| | Event type

400 metres, Women

Date	25 – 29 July 1976
Status	Olympic
Location	Stade olympique, Parc olympique, Montréal, Québec
Participants	38 from 19 countries

Irena Szewińska-Kirszenstein had started out as a long jumper and short sprinter but in the mid-70s turned her attention to the 400 metres. In 1974 she became the first woman to run 400 metres in under 50 seconds, recording 49.9 at the Kusociński Memorial meet in Warszawa. In May 1976 Christina Brehmer (GDR) broke that record running 49.77 in Dresden, but Szewińska-Kirszenstein took the record back shortly before the Olympics, running 49.75, again at the Kusociński Memorial. In the final, the race was close for 300 metres but Szewińska-Kirszenstein blasted the last 100 metres and won by almost 10 metres, Brehmer coming in second. The time was a world record 49.29. Szewińska-Kirszenstein later became a member of the IOC, but the first woman to become an IOC Member was Finland’s Pirjo Häggman, who placed fourth in this race.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	QF	SF	Final
1	277	Irena Szewińska	POL	52.75 (3 h4)	52.00 (4 h4)	50.48 (1 h1)	49.28 (1)	Gold	WR
2	137	Christina Brehmer	GDR	52.45 (1 h1)	51.67 (2 h2)	50.86 (2 h2)	50.51 (2)	Silver
3	164	Ellen Streidt	GDR	52.56 (1 h3)	51.33 (2 h1)	50.51 (2 h1)	50.55 (3)	Bronze
4	94	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	52.73 (4 h6)	51.35 (3 h1)	51.03 (3 h2)	50.56 (4)
5	360	Rosalyn Bryant	USA	52.01 (1 h5)	51.74 (2 h4)	50.62 (1 h2)	50.65 (5)
6	369	Sheila Ingram	USA	51.83 (1 h4)	51.31 (1 h1)	50.90 (3 h1)	50.90 (6)
7	99	Riitta Salin	FIN	52.57 (2 h5)	51.62 (1 h4)	51.26 (4 h1)	50.98 (7)
8	380	Debra Sapenter	USA	52.33 (1 h2)	51.23 (1 h3)	51.34 (4 h2)	51.66 (8)
5 h1 r3/4	6	Beth Nail	AUS	52.98 (4 h5)	51.71 (3 h3)	51.44 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r3/4	338	Nadezhda Ilyina	URS	51.97 (1 h6)	51.32 (2 h3)	51.42 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r3/4	325	Lyudmila Aksyonova	URS	52.90 (3 h5)	51.73 (4 h1)	51.55 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r3/4	2	Verna Burnard	AUS	52.10 (2 h6)	51.79 (3 h2)	51.71 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r3/4	22	Christiane Wildschek	AUT	52.65 (2 h3)	52.25 (4 h3)	52.20 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r3/4	186	Rita Wilden	FRG	53.08 (3 h1)	52.41 (4 h2)	51.82 (7 h2)	–
8 h2 r3/4	351	Nataliya Sokolova	URS	52.45 (2 h4)	51.63 (1 h2)	51.95 (8 h2)	–
3 h4 r2/4	149	Marita Koch	GDR	52.78 (3 h2)	51.87 (3 h4)	– (DNS h1)	–
5 h1 r2/4	172	Dagmar Fuhrmann	FRG	52.58 (3 h6)	52.02 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r2/4	129	Gladys Taylor	GBR	53.46 (5 h4)	53.71 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r2/4	115	Verona Elder	GBR	52.60 (2 h1)	52.70 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r2/4	122	Donna Murray	GBR	52.75 (2 h2)	52.29 (5 h4)	–	–
6 h1 r2/4	3	Judy Canty	AUS	52.88 (3 h3)	52.65 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r2/4	96	Marika Lindholm	FIN	53.64 (6 h4)	54.07 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r2/4	33	Rosine Wallez	BEL	52.94 (5 h3)	53.04 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r2/4	216	Rita Bottiglieri	ITA	53.37 (6 h6)	52.51 (6 h4)	–	–
7 h1 r2/4	25	Lorna Forde	BAR	53.93 (4 h1)	53.62 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r2/4	77	Joyce Yakubowich	CAN	53.35 (4 h4)	55.02 (7 h2)	–	–
7 h3 r2/4	175	Silvia Hollmann	FRG	53.73 (5 h2)	53.77 (7 h3)	–	–
7 h4 r2/4	27	Regina Berg	BEL	53.66 (4 h2)	53.14 (7 h4)	–	–
8 h1 r2/4	61	Rachelle Campbell	CAN	54.54 (5 h1)	54.16 (8 h1)	–	–
8 h3 r2/4	237	Ruth Simpson	JAM	54.07 (5 h5)	53.88 (8 h3)	–	–
8 h4 r2/4	71	Marg Stride	CAN	53.21 (5 h6)	53.14 (8 h4)	–	–
4 h3 r1/4	234	Marilyn Neufville	JAM	52.93 (4 h3)	– (DNS h2)	–	–
6 h2 r1/4	230	Helen Blake	JAM	53.93 (6 h2)	–	–	–
6 h3 r1/4	393	Jelica Pavličić	YUG	54.11 (6 h3)	–	–	–
6 h5 r1/4	248	Helen Ritter	LIE	58.52 (6 h5)	–	–	–
7 h2 r1/4	281	Ileana Hocking	PUR	57.85 (7 h2)	–	–	–
7 h4 r1/4	79	Céléstine N'Drin	CIV	54.13 (7 h4)	–	–	–
7 h6 r1/4	197	Rose-Marie Gauthier	HAI	1:13.27 (7 h6)	–	–	–
DNS	35	Debbie Jones	BER	– (DNS h5)	–	–	–
DNS	214	Rita Hendricks	ISV	– (DNS h1)	–	–	–
DNS	300	Marième Boye	SEN	– (DNS h1)	–	–	–
DNS	303	Chee Swee Lee	SGP	– (DNS h3)	–	–	–

Round One (25 July 1976 — 15:00)

Top five in each heat and next two fastest advanced to the quarter-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	5	Christina Brehmer	GDR	52.45	Q
2	6	Verona Elder	GBR	52.60	Q
3	3	Rita Wilden	FRG	53.08	Q
4	2	Lorna Forde	BAR	53.93	Q
5	4	Rachelle Campbell	CAN	54.54	Q
DNS	7	Rita Hendricks	ISV	–
DNS	1	Marième Boye	SEN	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Debra Sapenter	USA	52.33	Q
2	5	Donna Murray	GBR	52.75	Q
3	4	Marita Koch	GDR	52.78	Q
4	2	Regina Berg	BEL	53.66	Q
5	3	Silvia Hollmann	FRG	53.73	Q
6	7	Helen Blake	JAM	53.93
7	1	Ileana Hocking	PUR	57.85

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	2	Ellen Streidt	GDR	52.56	Q
2	4	Christiane Wildschek	AUT	52.65	Q
3	6	Judy Canty	AUS	52.88	Q
4	3	Marilyn Neufville	JAM	52.93	Q
5	5	Rosine Wallez	BEL	52.94	Q
6	7	Jelica Pavličić	YUG	54.11
DNS	1	Chee Swee Lee	SGP	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Sheila Ingram	USA	51.83	Q
2	5	Nataliya Sokolova	URS	52.45	Q
3	1	Irena Szewińska	POL	52.75	Q
4	4	Joyce Yakubowich	CAN	53.35	Q
5	7	Gladys Taylor	GBR	53.46	Q
6	3	Marika Lindholm	FIN	53.64	q
7	2	Céléstine N'Drin	CIV	54.13

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	1	Rosalyn Bryant	USA	52.01	Q
2	3	Riitta Salin	FIN	52.57	Q
3	4	Lyudmila Aksyonova	URS	52.90	Q
4	2	Beth Nail	AUS	52.98	Q
5	5	Ruth Simpson	JAM	54.07	Q
6	7	Helen Ritter	LIE	58.52
DNS	6	Debbie Jones	BER	–

Heat Six

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	7	Nadezhda Ilyina	URS	51.97	Q
2	6	Verna Burnard	AUS	52.10	Q
3	2	Dagmar Fuhrmann	FRG	52.58	Q
4	1	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	52.73	Q
5	5	Marg Stride	CAN	53.21	Q
6	3	Rita Bottiglieri	ITA	53.37	q
7	4	Rose-Marie Gauthier	HAI	1:13.27

Quarter-Finals (26 July 1976 — 16:20)

Top four in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	3	Sheila Ingram	USA	51.31	Q
2	2	Ellen Streidt	GDR	51.33	Q
3	5	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	51.35	Q
4	1	Lyudmila Aksyonova	URS	51.73	Q
5	4	Dagmar Fuhrmann	FRG	52.02
6	8	Judy Canty	AUS	52.65
7	6	Lorna Forde	BAR	53.62
8	7	Rachelle Campbell	CAN	54.16

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	8	Nataliya Sokolova	URS	51.63	Q
2	5	Christina Brehmer	GDR	51.67	Q
3	4	Verna Burnard	AUS	51.79	Q
4	3	Rita Wilden	FRG	52.41	Q
5	7	Gladys Taylor	GBR	53.71
6	2	Marika Lindholm	FIN	54.07
7	1	Joyce Yakubowich	CAN	55.02
DNS	6	Marilyn Neufville	JAM	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	4	Debra Sapenter	USA	51.23	Q
2	3	Nadezhda Ilyina	URS	51.32	Q
3	5	Beth Nail	AUS	51.71	Q
4	7	Christiane Wildschek	AUT	52.25	Q
5	2	Verona Elder	GBR	52.70
6	8	Rosine Wallez	BEL	53.04
7	6	Silvia Hollmann	FRG	53.77
8	1	Ruth Simpson	JAM	53.88

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	7	Riitta Salin	FIN	51.62	Q
2	6	Rosalyn Bryant	USA	51.74	Q
3	8	Marita Koch	GDR	51.87	Q
4	5	Irena Szewińska	POL	52.00	Q
5	1	Donna Murray	GBR	52.29
6	4	Rita Bottiglieri	ITA	52.51
7	3	Regina Berg	BEL	53.14
8	2	Marg Stride	CAN	53.14

Semi-Finals (26 July 1976 — 18:55)

Top four in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	5	Irena Szewińska	POL	50.48	QOR
2	2	Ellen Streidt	GDR	50.51	Q
3	8	Sheila Ingram	USA	50.90	Q
4	4	Riitta Salin	FIN	51.26	Q
5	7	Beth Nail	AUS	51.44
6	6	Lyudmila Aksyonova	URS	51.55
7	1	Christiane Wildschek	AUT	52.20
DNS	3	Marita Koch	GDR	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	3	Rosalyn Bryant	USA	50.62	Q
2	4	Christina Brehmer	GDR	50.86	Q
3	2	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	51.03	Q
4	8	Debra Sapenter	USA	51.34	Q
5	6	Nadezhda Ilyina	URS	51.42
6	1	Verna Burnard	AUS	51.71
7	7	Rita Wilden	FRG	51.82
8	5	Nataliya Sokolova	URS	51.95

Final (29 July 1976 — 16:20)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	4	Irena Szewińska	POL	49.28	WR
2	2	Christina Brehmer	GDR	50.51
3	8	Ellen Streidt	GDR	50.55
4	1	Pirjo Häggman	FIN	50.56
5	7	Rosalyn Bryant	USA	50.65
6	3	Sheila Ingram	USA	50.90
7	6	Riitta Salin	FIN	50.98
8	5	Debra Sapenter	USA	51.66