| | Event type

100 metres Backstroke, Women

Date	3 – 5 August 1948
Status	Olympic
Location	Wembley Arena, Wembley, London
Participants	24 from 16 countries

The cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Games meant that Con Kint of Holland would never grace the Olympic stage. Her world record, set in 1939, would last for 21 years but Kint herself was long retired by the time the London Games came around. The favourite was the Dane, Karen Margrethe Harup, who had won the event at the 1947 European Championships. Harup proved to be a worthy champion as she broke the Olympic record in all three of her races. She finished over a second clear of Suzanne Zimmerman of the USA with Judy-Joy Davies taking bronze for Australia. Monique Berlioux, who was eliminated in the semi-finals was a member of the French Resistance during World War Two and later went on a career with the International Olympic Committee. She served as Director of the IOC between 1971 and 1995.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	423	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:15.6 (1 h2)	1:15.5 (1 h1)	1:14.4 (1)	Gold
2	–	Suzanne Zimmerman	USA	1:16.8 (2 h2)	1:16.8 (1 h2)	1:16.0 (2)	Silver
3	446	Judy-Joy Davies	AUS	1:16.4 (1 h3)	1:17.8 (2 h2)	1:16.7 (3)	Bronze
4	456	Ilona Novák	HUN	1:17.3 (2 h3)	1:17.6 (2 h1)	1:18.4 (4)
5	454	Ria van der Horst	NED	1:18.7 (1 h1)	1:18.2 (3 h2)	1:18.8 (5)
6	453	Dicky van Ekris	NED	1:19.3 (4 h3)	1:18.2 (4 h1)	1:18.9 (6)
7	463	Muriel Mellon	USA	1:18.7 (2 h4)	1:18.2 (3 h1)	1:19.0 (7)
8	455	Greetje Galliard	NED	1:18.2 (1 h4)	1:18.4 (5 h1)	1:19.1 (8)
=9	452	Helen Yate	GBR	1:18.3 (3 h2)	1:18.6 (4 h2)	–
=9	451	Cathie Gibson	GBR	1:19.7 (3 h4)	1:18.6 (6 h1)	–
11	458	Ngaire Lane	NZL	1:18.8 (2 h1)	1:19.0 (7 h1)	–
12	462	Barbara Jensen	USA	1:18.8 (3 h3)	1:19.1 (5 h2)	–
13	449	Monique Berlioux	FRA	1:18.8 (3 h1)	1:20.2 (6 h2)	–
14	445	Beryl Marshall	ARG	1:20.9 (4 h2)	1:20.7 (8 h1)	–
15	450	Vera Ellery	GBR	1:20.9 (5 h3)	1:20.8 (7 h2)	–
16	438	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:21.2 (4 h1)	– (DNS h2)	–
17	436	Magda Brüggemann	MEX	1:21.4 (4 h4)	–	–
18	–	Bea Ballintijn	NOR	1:22.1 (5 h4)	–	–
19	447	Edith de Oliveira	BRA	1:22.5 (6 h4)	–	–
20	425	Ginette Jany	FRA	1:22.7 (7 h4)	–	–
21	479	Kolbrún Ólafsdóttir	ISL	1:25.6 (5 h1)	–	–
22	460	Doris Gontersweiler	SUI	1:26.2 (5 h2)	–	–
23	448	Joyce Court	CAN	1:26.8 (6 h2)	–	–
24	444	Liliana Gonzalías	ARG	1:26.9 (6 h3)	–	–
DNS	433	Zsuzsa Nádor	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	435	J. T. Szemes	HUN	– (DNS h1)	–	–

Round One

Date	4 August 1948 — 20:30
Format	Top three in each heat and the next four fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:15.6	QOR
2	–	Judy-Joy Davies	AUS	1:16.4	Q
3	–	Suzanne Zimmerman	USA	1:16.8	Q
4	–	Ilona Novák	HUN	1:17.3	Q
5	–	Greetje Galliard	NED	1:18.2	Q
6	–	Helen Yate	GBR	1:18.3	Q
=7	–	Ria van der Horst	NED	1:18.7	Q
=7	–	Muriel Mellon	USA	1:18.7	Q
=9	–	Ngaire Lane	NZL	1:18.8	Q
=9	–	Monique Berlioux	FRA	1:18.8	Q
=9	–	Barbara Jensen	USA	1:18.8	Q
12	–	Dicky van Ekris	NED	1:19.3	q
13	–	Cathie Gibson	GBR	1:19.7	Q
=14	–	Beryl Marshall	ARG	1:20.9	q
=14	–	Vera Ellery	GBR	1:20.9	q
16	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:21.2	q
17	–	Magda Brüggemann	MEX	1:21.4
18	–	Bea Ballintijn	NOR	1:22.1
19	–	Edith de Oliveira	BRA	1:22.5
20	–	Ginette Jany	FRA	1:22.7
21	–	Kolbrún Ólafsdóttir	ISL	1:25.6
22	–	Doris Gontersweiler	SUI	1:26.2
23	–	Joyce Court	CAN	1:26.8
24	–	Liliana Gonzalías	ARG	1:26.9
DNS	–	J. T. Szemes	HUN	–
DNS	–	Zsuzsa Nádor	HUN	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Ria van der Horst	NED	1:18.7	Q
2	–	Ngaire Lane	NZL	1:18.8	Q
3	–	Monique Berlioux	FRA	1:18.8	Q
4	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	1:21.2	q
5	–	Kolbrún Ólafsdóttir	ISL	1:25.6
DNS	–	J. T. Szemes	HUN	–

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:15.6	QOR
2	–	Suzanne Zimmerman	USA	1:16.8	Q
3	–	Helen Yate	GBR	1:18.3	Q
4	–	Beryl Marshall	ARG	1:20.9	q
5	–	Doris Gontersweiler	SUI	1:26.2
6	–	Joyce Court	CAN	1:26.8
DNS	–	Zsuzsa Nádor	HUN	–

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Judy-Joy Davies	AUS	1:16.4	Q
2	–	Ilona Novák	HUN	1:17.3	Q
3	–	Barbara Jensen	USA	1:18.8	Q
4	–	Dicky van Ekris	NED	1:19.3	q
5	–	Vera Ellery	GBR	1:20.9	q
6	–	Liliana Gonzalías	ARG	1:26.9

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Greetje Galliard	NED	1:18.2	Q
2	–	Muriel Mellon	USA	1:18.7	Q
3	–	Cathie Gibson	GBR	1:19.7	Q
4	–	Magda Brüggemann	MEX	1:21.4
5	–	Bea Ballintijn	NOR	1:22.1
6	–	Edith de Oliveira	BRA	1:22.5
7	–	Ginette Jany	FRA	1:22.7

Semi-Finals

Date	5 August 1948 — 14:00
Format	Top three in each heat and the next two fastest advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:15.5	QOR
2	–	Suzanne Zimmerman	USA	1:16.8	Q
3	–	Ilona Novák	HUN	1:17.6	Q
4	–	Judy-Joy Davies	AUS	1:17.8	Q
=5	–	Muriel Mellon	USA	1:18.2	Q
=5	–	Dicky van Ekris	NED	1:18.2	q	1
=5	–	Ria van der Horst	NED	1:18.2	Q	2
8	–	Greetje Galliard	NED	1:18.4	q
=9	–	Cathie Gibson	GBR	1:18.6
=9	–	Helen Yate	GBR	1:18.6
11	–	Ngaire Lane	NZL	1:19.0
12	–	Barbara Jensen	USA	1:19.1
13	–	Monique Berlioux	FRA	1:20.2
14	–	Beryl Marshall	ARG	1:20.7
15	–	Vera Ellery	GBR	1:20.8
DNS	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:15.5	QOR
2	–	Ilona Novák	HUN	1:17.6	Q
3	–	Muriel Mellon	USA	1:18.2	Q
4	–	Dicky van Ekris	NED	1:18.2	q	3
5	–	Greetje Galliard	NED	1:18.4	q
6	–	Cathie Gibson	GBR	1:18.6
7	–	Ngaire Lane	NZL	1:19.0
8	–	Beryl Marshall	ARG	1:20.7

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Suzanne Zimmerman	USA	1:16.8	Q
2	–	Judy-Joy Davies	AUS	1:17.8	Q
3	–	Ria van der Horst	NED	1:18.2	Q	4
4	–	Helen Yate	GBR	1:18.6
5	–	Barbara Jensen	USA	1:19.1
6	–	Monique Berlioux	FRA	1:20.2
7	–	Vera Ellery	GBR	1:20.8
DNS	–	Ingegärd Fredin	SWE	–

Final Round

Date	5 August 1948 — 20:00

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Karen Margrethe Harup	DEN	1:14.4	OR
2	–	Suzanne Zimmerman	USA	1:16.0
3	–	Judy-Joy Davies	AUS	1:16.7
4	–	Ilona Novák	HUN	1:18.4
5	–	Ria van der Horst	NED	1:18.8
6	–	Dicky van Ekris	NED	1:18.9
7	–	Muriel Mellon	USA	1:19.0
8	–	Greetje Galliard	NED	1:19.1