| | Event type

100 metres Freestyle, Women

Date	26 – 29 August 1960
Status	Olympic
Location	Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto, Roma
Participants	32 from 19 countries

Dawn Fraser had won this event in Melbourne and had not lost a 100 freestyle in the ensuing four years, setting the last five world records, the most recent being 1:00.2 set in Sydney in February. The American hope was Chris von Saltza, distantly descended from Swedish royalty, but she was given little chance to defeat Fraser. Von Saltza had the fastest time in the heats with 1:01.9, Fraser winning her heat easily in 1:02.1, but in the semis Fraser posted 1:01.4 to CVS’s 1:02.5, as they qualified 1-2 for the final. The final was not close as Fraser won comfortably in 1:01.2, von Saltza taking the silver medal in 1:02.8. Fraser would return in 1964 at Tokyo to win the event for a third consecutive time, the first Olympic swimmer to pull off that feat. Von Saltza would sparkle in Rome, winning the 400 freestyle and two relay gold medals, for four Olympic medals in all.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	Dawn Fraser	AUS	1:02.1 (1 h2)	1:01.4 (1 h2)	1:01.2 (1)	Gold
2	Chris von Saltza	USA	1:01.9 (1 h4)	1:02.5 (1 h1)	1:02.8 (2)	Silver
3	Natalie Steward	GBR	1:03.5 (1 h5)	1:02.9 (2 h1)	1:03.1 (3)	Bronze
4	Carolyn Wood	USA	1:04.3 (2 h5)	1:04.2 (4 h2)	1:03.4 (4)
5	Csilla Madarász	HUN	1:04.5 (1 h3)	1:03.0 (3 h1)	1:03.6 (5)
6	Erica Terpstra	NED	1:04.4 (2 h1)	1:03.7 (2 h2)	1:04.3 (6)
7	Cocki van Engelsdorp Gastelaars	NED	1:03.9 (2 h2)	1:03.9 (3 h2)	1:04.7 (7)
8	Mary Beth Stewart	CAN	1:06.0 (4 h4)	1:04.2 (5 h2)	1:05.5 (8)
9	Ilsa Konrads	AUS	1:04.2 (1 h1)	1:04.7 (4 h1)	–
10	Ursel Brunner	GER	1:04.6 (2 h4)	1:04.8 (6 h2)	–
=11	Héda Frost	FRA	1:05.8 (3 h4)	1:05.4 (5 h1)	–
=11	Paola Saini	ITA	1:04.4 (3 h5)	1:05.4 (6 h1)	–
=13	Heidi Pechstein	GER	1:05.1 (2 h3)	1:05.6 (8 h1)	–
=13	Inger Thorngren	SWE	1:06.1 (3 h2)	1:05.6 (7 h1)	–
15	Katalin Boros	HUN	1:05.2 (3 h1)	1:06.2 (7 h2)	–
16	Karin Larsson	SWE	1:06.3 (4 h1)	1:06.5 (8 h2)	–
=17	Yoshiko Sato	JPN	1:06.4 (4 h2)	–	–
=17	Marina Shamal	URS	1:06.4 (4 h5)	–	–
19	Ulvi Voog	URS	1:06.7 (5 h4)	–	–
20	Maria Cristina Pacifici	ITA	1:07.1 (5 h1)	–	–
21	Nora Novotny	AUT	1:07.4 (5 h2)	–	–
=22	Diana Wilkinson	GBR	1:07.5 (3 h3)	–	–
=22	Ágústa Þorsteinsdóttir	ISL	1:07.5 (6 h2)	–	–
24	Margaret Iwasaki	CAN	1:07.6 (4 h3)	–	–
25	Haydée Coloso	PHI	1:07.8 (6 h4)	–	–
26	Blanca Barrón	MEX	1:07.9 (6 h1)	–	–
27	Marie-Laure Gaillot	FRA	1:08.0 (5 h5)	–	–
28	María Luisa Souza	MEX	1:08.4 (6 h5)	–	–
29	Anneliese Rockenbach	VEN	1:08.5 (5 h3)	–	–
30	Dottie Sutcliffe	RHO	1:09.0 (7 h4)	–	–
31	Hitomi Jinno	JPN	1:09.8 (6 h3)	–	–
32	Rita Pulido	ESP	1:10.0 (7 h3)	–	–

Round One (26 August 1960 — 15:00)

Fastest 16 advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Ilsa Konrads	AUS	– (–) –	1:04.2	Q
2	5	Erica Terpstra	NED	– (–) –	1:04.4	Q
3	6	Katalin Boros	HUN	– (–) –	1:05.2	Q
4	3	Karin Larsson	SWE	– (–) –	1:06.3
5	2	Maria Cristina Pacifici	ITA	– (–) –	1:07.1
6	7	Blanca Barrón	MEX	– (–) –	1:07.9

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Dawn Fraser	AUS	– (–) –	1:02.1	Q
2	5	Cocki van Engelsdorp Gastelaars	NED	– (–) –	1:03.9	Q
3	3	Inger Thorngren	SWE	– (–) –	1:06.1	Q
4	6	Yoshiko Sato	JPN	– (–) –	1:06.4
5	7	Nora Novotny	AUT	– (–) –	1:07.4
6	1	Ágústa Þorsteinsdóttir	ISL	– (–) –	1:07.5

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Csilla Madarász	HUN	– (–) –	1:04.5	Q
2	3	Heidi Pechstein	GER	– (–) –	1:05.1	Q
3	6	Diana Wilkinson	GBR	– (–) –	1:07.5
4	5	Margaret Iwasaki	CAN	– (–) –	1:07.6
5	7	Anneliese Rockenbach	VEN	– (–) –	1:08.5
6	2	Hitomi Jinno	JPN	– (–) –	1:09.8
7	1	Rita Pulido	ESP	– (–) –	1:10.0

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Chris von Saltza	USA	– (–) –	1:01.9	QOR
2	3	Ursel Brunner	GER	– (–) –	1:04.6	Q
3	6	Héda Frost	FRA	– (–) –	1:05.8	Q
4	5	Mary Beth Stewart	CAN	– (–) –	1:06.0	Q
5	2	Ulvi Voog	URS	– (–) –	1:06.7
6	1	Haydée Coloso	PHI	– (–) –	1:07.8
7	7	Dottie Sutcliffe	RHO	– (–) –	1:09.0

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Natalie Steward	GBR	– (–) –	1:03.5	Q
2	4	Carolyn Wood	USA	– (–) –	1:04.3	Q
3	6	Paola Saini	ITA	– (–) –	1:04.4	Q
4	3	Marina Shamal	URS	– (–) –	1:06.4
5	2	Marie-Laure Gaillot	FRA	– (–) –	1:08.0
6	7	María Luisa Souza	MEX	– (–) –	1:08.4

Semi-Finals (27 August 1960 — 20:40)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Chris von Saltza	USA	– (–) –	1:02.5	Q
2	5	Natalie Steward	GBR	– (–) –	1:02.9	Q
3	2	Csilla Madarász	HUN	– (–) –	1:03.0	Q
4	3	Ilsa Konrads	AUS	– (–) –	1:04.7
5	1	Héda Frost	FRA	– (–) –	1:05.4
6	6	Paola Saini	ITA	– (–) –	1:05.4
7	8	Inger Thorngren	SWE	– (–) –	1:05.6
8	7	Heidi Pechstein	GER	– (–) –	1:05.6

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Dawn Fraser	AUS	– (–) –	1:01.4	QOR
2	6	Erica Terpstra	NED	– (–) –	1:03.7	Q
3	5	Cocki van Engelsdorp Gastelaars	NED	– (–) –	1:03.9	Q
4	3	Carolyn Wood	USA	– (–) –	1:04.2	Q
5	1	Mary Beth Stewart	CAN	– (–) –	1:04.2	Q
6	2	Ursel Brunner	GER	– (–) –	1:04.8
7	7	Katalin Boros	HUN	– (–) –	1:06.2
8	8	Karin Larsson	SWE	– (–) –	1:06.5

Final (29 August 1960 — 21:10)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Dawn Fraser	AUS	– (–) –	1:01.2	OR
2	5	Chris von Saltza	USA	– (–) –	1:02.8
3	3	Natalie Steward	GBR	– (–) –	1:03.1
4	1	Carolyn Wood	USA	– (–) –	1:03.4
5	6	Csilla Madarász	HUN	– (–) –	1:03.6
6	2	Erica Terpstra	NED	– (–) –	1:04.3
7	7	Cocki van Engelsdorp Gastelaars	NED	– (–) –	1:04.7
8	8	Mary Beth Stewart	CAN	– (–) –	1:05.5