Swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

Women's 200 metre breaststroke
at the Games of the XI Olympiad
Victory ceremony
VenueOlympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin
Date8 August (heats)
9 August (semifinals)
11 August (final)
Competitors23 from 12 nations
Winning time3:03.6
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Hideko Maehata  Japan
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Martha Genenger  Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Inge Sørensen  Denmark
← 1932
1948 →
Swimming at the
1936 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
200 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4 × 100 mwomen
4 × 200 mmen

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1936 Summer Olympics, took place from 8 to 11 August, at the (50 m) Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 23 competitors from 12 nations participated in the event.[1]

The world record holder at the time, Japanese Hideko Maehata, won the event four years after losing the gold medal to Australian Clare Dennis by one tenth of a second. Twenty four-year-old German silver medalist Martha Genenger broke the Olympic record in her heat on 8 August, but Maebata broke it again in the next heat with a time of 3:01.9 seconds.[1] Danish Inge Sørensen won the bronze medal, becoming the youngest ever female Olympic medalist (12 years, 24 days).[2] Sørensen's compatriot Valborg Christensen was favoured to win a medal in this event, but she was eliminated after finishing fifth in her semifinal.[3]

Records[edit]

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:

World record  Hideko Maehata (JPN) 3:00.4 min Tokyo, Japan 30 September 1933 [4][5]
Olympic record  Clare Dennis (AUS) 3:06.3 min Los Angeles, United States 9 August 1932 [5][6]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Name Nationality Time OR WR
8 August Heat 2 Martha Genenger  Germany 3:02.9 OR
8 August Heat 3 Hideko Maehata  Japan 3:01.9 OR

Results[edit]

Heats[edit]

The three fastest swimmers of each heat and the next two fastest swimmers overall (Hanni Hölzner and Dorothy Schiller) advanced to the semifinals on 9 August.[7]

Heat 1[edit]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Inge Sørensen  Denmark 3:06.7 Q
2 Kerstin Isberg  Sweden 3:08.7 Q
3 Jopie Waalberg  Netherlands 3:10.4 Q
4 Hanni Hölzner  Germany 3:11.0 q
5 Dorothy Schiller  United States 3:17.4 q
6 Vera Kingston  Great Britain 3:21.7
7 Joan Langdon  Canada 3:24.3

Heat 2[edit]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Martha Genenger  Germany 3:02.9 Q, OR
2 Jenny Kastein  Netherlands 3:07.8 Q
3 Unoko Tsuboi  Japan 3:15.0 Q
4 Anja Lappalainen  Finland 3:19.1
5 Ann Govednik  United States 3:25.3

Heat 3[edit]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Hideko Maehata  Japan 3:01.9 Q, OR
2 Valborg Christensen  Denmark 3:07.8 Q
3 Margaret Gomm  Great Britain 3:15.7 Q
4 Iris Cummings  United States 3:21.9
5 Eliška Boubelová  Czechoslovakia 3:25.8
6 Tenny Wyss  Switzerland 3:31.3

Heat 4[edit]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Trude Wollschläger  Germany 3:08.5 Q
2 Doris Storey  Great Britain 3:10.8 Q
3 Maria Lenk  Brazil 3:17.2 Q
4 Edel Nielsen  Denmark 3:21.3
5 Jo Stroomberg  Netherlands 3:22.5

Semifinals[edit]

The three fastest swimmers of both semifinals and the best fourth-place finisher advanced to the final on 11 August.[7]

Semifinal 1[edit]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Hideko Maehata  Japan 3:03.1 Q
2 Inge Sørensen  Denmark 3:06.0 Q
3 Hanni Hölzner  Germany 3:08.8 Q
4 Jopie Waalberg  Netherlands 3:09.7 Q
5 Trude Wollschläger  Germany 3:10.3
6 Margaret Gomm  Great Britain 3:15.8
7 Maria Lenk  Brazil 3:17.7

Semifinal 2[edit]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Martha Genenger  Germany 3:02.8 Q
2 Jenny Kastein  Netherlands 3:09.2 Q
3 Doris Storey  Great Britain 3:09.8 Q
4 Kerstin Isberg  Sweden 3:11.4
5 Valborg Christensen  Denmark 3:14.1
6 Unoko Tsuboi  Japan 3:18.4
7 Dorothy Schiller  United States 3:18.5

Final[edit]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Hideko Maehata  Japan 3:03.6
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Martha Genenger  Germany 3:04.2
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Inge Sørensen  Denmark 3:07.8
4 Hanni Hölzner  Germany 3:09.5
Jopie Waalberg  Netherlands 3:09.5
6 Doris Storey  Great Britain 3:09.7
7 Jenny Kastein  Netherlands 3:12.8

References[edit]

General[edit]

  • "Official Report of the Organising Committee of the Games of the XI Olympiad Berlin" (PDF). The Official Report: Volume 2. Wilhelm Limpert. 1937. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 July 2007. Retrieved 29 June 2012.

Specific[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Swimming at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  2. ^ Sherwani, Sabey (24 August 2008). "Who is the youngest Olympic gold medallist?". The Times of India. The Times Group. Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  3. ^ Vinson, Maribel Y. (19 July 1936). "Women in Sports". The New York Times. Arthur Hays Sulzberger. p. S2.
  4. ^ "Japanese Natators Broke 11 Records". The Washington Post. Eugene Meyer. 24 December 1936. p. 16.
  5. ^ a b Limpert 1937, p. 971.
  6. ^ "Olympic Records Yesterday; Swimming". The New York Times. Arthur Hays Sulzberger. 9 August 1936. p. S1.
  7. ^ a b Limpert 1937, p. 972.
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