| | Event type

4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women

Date	12 – 14 August 1936
Status	Olympic
Location	Schwimmstadion, Reichssportfeld, Berlin
Participants	38 from 9 countries

Historically the women’s relay had been dominated by the United States who had won the gold each time they had contested it and always in a world record time. In 1936 the US team came into the Games without the world record to their name, that record belonged to the exact Dutch quartet that were selected for Berlin. The final developed into a duel between the host nation, Germany, and the Netherlands. Although only one of the German team had qualified from the heats of the individual event, they stayed with the Dutch and even held a small lead at the 200m mark. The Netherlands still had their two strongest swimmers to go and Willy den Ouden overhauled Inge Schmitz on the third leg to hand over to 100m champion Rie Mastenbroek in first leg. Throughout the final leg Germany’s Gisele Arendt threatened the leader but Mastenbroek’s familiar finishing took her to a narrow victory

Pos	Number	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	–	Netherlands	NED	4:38.1 (1 h2)	4:36.0 (1)	Gold
	179	Jopie Selbach		–	–
	171	Tini Wagner		–	–
	170	Willy den Ouden		–	–
	173	Rie Mastenbroek		–	–
	178	Ans Timmermans DNS		–	–
	180	Sonja Sieberg DNS		–	–
2	–	Germany	GER	4:40.5 (2 h2)	4:36.8 (2)	Silver
	520	Ruth Halbsguth		–	–
	503	Leni Lohmar		–	–
	504	Inge Schmitz		–	–
	502	Gisela Jacob-Arendt		–	–
	521	Ursula Pollack		–	–
	519	Ursula Groth DNS		–	–
3	–	United States	USA	4:47.1 (1 h1)	4:40.2 (3)	Bronze
	456	Katherine Rawls		–	–
	454	Bernice Lapp		–	–
	472	Mavis Freeman		–	–
	455	Olive McKean		–	–
	473	Elizabeth Ryan		–	–
	461	Dorothy Schiller DNS		–	–
=4	–	Canada	CAN	4:49.7 (3 h1)	4:48.0 (=4)
	68	Mary McConkey		–	–
	66	Irene Pirie-Milton		–	–
	–	Margaret Stone		–	–
	65	Phyllis Dewar		–	–
	69	Noel Oxenbury DNS		–	–
=4	–	Hungary	HUN	4:50.6 (4 h1)	4:48.0 (=4)
	406	Ilona Ács		–	–
	410	Ágnes Bíró		–	–
	411	Vera Harsányi		–	–
	408	Magda Lenkei		–	–
	412	Borbála Sóthy DNS		–	–
6	–	Great Britain	GBR	4:47.2 (2 h1)	4:51.0 (6)
	146	Margaret Jeffery		–	–
	136	Zilpha Grant		–	–
	152	Edna Hughes		–	–
	138	Olive Wadham		–	–
	140	Audrey Hancock DNS		–	–
	137	Margery Hinton DNS		–	–
7	–	Denmark	DEN	4:46.2 (3 h2)	4:51.4 (7)
	89	Ragnhild Hveger		–	–
	91	Tove Brunnstrøm Madsen		–	–
	90	Elvi Svendsen		–	–
	88	Eva Arndt-Riise		–	–
	97	Grete Frederiksen DNS		–	–
8	–	Japan	JPN	4:58.1 (4 h2)	–
	–	Tsuneko Furuta		–	–
	–	Kazue Kojima		–	–
	225	Hatsuko Morioka		–	–
	222	Rei Takemura		–	–
	232	Shoko Matsumura DNS		–	–
9	–	Austria	AUT	5:16.6 (5 h1)	–
	291	Roma Wagner		–	–
	300	Franziska Mally		–	–
	301	Grete Ittlinger		–	–
	302	Elli von Kropiwnicki		–	–
	–	Ruth Langer DNS		–	–

Round One

Date	12 August 1936 — 11:20
Format	Top three in each heat and the fastest fourth-place advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Team	NOC	Time
1	–	Netherlands	NED	4:38.1	Q
2	–	Germany	GER	4:40.5	Q
3	–	Denmark	DEN	4:46.2	Q
4	–	United States	USA	4:47.1	Q
5	–	Great Britain	GBR	4:47.2	Q
6	–	Canada	CAN	4:49.7	Q
7	–	Hungary	HUN	4:50.6	q
8	–	Japan	JPN	4:58.1
9	–	Austria	AUT	5:16.6

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time
1	–	United States	USA	4:47.1	Q
Lead-off	–	Mavis Freeman		–
2nd Leg	–	Bernice Lapp		–
3rd Leg	–	Olive McKean		–
Anchor	–	Elizabeth Ryan		–
2	–	Great Britain	GBR	4:47.2	Q
Lead-off	–	Zilpha Grant		–
2nd Leg	–	Edna Hughes		–
3rd Leg	–	Margaret Jeffery		–
Anchor	–	Olive Wadham		–
3	–	Canada	CAN	4:49.7	Q
Lead-off	–	Phyllis Dewar		–
2nd Leg	–	Mary McConkey		–
3rd Leg	–	Irene Pirie-Milton		–
Anchor	–	Margaret Stone		–
4	–	Hungary	HUN	4:50.6	q
Lead-off	–	Ilona Ács		–
2nd Leg	–	Ágnes Bíró		–
3rd Leg	–	Vera Harsányi		–
Anchor	–	Magda Lenkei		–
5	–	Austria	AUT	5:16.6
Lead-off	–	Roma Wagner		–
2nd Leg	–	Franziska Mally		–
3rd Leg	–	Grete Ittlinger		–
Anchor	–	Elli von Kropiwnicki		–

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time
1	–	Netherlands	NED	4:38.1	Q
Lead-off	–	Rie Mastenbroek		–
2nd Leg	–	Willy den Ouden		–
3rd Leg	–	Jopie Selbach		–
Anchor	–	Tini Wagner		–
2	–	Germany	GER	4:40.5	Q
Lead-off	–	Ruth Halbsguth		–
2nd Leg	–	Leni Lohmar		–
3rd Leg	–	Ursula Pollack		–
Anchor	–	Inge Schmitz		–
3	–	Denmark	DEN	4:46.2	Q
Lead-off	–	Eva Arndt-Riise		–
2nd Leg	–	Tove Brunnstrøm Madsen		–
3rd Leg	–	Ragnhild Hveger		–
Anchor	–	Elvi Svendsen		–
4	–	Japan	JPN	4:58.1
Lead-off	–	Tsuneko Furuta		–
2nd Leg	–	Kazue Kojima		–
3rd Leg	–	Hatsuko Morioka		–
Anchor	–	Rei Takemura		–

Final Round

Date	14 August 1936 — 16:45

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time
1	–	Netherlands	NED	4:36.0	OR
Lead-off	–	Jopie Selbach		–
2nd Leg	–	Tini Wagner		–
3rd Leg	–	Willy den Ouden		–
Anchor	–	Rie Mastenbroek		–
2	–	Germany	GER	4:36.8
Lead-off	–	Ruth Halbsguth		–
2nd Leg	–	Leni Lohmar		–
3rd Leg	–	Inge Schmitz		–
Anchor	–	Gisela Jacob-Arendt		–
3	–	United States	USA	4:40.2
Lead-off	–	Katherine Rawls		–
2nd Leg	–	Bernice Lapp		–
3rd Leg	–	Mavis Freeman		–
Anchor	–	Olive McKean		–
=4	–	Hungary	HUN	4:48.0
Lead-off	–	Ilona Ács		–
2nd Leg	–	Ágnes Bíró		–
3rd Leg	–	Vera Harsányi		–
Anchor	–	Magda Lenkei		–
=4	–	Canada	CAN	4:48.0
Lead-off	–	Mary McConkey		–
2nd Leg	–	Irene Pirie-Milton		–
3rd Leg	–	Margaret Stone		–
Anchor	–	Phyllis Dewar		–
6	–	Great Britain	GBR	4:51.0
Lead-off	–	Margaret Jeffery		–
2nd Leg	–	Zilpha Grant		–
3rd Leg	–	Edna Hughes		–
Anchor	–	Olive Wadham		–
7	–	Denmark	DEN	4:51.4
Lead-off	–	Ragnhild Hveger		–
2nd Leg	–	Tove Brunnstrøm Madsen		–
3rd Leg	–	Elvi Svendsen		–
Anchor	–	Eva Arndt-Riise		–