The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1952 Olympic Games

1952 Summer Olympics

The 1952 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. Helsinki had been earlier given the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War II...

 took place between July 26 and 28 at the Swimming Stadium

Helsinki Swimming Stadium

Helsinki Swimming Stadium is an outdoors swimming venue in Helsinki, Finland, located in the Eläintarha area to the northeast of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.-History:...

. This swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event used freestyle swimming

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl

Front crawl

The front crawl, forward crawl, or freestyle is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is nearly universally used during a freestyle swimming competition, hence the synonymously used term "freestyle". It is one of two...

 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.

Medalists

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Katalin Szőke Katalin Szoke Katalin Szőke is a Hungarian swimmer and olympic champion.She was born in Budapest, and married water polo player Kálmán Markovits.She has later settled in California, USA...		1:06.8
	Hannie Termeulen Hannie Termeulen Johanna Maria Termeulen was a freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who won three medals at the Summer Olympics...		1:07.0
	Judit Temes Judit Temes Judit Temes is a Hungarian swimmer and Olympic champion.Temes, who is Jewish, was born in Sopron.She competed at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, where she received a bronze medal in 100 m freestyle, and a gold medal in 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.-References:*...		1:07.1
4	Joan Harrison Joan Harrison (swimmer) Joan Harrison is a South African swimmer and Olympic champion. She competed at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, where she won the gold medal in the women's 100 m backstroke event.-Awards:...		1:07.1
5	Joan Alderson-Rosazza Joan Alderson-Rosazza Joan Ann Alderson-Rosazza was an American swimmer. Alderson-Rosazza won a bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and a silver medal in the same event four years later in Melbourne....		1:07.1
6	Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher was a freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who won two medals at the Summer Olympics during her career...		1:07.3
7	Marilee Stepan Marilee Stepan Marie Louise "Marilee" Stepan-Wehmann was an American swimmer. Stepan won a bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.-References:* , from http://www.sports-reference.com/ ;retrieved 2009-10-25....		1:08.0
8	Angela Barnwell		1:08.6