The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1972 Olympic Games

1972 Summer Olympics

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....

 took place September 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 four lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Shane Gould Shane Gould Shane Elizabeth Gould, MBE is an Australian former swimmer who won three gold medals, a silver and bronze in 1972 Summer Olympics. It was the greatest performance by an Australian at a single Olympics.-Biography:...		2:03.56	WR
	Shirley Babashoff Shirley Babashoff Shirley Frances Babashoff is a former swimmer from the United States, who set six world records and earned a total of eight individual Olympic medals in her career...		2:04.33
	Keena Rothhammer Keena Rothhammer Keena Rothhammer is a former freestyle swimmer from the United States. She is Jewish....		2:04.92
4	Ann Marshall		2:05.45
5	Andrea Eife		2:06.27
6	Hansje Bunschoten Hansje Bunschoten Hansje Bunschoten is a former freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who competed for her native country at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany...		2:08.40
7	Anke Rijnders Anke Rijnders Anthonia Marie Rijnders is a former butterfly and freestyle swimmer from the Netherlands, who competed for her native country at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. As a member of the Dutch relay teams she finished in fifth place, both in the 4×100m medley and the 4×100m freestyle...		2:09.41
8	Karin Tülling		2:11.70

Key: WR = World record