| | Event type

200 metres Backstroke, Women

Date	25 October 1968
Status	Olympic
Location	Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez, Ciudad de México
Participants	30 from 19 countries

The world record holder was Karen Muir of South Africa, who could not compete because her nation was banned from the Olympics because of its policy of apartheid in sport (and elsewhere), and would remain banned until 1992. She had set four world records in the event since 1966 and was missed. Canada’s Elaine Tanner had broken her streak with a single world record set in July 1967 in Winnipeg, Manitoba to win the Pan American Games. America’s best was Pokey Watson, who was young and untried internationally. In the final Tanner took the lead over the first 100 metres with Watson second, followed by Yugoslavia’s Zdenka Gašparač and American Kaye Hall in fourth. Watson caught Tanner at the 125-metre mark and took the lead on the final turn, powering home to win in 2:24.8, 2.6 seconds ahead of Tanner, with Hall coming on strong for the bronze medal, and Gašparač dropping back to sixth.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Pokey Watson	USA	2:29.2 (1 h5)	2:24.8 (1)	Gold
2	Elaine Tanner	CAN	2:30.9 (1 h4)	2:27.4 (2)	Silver
3	Kaye Hall	USA	2:31.1 (1 h1)	2:28.9 (3)	Bronze
4	Lynne Watson	AUS	2:33.5 (1 h3)	2:29.5 (4)
5	Wendy Burrell	GBR	2:33.2 (2 h4)	2:32.3 (5)
6	Zdenka Gašparac	YUG	2:33.7 (2 h5)	2:33.5 (6)
7	María Corominas	ESP	2:34.5 (1 h2)	2:33.9 (7)
8	Bénédicte Duprez	FRA	2:34.5 (3 h5)	2:36.6 (8)
9	Doris Kohardt	GDR	2:34.7 (3 h4)	–
10	Susie Atwood	USA	2:35.2 (2 h3)	–
11	Bep Weeteling	NED	2:35.4 (3 h3)	–
12	Tatyana Savelyeva	URS	2:35.5 (2 h2)	–
13	Sylvie Canet	FRA	2:36.1 (4 h5)	–
14	Angelika Kraus	FRG	2:36.7 (4 h4)	–
15	Coby Sikkens	NED	2:36.9 (2 h1)	–
16	Yvette Hafner	AUT	2:37.7 (5 h5)	–
17	Jeanne Warren	CAN	2:37.9 (3 h1)	–
18	Ulla Patrikka	FIN	2:38.1 (3 h2)	–
19	Anca Andreiu	ROU	2:38.8 (4 h3)	–
20	Anne Walton	CAN	2:39.4 (4 h1)	–
21	Jackie Brown	GBR	2:40.0 (5 h1)	–
22	Glenda Stirling	NZL	2:40.3 (5 h4)	–
=23	Tina Lek'veishvili	URS	2:40.5 (6 h1)	–
=23	Kiki Caron	FRA	2:40.5 (4 h2)	–
25	Patricia Sentous	ARG	2:41.5 (6 h5)	–
26	Francine Dauven	BEL	2:43.5 (7 h1)	–
27	María Procopio	ARG	2:49.2 (5 h3)	–
28	Felicia Ospitaletche	URU	2:51.4 (7 h5)	–
29	Carmen Ferracuti	ESA	2:52.6 (6 h4)	–
30	Rosa Hasbún	ESA	2:56.2 (8 h5)	–
DNS	Silvana Asturias	GUA	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	Judit Bárányi	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	Andrea Gyarmati	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	Mária Balla-Lantos	HUN	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	Lidia Ramírez	MEX	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	Helen Elliott	PHI	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	Adriana Comolli	ARG	– (DNS h4)	–

Round One (25 October 1968 — 10:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	1	Kaye Hall	USA	1:12.0 (1) 1:19.1 (1)	2:31.1	QOR
2	3	Coby Sikkens	NED	1:17.5 (5) 1:19.4 (2)	2:36.9
3	2	Jeanne Warren	CAN	1:16.6 (3) 1:21.3 (4)	2:37.9
4	6	Anne Walton	CAN	1:16.9 (4) 1:22.5 (5)	2:39.4
5	4	Jackie Brown	GBR	1:14.5 (2) 1:25.5 (7)	2:40.0
6	5	Tina Lek'veishvili	URS	1:19.5 (6) 1:21.0 (3)	2:40.5
7	7	Francine Dauven	BEL	1:19.7 (7) 1:23.8 (6)	2:43.5

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	3	María Corominas	ESP	1:15.9 (3) 1:18.6 (1)	2:34.5	Q
2	4	Tatyana Savelyeva	URS	1:15.0 (2) 1:20.5 (2)	2:35.5
3	5	Ulla Patrikka	FIN	1:13.8 (1) 1:24.3 (4)	2:38.1
4	6	Kiki Caron	FRA	1:17.7 (4) 1:22.8 (3)	2:40.5
DNS	–	Silvana Asturias	GUA	– (–) –	–
DNS	–	Judit Bárányi	HUN	– (–) –	–
DNS	–	Andrea Gyarmati	HUN	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	2	Lynne Watson	AUS	1:14.5 (1) 1:19.0 (1)	2:33.5	Q
2	6	Susie Atwood	USA	1:14.6 (2) 1:20.6 (3)	2:35.2
3	3	Bep Weeteling	NED	1:15.3 (3) 1:20.1 (2)	2:35.4
4	5	Anca Andreiu	ROU	1:17.0 (4) 1:21.8 (4)	2:38.8
5	4	María Procopio	ARG	1:21.7 (5) 1:27.5 (5)	2:49.2
DNS	–	Mária Balla-Lantos	HUN	– (–) –	–
DNS	–	Lidia Ramírez	MEX	– (–) –	–
DNS	–	Helen Elliott	PHI	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	5	Elaine Tanner	CAN	1:13.7 (2) 1:17.2 (1)	2:30.9	QOR
2	3	Wendy Burrell	GBR	1:12.8 (1) 1:20.4 (4)	2:33.2	Q
3	2	Doris Kohardt	GDR	1:14.9 (3) 1:19.8 (2)	2:34.7
4	6	Angelika Kraus	FRG	1:16.4 (4) 1:20.3 (3)	2:36.7
5	7	Glenda Stirling	NZL	1:18.9 (5) 1:21.4 (5)	2:40.3
6	4	Carmen Ferracuti	ESA	1:23.6 (6) 1:29.0 (6)	2:52.6
DNS	–	Adriana Comolli	ARG	– (–) –	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	1	Pokey Watson	USA	1:13.8 (2) 1:15.4 (1)	2:29.2	QOR
2	7	Zdenka Gašparac	YUG	1:13.5 (1) 1:20.2 (4)	2:33.7	Q
3	4	Bénédicte Duprez	FRA	1:15.5 (3) 1:19.0 (3)	2:34.5	Q
4	5	Sylvie Canet	FRA	1:17.8 (5) 1:18.3 (2)	2:36.1
5	6	Yvette Hafner	AUT	1:17.2 (4) 1:20.5 (5)	2:37.7
6	2	Patricia Sentous	ARG	1:19.5 (6) 1:22.0 (6)	2:41.5
7	8	Felicia Ospitaletche	URU	1:25.4 (8) 1:26.0 (7)	2:51.4
8	3	Rosa Hasbún	ESA	1:22.3 (7) 1:33.9 (8)	2:56.2

Final (25 October 1968 — 17:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	Time
1	4	Pokey Watson	USA	1:10.4 (2) 1:14.4 (1)	2:24.8	OR
2	5	Elaine Tanner	CAN	1:09.1 (1) 1:18.3 (4)	2:27.4
3	3	Kaye Hall	USA	1:12.1 (4) 1:16.8 (2)	2:28.9
4	2	Lynne Watson	AUS	1:12.5 (5) 1:17.0 (3)	2:29.5
5	6	Wendy Burrell	GBR	1:12.9 (6) 1:19.4 (6)	2:32.3
6	7	Zdenka Gašparac	YUG	1:11.8 (3) 1:21.7 (8)	2:33.5
7	1	María Corominas	ESP	1:14.6 (7) 1:19.3 (5)	2:33.9
8	8	Bénédicte Duprez	FRA	1:15.4 (8) 1:21.2 (7)	2:36.6