| | Event type

400 metres Individual Medley, Women

Date	15 – 17 October 1964
Status	Olympic
Location	Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyogijo, Shibuya, Tokyo
Participants	22 from 12 countries

Donna de Varona had competed at the 1960 Olympics when she was only 13-years-old. But even at that age she held the world record in the 400 individual medley, which was not an Olympic event in 1960. Over the next four years she became the best swimmer in the world, and set five more world records in this event, and eight in the 200 IM, as well as one 100 backstroke world record in 1963. She came to Tokyo as a clear favorite in this new Olympic event, and did not disappoint. In the final she took the lead at 100 metres, and kept pouring it on. Sharon Finneran had twice interrupted de Varona’s world record streak in the 400 IM, setting world records in Osaka, Japan on 26 and 28 July 1962. But she was no match in Tokyo for de Varona, although she won the silver medal, but Finneran was almost six seconds back. Martha Randall came up for third to complete an American sweep.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Donna de Varona	USA	5:24.2 (1 h4)	5:18.7 (1)	Gold
2	Sharon Finneran	USA	5:32.7 (2 h1)	5:24.1 (2)	Silver
3	Martha Randall	USA	5:27.8 (1 h2)	5:24.2 (3)	Bronze
4	Veronika Holletz	GER	5:26.8 (1 h3)	5:25.6 (4)
5	Linda McGill	AUS	5:38.3 (3 h3)	5:28.4 (5)
6	Betty Heukels	NED	5:32.4 (2 h3)	5:30.3 (6)
7	Anita Lonsbrough	GBR	5:30.6 (1 h1)	5:30.5 (7)
8	Márta Egerváry	HUN	5:35.8 (3 h1)	5:38.4 (8)
9	Barbara Hounsell	CAN	5:38.4 (2 h2)	–
10	Marianne Heemskerk	NED	5:38.6 (2 h4)	–
11	Helga Zimmermann	GER	5:38.9 (4 h1)	–
12	Adrie Lasterie	NED	5:41.3 (3 h2)	–
13	Kimiko Ezaka	JPN	5:42.1 (4 h3)	–
14	Harriet Blank	GER	5:42.4 (4 h2)	–
15	Jane Cortis	AUS	5:43.6 (5 h1)	–
16	Kirsten Strange	DEN	5:44.4 (5 h3)	–
17	Louise Kennedy	CAN	5:49.9 (3 h4)	–
18	Isabel Castañe	ESP	5:50.7 (5 h2)	–
19	Natsuko Matsuda	JPN	5:51.5 (4 h4)	–
20	Silvia Belmar	MEX	6:00.7 (5 h4)	–
21	Margaret Harding	PUR	6:10.7 (6 h2)	–
22	Pamela Johnson	GBR	6:11.9 (6 h3)	–
DNS	Marilyn Sidelsky	ZIM	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	Rosario de Vivanco	PER	– (DNS h3)	–
DNS	Jan Murphy	AUS	– (DNS h4)	–
DNS	Elisabeth Ljunggren	SWE	– (DNS h4)	–

Round One (15 October 1964 — 13:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	3	Anita Lonsbrough	GBR	1:14.3 (2) 1:26.3 (3)	2:40.6 (2) 1:33.8 (1)	4:14.4 (1) 1:16.2 (3)	5:30.6	QOR
2	4	Sharon Finneran	USA	1:13.4 (1) 1:26.6 (4)	2:40.0 (1) 1:39.4 (3)	4:19.4 (3) 1:13.3 (1)	5:32.7	Q
3	5	Márta Egerváry	HUN	1:15.7 (4) 1:25.9 (2)	2:41.6 (4) 1:35.1 (2)	4:16.7 (2) 1:19.1 (4)	5:35.8	Q
4	2	Helga Zimmermann	GER	1:15.5 (3) 1:29.6 (5)	2:45.1 (5) 1:39.8 (4)	4:24.9 (5) 1:14.0 (2)	5:38.9
5	6	Jane Cortis	AUS	1:16.9 (5) 1:23.8 (1)	2:40.7 (3) 1:42.8 (5)	4:23.5 (4) 1:20.1 (5)	5:43.6
DNS	1	Marilyn Sidelsky	ZIM	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	2	Martha Randall	USA	1:13.9 (1) 1:21.3 (1)	2:35.2 (1) 1:39.6 (=4)	4:14.8 (1) 1:13.0 (1)	5:27.8	QOR
2	7	Barbara Hounsell	CAN	1:18.4 (4) 1:25.8 (2)	2:44.2 (3) 1:38.7 (3)	4:22.9 (3) 1:15.5 (2)	5:38.4
3	6	Adrie Lasterie	NED	1:14.6 (2) 1:29.4 (=3)	2:44.0 (2) 1:39.6 (=4)	4:23.6 (4) 1:17.7 (3)	5:41.3
4	5	Harriet Blank	GER	1:15.8 (3) 1:29.4 (=3)	2:45.2 (4) 1:37.4 (2)	4:22.6 (2) 1:19.8 (4)	5:42.4
5	4	Isabel Castañe	ESP	1:20.0 (6) 1:30.2 (5)	2:50.2 (5) 1:34.1 (1)	4:24.3 (5) 1:26.4 (=5)	5:50.7
6	3	Margaret Harding	PUR	1:19.3 (5) 1:36.6 (6)	2:55.9 (6) 1:48.4 (6)	4:44.3 (6) 1:26.4 (=5)	6:10.7

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	5	Veronika Holletz	GER	1:13.6 (1) 1:21.1 (1)	2:34.7 (1) 1:36.5 (4)	4:11.2 (1) 1:15.6 (1)	5:26.8	QOR
2	6	Betty Heukels	NED	1:15.6 (=3) 1:26.0 (2)	2:41.6 (2) 1:31.3 (1)	4:12.9 (2) 1:19.5 (4)	5:32.4	Q
3	4	Linda McGill	AUS	1:13.9 (2) 1:29.7 (3)	2:43.6 (3) 1:36.4 (3)	4:20.0 (3) 1:18.3 (3)	5:38.3	Q
4	2	Kimiko Ezaka	JPN	1:15.6 (=3) 1:30.1 (4)	2:45.7 (4) 1:39.0 (5)	4:24.7 (5) 1:17.4 (2)	5:42.1
5	7	Kirsten Strange	DEN	1:17.6 (5) 1:30.9 (5)	2:48.5 (5) 1:35.3 (2)	4:23.8 (4) 1:20.6 (5)	5:44.4
6	3	Pamela Johnson	GBR	1:22.8 (6) 1:31.6 (6)	2:54.4 (6) 1:50.0 (6)	4:44.4 (6) 1:27.5 (6)	6:11.9
DNS	1	Rosario de Vivanco	PER	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	5	Donna de Varona	USA	1:10.9 (1) 1:20.4 (1)	2:31.3 (1) 1:39.1 (2)	4:10.4 (1) 1:13.8 (1)	5:24.2	QOR
2	3	Marianne Heemskerk	NED	1:13.4 (2) 1:27.9 (2)	2:41.3 (2) 1:37.3 (1)	4:18.6 (2) 1:20.0 (3)	5:38.6
3	1	Louise Kennedy	CAN	1:18.5 (5) 1:28.4 (3)	2:46.9 (3) 1:48.0 (5)	4:34.9 (4) 1:15.0 (2)	5:49.9
4	7	Natsuko Matsuda	JPN	1:14.8 (3) 1:34.8 (5)	2:49.6 (4) 1:40.7 (3)	4:30.3 (3) 1:21.2 (=4)	5:51.5
5	6	Silvia Belmar	MEX	1:17.1 (4) 1:34.7 (4)	2:51.8 (5) 1:47.7 (4)	4:39.5 (5) 1:21.2 (=4)	6:00.7
DNS	4	Jan Murphy	AUS	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–
DNS	2	Elisabeth Ljunggren	SWE	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Final (17 October 1964 — 21:35)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	100 m	200 m	300 m	Time
1	4	Donna de Varona	USA	1:09.9 (1) 1:18.4 (1)	2:28.3 (1) 1:37.6 (7)	4:05.9 (1) 1:12.8 (3)	5:18.7	OR
2	7	Sharon Finneran	USA	1:11.8 (2) 1:23.9 (4)	2:35.7 (3) 1:36.3 (6)	4:12.0 (2) 1:12.1 (2)	5:24.1
3	3	Martha Randall	USA	1:12.6 (3) 1:21.6 (2)	2:34.2 (2) 1:38.7 (8)	4:12.9 (4) 1:11.3 (1)	5:24.2
4	5	Veronika Holletz	GER	1:13.5 (4) 1:23.3 (3)	2:36.8 (4) 1:35.5 (4)	4:12.3 (3) 1:13.3 (4)	5:25.6
5	8	Linda McGill	AUS	1:13.8 (5) 1:26.4 (5)	2:40.2 (5) 1:32.8 (3)	4:13.0 (5) 1:15.4 (5)	5:28.4
6	2	Betty Heukels	NED	1:15.2 (8) 1:27.4 (6)	2:42.6 (8) 1:31.1 (1)	4:13.7 (6) 1:16.6 (7)	5:30.3
7	6	Anita Lonsbrough	GBR	1:14.8 (6) 1:27.7 (8)	2:42.5 (=6) 1:32.0 (2)	4:14.5 (7) 1:16.0 (6)	5:30.5
8	1	Márta Egerváry	HUN	1:14.9 (7) 1:27.6 (7)	2:42.5 (=6) 1:35.8 (5)	4:18.3 (8) 1:20.1 (8)	5:38.4