The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place between August 26 and 29.[1] This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.
| Women's 100 metre freestyle at the Games of the XVII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto | ||||||||||||
| Date | August 26, 1960 (heats & semifinals) August 29, 1960 (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 32 from 19 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 1:01.2 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Competition format
editThe competition used a three-round (heats, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 7 heats of between 6 and 8 swimmers each. The top 24 swimmers advanced to the semifinals. There were 3 semifinals of 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.
Results
editHeats
editFive heats were held; the swimmers with the fastest 16 times advanced to the semifinals. Those that advanced are highlighted. This round took place on August 26.
Semifinals
editTwo semifinal races were held; the fastest eight swimmers advanced to the Final. The athletes that advanced are highlighted. The semifinals were held August 27.
Semifinal 1
edit| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Chris von Saltza |  United States |
1:02.5 | |
| 2 | 5 | Natalie Steward |  Great Britain |
1:02.9 | |
| 3 | 2 | Csilla Madarász-Bajnogel-Dobai |  Hungary |
1:03.0 | |
| 4 | 3 | Ilsa Konrads |  Australia |
1:04.7 | |
| 5 | 1 | Héda Frost |  France |
1:05.4 | |
| 6 | 6 | Paola Saini |  Italy |
1:05.4 | |
| 7 | 8 | Inger Thorngren |  Sweden |
1:05.5 | |
| 8 | 7 | Heidi Pechstein |  Germany |
1:05.6 |
Semifinal 2
edit| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Dawn Fraser | Australia |
1:01.4 | OR |
| 2 | 6 | Erica Terpstra |  Netherlands |
1:03.7 | |
| 3 | 5 | Cockie Gastelaars | Netherlands |
1:03.9 | |
| 4 | 3 | Carolyn Wood | United States |
1:04.2 | |
| 5 | 1 | Mary Stewart |  Canada |
1:04.2 | |
| 6 | 2 | Ursel Brunner | Germany |
1:04.5 | |
| 7 | 7 | Katalin Boros | Hungary |
1:06.2 | |
| 8 | 8 | Karin Larsson | Sweden |
1:06.5 |
Final
editThe Final was held on August 29.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | Dawn Fraser | Australia |
1:01.2 | OR |
 |
5 | Chris von Saltza | United States |
1:02.8 | |
 |
3 | Natalie Steward | Great Britain |
1:03.1 | |
| 4 | 1 | Carolyn Wood | United States |
1:03.4 | |
| 5 | 6 | Csilla Madarász-Bajnogel-Dobai | Hungary |
1:03.6 | |
| 6 | 2 | Erica Terpstra | Netherlands |
1:04.3 | |
| 7 | 7 | Cockie Gastelaars | Netherlands |
1:04.7 | |
| 8 | 8 | Mary Stewart | Canada |
1:05.5 |
References
edit- ^ "Swimming at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Women's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2016.