Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle
Rank Athlete Country Time
1 Valéria Gyenge Hungary 5:22.6
2 Carolyn Green United States 5:23.8
3 Colette Thomas France 5:36.8
4 Elisabeth Rechlin Germany 5:38.0
5 Johanna Termeulen Netherlands 5:45.5
6 Gladys Priestley Canada 5:52.7
7 Cynthia Eager Hong Kong 5:55.8
Results -- Heats
Sixteen fastest swimmers advanced to semi-finals . Heat 1 Heat 2 Heat 3
The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between 31 July and 2 August at the Swimming Stadium. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of sixteen lengths of the pool.