The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

, took place from 8 to 11 August, at the (50 m)

Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin (german: Berlin Olympic Swim Stadium) is an aquatics venue located at Olympiapark Berlin in Berlin, Germany constructed for the 1936 Summer Olympics. Located north of the Olympic Stadium it hosted the diving, sw ...

. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. A total of 23 competitors from 12 nations participated in the event. The world record holder at the time, Japanese

Hideko Maehata was a Japanese breaststroke swimmer and the first Japanese woman to earn a gold medal in the Olympics. Maehata was born in Hashimoto, Wakayama, as the daughter of a tofu producer and as a child learned to swim in the Kinokawa River. In the fift ...

, won the event four years after losing the gold medal to Australian Clare Dennis by one tenth of a second. Twentyfour-year-old

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

silver medalist Martha Genenger broke the Olympic record in her heat on 8 August, but Maebata broke it again in the next heat with a time of 3:01.9 seconds.

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

Inge Sørensen Inge Sørensen (18 July 1924 – 9 March 2011), later Inge Tabur, sometimes known as "Lille henrivende Inge" ("Little Lovely Inge") was a Danish swimmer, who at age 12 won a bronze medal in 200 meter breaststroke at the 1936 Summer Olympics i ...

won the bronze medal, becoming the youngest ever female Olympic medalist (12 years, 24 days). Sørensen's compatriot Valborg Christensen was favoured to win a medal in this event, but she was eliminated after finishing fifth in her semifinal.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were: The following records were established during the competition:

Results

Heats

The three fastest swimmers of each heat and the next two fastest swimmers overall ( Hanni Hölzner and Dorothy Schiller) advanced to the semifinals on 9 August.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Semifinals

The three fastest swimmers of both semifinals and the best fourth-place finisher advanced to the final on 11 August.

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

General

Specific

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 1936 Summer Olympics - Women's 200 Metre Breaststroke Swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics 1936 in women's swimming SWim