05.7 | 4:27.3 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 6 | Unified Team of Germany |  GER | 4:27.5 | |||||
| Ingrid Künzel | – | 1:07.6 | 1:07.6 (2) | ||||||
| Hertha Haase | – | 1:05.5 | 2:13.1 (1) | ||||||
| Kati Jansen | – | 1:07.0 | 3:20.1 (1) | ||||||
| Birgit Klomp | – | 1:07.4 | 4:27.5 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 3 | Great Britain |  GBR | 4:34.6 | |||||
| Frances Hogben | – | 1:08.3 | 1:08.3 (4) | ||||||
| Margaret Girvan | – | 1:08.6 | 2:16.9 (4) | ||||||
| Fearne Ewart | – | 1:09.3 | 3:26.2 (4) | ||||||
| Judith Grinham | – | 1:07.4 | 4:33.6 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | France |  FRA | 4:36.6 | |||||
| Odile Vouaux | – | 1:08.4 | 1:08.4 (5) | ||||||
| Viviane Gouverneur | – | 1:10.4 | 2:18.8 (5) | ||||||
| Ginette Sendral | – | 1:10.6 | 3:29.4 (5) | ||||||
| Héda Frost | – | 1:07.2 | 4:36.6 (5) |
Heat Two
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Australia |  AUS | 4:25.0 | |||||
| Margaret Gibson | – | 1:06.4 | 1:06.4 (1) | ||||||
| Sandra Morgan | – | 1:05.4 | 2:11.8 (1) | ||||||
| Elizabeth Fraser | – | 1:07.3 | 3:19.1 (1) | ||||||
| Faith Leech | – | 1:05.9 | 4:25.0 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | Hungary |  HUN | 4:28.1 | |||||
| Judit Temes | – | 1:07.1 | 1:07.1 (3) | ||||||
| Mária Littomeritzky | – | 1:07.1 | 2:14.2 (2) | ||||||
| Katalin Szőke | – | 1:07.0 | 3:21.2 (2) | ||||||
| Valéria Gyenge | – | 1:06.9 | 4:28.1 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | Canada |  CAN | 4:29.3 | |||||
| Virginia Grant | – | 1:06.7 | 1:06.7 (2) | ||||||
| Gladys Priestley | – | 1:07.7 | 2:14.4 (3) | ||||||
| Sara Barber | – | 1:08.1 | 3:22.5 (3) | ||||||
| Helen Stewart | – | 1:06.8 | 4:29.3 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 6 | Sweden |  SWE | 4:30.1 | |||||
| Anita Hellström | – | 1:08.3 | 1:08.3 (5) | ||||||
| Birgitta Wängberg | – | 1:07.7 | 2:16.0 (5) | ||||||
| Karin Larsson | – | 1:07.4 | 3:23.4 (4) | ||||||
| Kate Jobson | – | 1:06.7 | 4:30.1 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 4 | Japan |  JPN | 4:35.8 | 1 | ||||
| Hitomi Jinno | – | 1:07.8 | 1:07.8 (4) | ||||||
| Eiko Wada | – | 1:08.1 | 2:15.9 (4) | ||||||
| Yoshiko Sato | – | 1:08.8 | 3:24.7 (5) | ||||||
| Yukiko Otaka | – | 1:11.3 | 4:36.0 (5) |
Final (6 December 1956 — 20:20)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Australia | AUS | 4:17.1 | |||||
| Dawn Fraser | – | 1:04.0 | 1:04.0 (1) | ||||||
| Faith Leech | – | 1:05.3 | 2:09.3 (1) | ||||||
| Sandra Morgan | – | 1:04.7 | 3:14.0 (1) | ||||||
| Lorraine Crapp | – | 1:03.1 | 4:17.1 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | United States | USA | 4:19.2 | |||||
| Sylvia Ruuska | – | 1:06.3 | 1:06.3 (2) | ||||||
| Shelley Mann | – | 1:03.9 | 2:10.2 (2) | ||||||
| Nancy Simons | – | 1:04.6 | 3:14.8 (2) | ||||||
| Joan Rosazza | – | 1:04.4 | 4:19.2 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | South Africa | RSA | 4:25.7 | |||||
| Natalie Myburgh | – | 1:07.7 | 1:07.7 (5) | ||||||
| Susan Roberts | – | 1:05.3 | 2:13.0 (3) | ||||||
| Moira Abernethy | – | 1:08.0 | 3:21.0 (4) | ||||||
| Jeanette Myburgh | – | 1:04.7 | 4:25.7 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 6 | Unified Team of Germany | GER | 4:26.1 | |||||
| Ingrid Künzel | – | 1:06.6 | 1:06.6 (3) | ||||||
| Hertha Haase | – | 1:06.7 | 2:13.3 (4) | ||||||
| Kati Jansen | – | 1:05.7 | 3:19.0 (3) | ||||||
| Birgit Klomp | – | 1:07.1 | 4:26.1 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 7 | Canada | CAN | 4:28.3 | |||||
| Helen Stewart | – | 1:07.1 | 1:07.1 (4) | ||||||
| Gladys Priestley | – | 1:07.1 | 2:14.2 (5) | ||||||
| Sara Barber | – | 1:07.5 | 3:21.7 (5) | ||||||
| Virginia Grant | – | 1:06.6 | 4:28.3 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 1 | Sweden | SWE | 4:30.0 | |||||
| Anita Hellström | – | 1:08.8 | 1:08.8 (=6) | ||||||
| Birgitta Wängberg | – | 1:07.7 | 2:16.5 (6) | ||||||
| Karin Larsson | – | 1:07.4 | 3:23.9 (7) | ||||||
| Kate Jobson | – | 1:06.1 | 4:30.0 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 2 | Hungary | HUN | 4:31.1 | |||||
| Mária Littomeritzky | – | 1:09.9 | 1:09.9 (8) | ||||||
| Katalin Szőke | – | 1:06.7 | 2:16.6 (7) | ||||||
| Judit Temes | – | 1:06.7 | 3:23.3 (6) | ||||||
| Valéria Gyenge | – | 1:07.8 | 4:31.1 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | Great Britain | GBR | 4:35.8 | |||||
| Frances Hogben | – | 1:08.8 | 1:08.8 (=6) | ||||||
| Judith Grinham | – | 1:09.0 | 2:17.8 (8) | ||||||
| Margaret Girvan | – | 1:09.4 | 3:27.2 (8) | ||||||
| Fearne Ewart | – | 1:08.6 | 4:35.8 (8) |