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 (160 ft) 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 26 Heat 2 Anita Lonsbrough 2:53.3 OR August 26 Heat 3 Wiltrud Urselmann 2:52.0 OR August 27 Final Anita Lonsbrough 2:49.5 OR WR
Results
Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes1 3 4 2:52.0 Q, OROCGOR, p. 5902 2 4 2:53.3 Q, OR3 4 5 2:54.0 Q4 1 4 2:54.2 Q5 3 5 2:55.2 Q6 3 2 2:55.5 Q7 3 6 2:56.2 Q8 4 4 2:56.3 Q9 3 3 2:56.9 10 4 7 2:57.0 11 1 3 2:57.4 12 1 5 2:57.6 13 2 5 2:58.7 14 2 3 2:59.8 15 4 6 2:59.9 16 4 2 3:00.3 17 2 6 3:01.5 18 4 3 3:01.7 19 1 2 3:02.2 20 2 2 3:02.6 21 2 7 3:02.7 22 1 6 3:03.1 23 1 1 3:05.2 24 3 7 3:07.7 25 1 7 3:09.3 26 2 1 3:09.8 27 1 8 3:10.1 28 3 8 3:10.4 29 4 1 3:13.3 30 3 1 — DNS
Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 5 2:49.5 WR 4 2:50.0 6 2:53.6 4 3 2:54.4 5 2 2:54.6 6 8 2:55.4 7 7 2:55.5 8 1 2:55.7
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