Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres

The women's 200 metres competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held at the Olympic Stadium on November 29–30. The winning margin was 0.3 seconds.

Women's 200 metres at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Venue	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Date	November 29–30
Competitors	27 from 12 nations
Winning time	23.4
Medalists
Betty Cuthbert  Australia Christa Stubnick  United Team of Germany Marlene Mathews-Willard  Australia

Video on YouTube Official Video @1:04:35

Summary

At home, Australia got three athletes into the final, led by already 100 metres champion Betty Cuthbert. Running in lane 5, with 100 metres silver medalist Christa Stubnick to her outside in lane 6, Cuthbert took an early lead making up the stagger on Stubnick more than 20 metres before the end of the turn. By the time they were all on the straightaway, she had a meter lead on Stubnick with no competition coming from the inside. She widened it to three metres by the finish. The race for bronze was more competitive as the other semi-final winner, June Foulds had opened up a metre lead over the other two Australians through the turn, but both were gaining. 50 metres out, Norma Croker caught Foulds marginally ahead, but Marlene Mathews-Willard continued to gain, opening up a meter on her compatriot by the finish, to take bronze. It was the same finish order as the 100 metres.

Competition format

The women's 200 metres competition started with six heats, where the fastest two from each heat qualified to one of the two semifinals groups. The three fastest runners from each semifinals group advanced to the final.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Betty Cuthbert (AUS)	23.2	Sydney, Australia	September 16, 1956
Olympic record	Marjorie Jackson (AUS)	23.4	Helsinki, Finland	July 26, 1952

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Country	Result
1	Betty Cuthbert	Australia	23.5 Q
2	Mae Faggs	United States	24.9 Q
3	Diane Matheson	Canada	25.7
4	Mary Klass	Singapore	26.3
5	Maeve Kyle	Ireland	26.4

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Country	Result
1	Mariya Itkina	Soviet Union	23.5 Q
2	Gisela Birkemeyer	United Team of Germany	24.4 Q
3	Wilma Rudolph	United States	24.6
4	Genowefa Minicka	Poland	25.0

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Country	Result
1	Christa Stubnick	United Team of Germany	24.5 Q
2	Norma Croker	Australia	24.9 Q
3	Giuseppina Leone	Italy	25.6
4	Meredith Ellis	United States	26.3

Heat 4

Rank	Name	Country	Result
1	June Foulds	Great Britain	23.8 Q
2	Vera Yugova	Soviet Union	24.9 Q
3	Letizia Bertoni	Italy	25.2
4	Claudette Masdammer	Guyana	25.4

Heat 5

Rank	Name	Country	Result
1	Heather Armitage	Great Britain	24.8 Q
2	Barbara Janiszewska	Poland	24.8 Q
3	Simone Henry	France	25.0
4	Eleanor Haslam	Canada	25.3
5	Olga Kosheleva	Soviet Union	25.3

Heat 6

Rank	Name	Country	Result
1	Marlene Mathews-Willard	Australia	24.0 Q
2	Jean Scrivens	Great Britain	24.3 Q
3	Inge Fuhrmann	United Team of Germany	24.7
4	Micheline Fluchot	France	24.9
5	Maureen Rever	Canada	26.1

Semifinals

Group 1

Rank	Name	Country	Result
1	Betty Cuthbert	Australia	23.6 Q
2	Christa Stubnick	United Team of Germany	23.9 Q
3	Norma Croker	Australia	24.3 Q
4	Maria Itkina	Soviet Union	24.3
5	Jean Scrivens	Great Britain	24.4
6	Barbara Janiszewska	Poland	25.2

Group 2

Rank	Name	Country	Result
1	June Foulds	Great Britain	24.2 Q
2	Marlene Mathews-Willard	Australia	24.3 Q
3	Gisela Birkemeyer	United Team of Germany	24.3 Q
4	Heather Armitage	Great Britain	24.7
5	Mae Faggs	United States	24.8
6	Vera Yugova	Soviet Union	24.9

Final

Rank	Name	Country	Result
	Betty Cuthbert	Australia	23.4
	Christa Stubnick	United Team of Germany	23.7
	Marlene Mathews-Willard	Australia	23.8
4	Norma Croker	Australia	24.0
5	June Foulds	Great Britain	24.3
6	Gisela Birkemeyer	United Team of Germany	24.3