Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres


The women's 200 metres competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held at the Olympic Stadium on November 29–30.

Summary

At home, Australia got three athletes into the final, led by already 100 metres champion Betty Cuthbert. Running in lane 5, with 100 metres silver medalist Christa Stubnick to her outside in lane 6, Cuthbert took an early lead making up the stagger on Stubnick more than 20 metres before the end of the turn. By the time they were all on the straightaway, she had a meter lead on Stubnick with no competition coming from the inside. She widened it to three metres by the finish. The race for bronze was more competitive as the other semi-final winner, June Foulds had opened up a metre lead over the other two Australians through the turn, but both were gaining. 50 metres out, Norma Croker caught Foulds marginally ahead, but Marlene Mathews-Willard continued to gain, opening up a meter on her compatriot by the finish, to take bronze. It was the same finish order as the 100 metres.

Competition format

The women's 200m competition started with six heats, where the fastest two from each heat qualified to one of the two semifinals groups. The three fastest runners from each semifinals group advanced to the final.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
World record23.2Sydney, AustraliaSeptember 16, 1956
Olympic record23.4Helsinki, FinlandJuly 26, 1952

Results

Heats

Heat 1
RankNameCountryResult
1Betty Cuthbert23.5 Q
2Mae Faggs24.9 Q
3Diane Matheson25.7
4Mary Klass26.3
5Maeve Kyle26.4

Heat 2
RankNameCountryResult
1Mariya Itkina23.5 Q
2Gisela Birkemeyer24.4 Q
3Wilma Rudolph24.6
4Genowefa Minicka25.0

Heat 3
RankNameCountryResult
1Christa Stubnick24.5 Q
2Norma Croker24.9 Q
3Giuseppina Leone25.6
4Meredith Ellis26.3

Heat 4
RankNameCountryResult
1June Foulds23.8 Q
2Vera Yugova24.9 Q
3Letizia Bertoni25.2
4Claudette Masdammer25.4

Heat 5
RankNameCountryResult
1Heather Armitage24.8 Q
2Barbara Janiszewska24.8 Q
3Simone Henry25.0
4Eleanor Haslam25.3
5Olga Kosheleva25.3

Heat 6
RankNameCountryResult
1Marlene Mathews-Willard24.0 Q
2Jean Scrivens24.3 Q
3Inge Fuhrmann24.7
4Micheline Fluchot24.9
5Maureen Rever26.1

Semifinals

Group 1
RankNameCountryResult
1Betty Cuthbert23.6 Q
2Christa Stubnick23.9 Q
3Norma Croker24.3 Q
4Maria Itkina24.3
5Jean Scrivens24.4
6Barbara Janiszewska25.2

Group 2
RankNameCountryResult
1June Foulds24.2 Q
2Marlene Mathews-Willard24.3 Q
3Gisela Birkemeyer24.3 Q
4Heather Armitage24.7
5Mae Faggs24.8
6Vera Yugova24.9

Final