Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke


The women's 200 metre breaststroke event, included in the swimming competition at the 1960 Summer Olympics, took place on August 26–27, at the Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto. In this event, swimmers covered four lengths of the 50-metre Olympic-sized pool employing the breaststroke. It was the eighth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 30 competitors from 19 nations participated in the event. British gold-medalist Anita Lonsbrough became the first swimmer to break the world record in this event, with a time of 2:49.5 in the final.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
The following records were established during the competition:
DateRoundNameNationalityTimeORWR
August 26Heat 2Anita Lonsbrough2:53.3OR
August 26Heat 3Wiltrud Urselmann2:52.0OR
August 27FinalAnita Lonsbrough2:49.5ORWR

Results

Heats

Final