| | Event type

200 metres Backstroke, Women

Date	4 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Schwimmhalle, Olympiapark, München
Participants	37 from 20 countries

The favorite was American Melissa Belote, who had broken the world record at the US Trials in August, recording 2:20.64. She had already won the 100 back two days earlier, and a gold in the medley relay the day before, and in the heats in Munich she broke her world record in this event with 2:20.58. The 200 final was the final event of the women’s 1972 swimming program. Belote made easy work of it, taking the lead on the first lap and increasing it throughout to win gold in another record time of 2:19.19. Her teammate Susie Atwood was second for much of the race and held on for silver, ahead of Canada’s Donna-Marie Gurr, a surprise bronze medalist.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	Final
1	1057	Melissa Belote	USA	2:20.58 (1 h5)	2:19.19 (1)	Gold
2	1053	Susie Atwood	USA	2:22.13 (1 h2)	2:20.38 (2)	Silver
3	697	Donna-Marie Gurr	CAN	2:25.33 (2 h4)	2:23.22 (3)	Bronze
4	–	Annegret Kober	FRG	2:24.88 (1 h1)	2:23.35 (4)
5	793	Christine Herbst	GDR	2:25.09 (2 h5)	2:23.44 (5)
6	844	Enith Brigitha	NED	2:23.70 (1 h4)	2:23.70 (6)
7	665	Debbie Palmer	AUS	2:24.25 (2 h2)	2:24.65 (7)
8	693	Leslie Cliff	CAN	2:25.08 (1 h3)	2:25.80 (8)
9	661	Sue Lewis	AUS	2:25.34 (3 h5)	–
10	815	Karin Bormann	FRG	2:25.59 (2 h3)	–
11	694	Wendy Cook	CAN	2:25.71 (2 h1)	–
12	–	Andrea Gyarmati	HUN	2:25.81 (4 h5)	–
13	1078	Lynn Skrifvars	USA	2:26.40 (3 h3)	–
14	916	Suzuko Matsumura	JPN	2:26.95 (3 h1)	–
15	654	Debra Cain	AUS	2:27.14 (4 h3)	–
16	747	Sylvie Le Noach	FRA	2:27.18 (3 h4)	–
17	943	María Teresa Ramírez	MEX	2:27.47 (4 h1)	–
18	794	Susanne Hilger	GDR	2:27.88 (3 h2)	–
19	848	Josien Elzerman	NED	2:28.18 (5 h3)	–
20	1031	Tina Lek'veishvili	URS	2:28.22 (4 h4)	–
21	960	Susan Hunter	NZL	2:28.28 (4 h2)	–
22	1002	Susanne Niesner	SUI	2:28.62 (5 h4)	–
23	849	Annemarie Groen	NED	2:29.17 (5 h1)	–
24	759	Pam Bairstow	GBR	2:29.28 (6 h4)	–
25	1029	Nataliya Yershova	URS	2:29.46 (5 h5)	–
26	913	Kikuyo Ishii	JPN	2:29.66 (5 h2)	–
27	758	Diana Ashton	GBR	2:29.95 (6 h1)	–
28	911	Kazu Fujimura	JPN	2:30.37 (6 h3)	–
29	822	Angelika Kraus	FRG	2:31.16 (6 h5)	–
30	652	Patricia López	ARG	2:33.41 (7 h5)	–
31	1089	Zdenka Gašparac	YUG	2:33.57 (6 h2)	–
32	878	Christine Fulcher	IRL	2:33.73 (7 h2)	–
33	946	María Cecilia Vargas	MEX	2:37.54 (7 h4)	–
34	777	Diana Sutherland	GBR	2:37.61 (8 h5)	–
35	1051	Felicia Ospitaletche	URU	2:37.88 (7 h3)	–
36	992	Pat Chan	SGP	2:41.27 (8 h2)	–
37	934	Ong Mei Lin	MAS	2:46.40 (8 h4)	–
DNS	687	Svetlozara Ignatova	BUL	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	927	Mireille Bassoul	LBN	– (DNS h3)	–

Round One

Date	4 September 1972 — 10:30
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	4	Melissa Belote	USA	2:20.58	QWR
2	4	Susie Atwood	USA	2:22.13	QOR
3	2	Enith Brigitha	NED	2:23.70	Q
4	5	Debbie Palmer	AUS	2:24.25	Q
5	3	Annegret Kober	FRG	2:24.88	Q
6	3	Leslie Cliff	CAN	2:25.08	Q
7	3	Christine Herbst	GDR	2:25.09	Q
8	4	Donna-Marie Gurr	CAN	2:25.33	Q
9	6	Sue Lewis	AUS	2:25.34
10	7	Karin Bormann	FRG	2:25.59
11	5	Wendy Cook	CAN	2:25.71
12	5	Andrea Gyarmati	HUN	2:25.81
13	5	Lynn Skrifvars	USA	2:26.40
14	6	Suzuko Matsumura	JPN	2:26.95
15	4	Debra Cain	AUS	2:27.14
16	5	Sylvie Le Noach	FRA	2:27.18
17	7	María Teresa Ramírez	MEX	2:27.47
18	3	Susanne Hilger	GDR	2:27.88
19	6	Josien Elzerman	NED	2:28.18
20	6	Tina Lek'veishvili	URS	2:28.22
21	2	Susan Hunter	NZL	2:28.28
22	3	Susanne Niesner	SUI	2:28.62
23	4	Annemarie Groen	NED	2:29.17
24	7	Pam Bairstow	GBR	2:29.28
25	2	Nataliya Yershova	URS	2:29.46
26	6	Kikuyo Ishii	JPN	2:29.66
27	2	Diana Ashton	GBR	2:29.95
28	2	Kazu Fujimura	JPN	2:30.37
29	7	Angelika Kraus	FRG	2:31.16
30	8	Patricia López	ARG	2:33.41
31	7	Zdenka Gašparac	YUG	2:33.57
32	1	Christine Fulcher	IRL	2:33.73
33	1	María Cecilia Vargas	MEX	2:37.54
34	1	Diana Sutherland	GBR	2:37.61
35	8	Felicia Ospitaletche	URU	2:37.88
36	8	Pat Chan	SGP	2:41.27
37	8	Ong Mei Lin	MAS	2:46.40
DNS	–	Svetlozara Ignatova	BUL	–
DNS	–	Mireille Bassoul	LBN	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m	100-150 m	150-200 m
1	3	Annegret Kober	FRG	2:24.88	32.98 (1)	1:09.35 (1)	1:46.77 (1)	36.37 (1)	37.42 (1)	38.11 (4)	Q
2	5	Wendy Cook	CAN	2:25.71	33.53 (3)	1:10.00 (2)	1:48.06 (2)	36.47 (2)	38.06 (4)	37.65 (1)
3	6	Suzuko Matsumura	JPN	2:26.95	34.59 (5)	1:11.25 (4)	1:49.22 (3)	36.66 (3)	37.97 (3)	37.73 (2)
4	7	María Teresa Ramírez	MEX	2:27.47	34.70 (6)	1:11.90 (6)	1:49.50 (5)	37.20 (5)	37.60 (2)	37.97 (3)
5	4	Annemarie Groen	NED	2:29.17	33.55 (4)	1:10.59 (3)	1:49.30 (4)	37.04 (4)	38.71 (6)	39.87 (6)
6	2	Diana Ashton	GBR	2:29.95	33.46 (2)	1:11.88 (5)	1:50.58 (6)	38.42 (6)	38.70 (5)	39.37 (5)
DNS	–	Svetlozara Ignatova	BUL	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m	100-150 m	150-200 m
1	4	Susie Atwood	USA	2:22.13	33.86 (1)	1:09.33 (1)	1:46.02 (1)	35.47 (2)	36.69 (1)	36.11 (1)	QOR
2	5	Debbie Palmer	AUS	2:24.25	34.39 (3)	1:09.62 (2)	1:46.86 (2)	35.23 (1)	37.24 (3)	37.39 (2)	Q
3	3	Susanne Hilger	GDR	2:27.88	35.44 (7)	1:11.71 (3)	1:49.86 (3)	36.27 (3)	38.15 (4)	38.02 (3)
4	2	Susan Hunter	NZL	2:28.28	34.97 (5)	1:12.97 (5)	1:50.19 (4)	38.00 (5)	37.22 (2)	38.09 (4)
5	6	Kikuyo Ishii	JPN	2:29.66	35.12 (6)	1:12.56 (4)	1:51.48 (5)	37.44 (4)	38.92 (5)	38.18 (5)
6	7	Zdenka Gašparac	YUG	2:33.57	34.88 (4)	1:13.48 (6)	1:52.92 (6)	38.60 (6)	39.44 (7)	40.65 (7)
7	1	Christine Fulcher	IRL	2:33.73	34.31 (2)	1:14.05 (7)	1:53.35 (7)	39.74 (7)	39.30 (6)	40.38 (6)
8	8	Pat Chan	SGP	2:41.27	36.95 (8)	1:17.51 (8)	1:59.02 (8)	40.56 (8)	41.51 (8)	42.25 (8)

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m	100-150 m	150-200 m
1	3	Leslie Cliff	CAN	2:25.08	33.91 (2)	1:10.58 (3)	1:48.21 (2)	36.67 (=3)	37.63 (2)	36.87 (1)	Q
2	7	Karin Bormann	FRG	2:25.59	33.14 (1)	1:08.98 (1)	1:46.59 (1)	35.84 (2)	37.61 (1)	39.00 (6)
3	5	Lynn Skrifvars	USA	2:26.40	34.66 (5)	1:11.33 (4)	1:49.03 (4)	36.67 (=3)	37.70 (3)	37.37 (2)
4	4	Debra Cain	AUS	2:27.14	34.49 (4)	1:10.29 (2)	1:48.23 (3)	35.80 (1)	37.94 (4)	38.91 (5)
5	6	Josien Elzerman	NED	2:28.18	34.42 (3)	1:11.65 (5)	1:50.03 (5)	37.23 (5)	38.38 (5)	38.15 (3)
6	2	Kazu Fujimura	JPN	2:30.37	34.67 (6)	1:12.88 (6)	1:51.89 (6)	38.21 (6)	39.01 (6)	38.48 (4)
7	8	Felicia Ospitaletche	URU	2:37.88	36.81 (7)	1:17.45 (7)	1:58.03 (7)	40.64 (7)	40.58 (7)	39.85 (7)
DNS	–	Mireille Bassoul	LBN	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m	100-150 m	150-200 m
1	2	Enith Brigitha	NED	2:23.70	32.89 (1)	1:09.49 (1)	1:46.89 (1)	36.60 (1)	37.40 (1)	36.81 (1)	Q
2	4	Donna-Marie Gurr	CAN	2:25.33	33.55 (2)	1:10.23 (2)	1:48.02 (2)	36.68 (2)	37.79 (2)	37.31 (3)	Q
3	5	Sylvie Le Noach	FRA	2:27.18	34.45 (=5)	1:11.69 (3)	1:49.64 (3)	37.24 (3)	37.95 (4)	37.54 (4)
4	6	Tina Lek'veishvili	URS	2:28.22	33.80 (3)	1:11.86 (4)	1:50.98 (6)	38.06 (5)	39.12 (6)	37.24 (2)
5	3	Susanne Niesner	SUI	2:28.62	34.33 (4)	1:12.72 (6)	1:50.58 (4)	38.39 (6)	37.86 (3)	38.04 (5)
6	7	Pam Bairstow	GBR	2:29.28	34.45 (=5)	1:12.16 (5)	1:50.90 (5)	37.71 (4)	38.74 (5)	38.38 (6)
7	1	María Cecilia Vargas	MEX	2:37.54	35.77 (7)	1:15.87 (7)	1:56.57 (7)	40.10 (7)	40.70 (7)	40.97 (7)
8	8	Ong Mei Lin	MAS	2:46.40	39.14 (8)	1:22.09 (8)	2:04.30 (8)	42.95 (8)	42.21 (8)	42.10 (8)

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m	100-150 m	150-200 m
1	4	Melissa Belote	USA	2:20.58	32.14 (1)	1:07.32 (1)	1:43.84 (1)	35.18 (1)	36.52 (1)	36.74 (1)	QWR
2	3	Christine Herbst	GDR	2:25.09	32.94 (3)	1:09.05 (3)	1:46.80 (2)	36.11 (4)	37.75 (3)	38.29 (3)	Q
3	6	Sue Lewis	AUS	2:25.34	34.30 (5)	1:10.34 (4)	1:47.67 (4)	36.04 (2)	37.33 (2)	37.67 (2)
4	5	Andrea Gyarmati	HUN	2:25.81	32.92 (2)	1:09.02 (2)	1:47.28 (3)	36.10 (3)	38.26 (4)	38.53 (4)
5	2	Nataliya Yershova	URS	2:29.46	33.61 (4)	1:11.32 (5)	1:50.49 (5)	37.71 (5)	39.17 (6)	38.97 (5)
6	7	Angelika Kraus	FRG	2:31.16	34.72 (6)	1:12.96 (6)	1:51.87 (6)	38.24 (6)	38.91 (5)	39.29 (6)
7	8	Patricia López	ARG	2:33.41	34.97 (7)	1:13.25 (7)	1:52.61 (7)	38.28 (7)	39.36 (7)	40.80 (7)
8	1	Diana Sutherland	GBR	2:37.61	35.35 (8)	1:14.56 (8)	1:55.57 (8)	39.21 (8)	41.01 (8)	42.04 (8)

Final Round

Date	4 September 1972 — 18:50

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m	100-150 m	150-200 m
1	4	Melissa Belote	USA	2:19.19	32.11 (1)	1:06.59 (1)	1:42.55 (1)	34.48 (1)	35.96 (1)	36.64 (2)	WR
2	5	Susie Atwood	USA	2:20.38	33.01 (6)	1:08.04 (2)	1:44.37 (2)	35.03 (2)	36.33 (2)	36.01 (1)
3	8	Donna-Marie Gurr	CAN	2:23.22	32.97 (5)	1:09.23 (5)	1:45.89 (3)	36.26 (4)	36.66 (3)	37.33 (5)
4	2	Annegret Kober	FRG	2:23.35	32.41 (=2)	1:08.73 (4)	1:46.27 (5)	36.32 (5)	37.54 (7)	37.08 (3)
5	1	Christine Herbst	GDR	2:23.44	32.53 (4)	1:09.24 (6)	1:46.26 (4)	36.71 (7)	37.02 (4)	37.18 (4)
6	3	Enith Brigitha	NED	2:23.70	32.41 (=2)	1:08.54 (3)	1:46.29 (6)	36.13 (3)	37.75 (8)	37.41 (6)
7	6	Debbie Palmer	AUS	2:24.65	33.35 (7)	1:09.70 (7)	1:46.86 (7)	36.35 (6)	37.16 (5)	37.79 (7)
8	7	Leslie Cliff	CAN	2:25.80	33.67 (8)	1:10.61 (8)	1:47.95 (8)	36.94 (8)	37.34 (6)	37.85 (8)