The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1956 Olympic Games

1956 Summer Olympics

The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...

 took place between November 29 and 1. 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
	Dawn Fraser Dawn Fraser Dawn Fraser AO, MBE is an Australian champion swimmer. She is one of only two swimmers to win the same Olympic event three times – in her case the 100 meters freestyle....		1:02.0	WR
	Lorraine Crapp Lorraine Crapp Lorraine Crapp is a former Olympic swimming champion representing Australia. She competed in two Olympic Games — the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1960 Summer Olympics. She won two Olympic gold medals in 1956...		1:02.3
	Faith Leech Faith Leech Faith Yvonne Leech is a former Australian freestyle swimmer who won gold in the 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay and bronze in the 100 m freestyle at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.A tall and lean swimmer known for her elegant technique, Leech started swimming as a...		1:05.1
4	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....		1:05.2
5	Virginia Grant		1:05.4
6	Shelley Mann Shelley Mann Shelley Isabel Mann is a former butterfly swimmer from the United States. At the 1956 Summer Olympics she won the gold medal in the 100 m butterfly competition and was a member of the relay team that won the silver medal for the 100 m freestyle.Mann caught polio aged six and took up swimming to...		1:05.6
7	Marrion Roe		1:05.6
8	Natalie Myburgh		1:05.8

Key: WR = World record