Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke

The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place on 29–31 July at the Swimming Stadium.^[1] This swimming event used the backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Medalists[edit]

Gold	Joan Harrison South Africa
Silver	Geertje Wielema Netherlands
Bronze	Jean Stewart New Zealand

Results[edit]

Heats[edit]

Eight fastest swimmer advanced to the finals.

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Geertje Wielema	Netherlands	1:13.8	Q
2	Jean Stewart	New Zealand	1:16.0	Q
3	Margaret McDowell	Great Britain	1:17.5	Q
4	Barbara Stark	United States	1:17.9	Q
5	Gerda Olsen	Denmark	1:20.1
6	Anneli Haaranen	Finland	1:21.7

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Ria van der Horst	Netherlands	1:17.0	Q
2	Gertrud Herrbruck	Germany	1:17.8	Q
3	Mary Freeman	United States	1:18.0
4	Edith de Oliveira	Brazil	1:20.0
5	Lenora Fisher	Canada	1:22.9
6	Irena Milnikiel	Poland	1:25.5
7	Doris Gontersweiler-Vetterli	Switzerland	1:26.5

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Joan Harrison	South Africa	1:14.7	Q
2	Joke de Korte	Netherlands	1:15.8	Q
3	Pauline Musgrave	Great Britain	1:19.6
4	Magdolna Hunyadfy	Hungary	1:19.6
5	Coralie O'Connor	United States	1:19.7
6	Margareta Westeson	Sweden	1:22.7
7	Erna Herbers	Germany	1:23.1

Final[edit]

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
	Joan Harrison	South Africa	1:14.3
	Geertje Wielema	Netherlands	1:14.5
	Jean Stewart	New Zealand	1:15.8
4	Joke de Korte	Netherlands	1:15.8
5	Barbara Stark	United States	1:16.2
6	Gertrud Herrbruck	Germany	1:18.0
7	Margaret McDowell	Great Britain	1:18.4
	Ria van der Horst	Netherlands	DSQ