| | Event type

200 metres Freestyle, Women

Date	1 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Schwimmhalle, Olympiapark, München
Participants	33 from 17 countries

In 1971 Australian Shane Gould had set two world records in this event. But American Shirley Babashoff bested those at the 1972 US Olympic Trials in Chicago in August. Gould took the lead in the final almost immediately and at 100 metres was half-a-bodylength ahead of the American trio of Babashoff, Keena Rothhammer, and Ann Marshall. By 150 metres Gould had open water. Babashoff and Rothhammer would better the Chicago world record, but it would only be good for the silver and bronze medals, as Gould shattered the mark with 2:03.56. Gould would eventually win three golds, a silver, and a bronze in Munich and then retire from swimming in early 1973.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Shane Gould	AUS	2:07.95 (1 h4)	2:03.56 (1)	Gold
2	Shirley Babashoff	USA	2:08.48 (2 h5)	2:04.33 (2)	Silver
3	Keena Rothhammer	USA	2:07.48 (1 h3)	2:04.92 (3)	Bronze
4	Ann Marshall	USA	2:08.12 (1 h1)	2:05.45 (4)
5	Andrea Eife	GDR	2:07.05 (1 h5)	2:06.27 (5)
6	Hansje Bunschoten	NED	2:08.58 (2 h3)	2:08.40 (6)
7	Anke Rijnders	NED	2:09.09 (1 h2)	2:09.41 (7)
8	Karin Tülling	GDR	2:09.01 (2 h1)	2:11.70 (8)
9	Gudrun Wegner	GDR	2:09.49 (3 h5)	–
10	Debbie Palmer	AUS	2:10.29 (2 h4)	–
11	Angela Steinbach	FRG	2:10.59 (4 h5)	–
=12	Jutta Weber	FRG	2:12.44 (3 h1)	–
=12	Merrily Stratten	CAN	2:12.44 (4 h1)	–
14	Helen Gray	AUS	2:12.76 (2 h2)	–
15	Uta Schütz	FRG	2:12.84 (3 h4)	–
16	Tatyana Zolotnitskaya	URS	2:13.12 (3 h3)	–
17	Lesley Allardice	GBR	2:13.43 (5 h5)	–
18	Mary Beth Rondeau	CAN	2:13.52 (4 h4)	–
19	Susan Edmondson	GBR	2:13.54 (5 h4)	–
20	Nadezhda Matyukhina	URS	2:13.60 (3 h2)	–
21	Yelena Timoshenko	URS	2:14.06 (4 h3)	–
22	Heather Coombridge	NZL	2:14.78 (5 h1)	–
23	Françoise Monod	SUI	2:15.30 (4 h2)	–
24	Diana Sutherland	GBR	2:16.00 (5 h3)	–
25	Karen LeGresley	CAN	2:16.34 (6 h1)	–
26	Olga de Ángulo	COL	2:17.34 (5 h2)	–
27	Lucy Burle	BRA	2:18.57 (6 h4)	–
28	Roselina Ángel	COL	2:18.62 (6 h5)	–
29	Ileana Morales	VEN	2:18.84 (6 h3)	–
30	Marcia Arriaga	MEX	2:18.93 (7 h4)	–
31	Belinda Phillips	JAM	2:19.49 (7 h1)	–
32	Hsu Yue-Yun	TPE	2:20.17 (7 h5)	–
33	Silvia Borgini	ARG	2:23.11 (6 h2)	–
DNS	Hriska Peycheva	BUL	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	Mireille Bassoul	LBN	– (DNS h3)	–

Round One (1 September 1972 — 11:50)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Ann Marshall	USA	30.91 (4) 31.97 (1)	1:02.88 (1) 33.10 (1)	1:35.98 (1) 32.14 (1)	2:08.12	QOR
2	–	Karin Tülling	GDR	30.56 (2) 32.58 (2)	1:03.14 (2) 33.25 (2)	1:36.39 (2) 32.62 (2)	2:09.01	Q
3	–	Jutta Weber	FRG	30.31 (1) 33.30 (4)	1:03.61 (3) 34.67 (4)	1:38.28 (4) 34.16 (3)	2:12.44
4	–	Merrily Stratten	CAN	30.77 (3) 32.88 (3)	1:03.65 (4) 34.37 (3)	1:38.02 (3) 34.42 (5)	2:12.44
5	–	Heather Coombridge	NZL	31.51 (7) 34.13 (5)	1:05.64 (5) 34.78 (5)	1:40.42 (5) 34.36 (4)	2:14.78
6	–	Karen LeGresley	CAN	31.25 (5) 34.77 (6)	1:06.02 (6) 35.40 (6)	1:41.42 (6) 34.92 (6)	2:16.34
7	–	Belinda Phillips	JAM	31.27 (6) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	2:19.49

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Anke Rijnders	NED	30.11 (1) 32.20 (1)	1:02.31 (1) 33.41 (1)	1:35.72 (1) 33.37 (1)	2:09.09	Q
2	–	Helen Gray	AUS	31.18 (3) 32.94 (2)	1:04.12 (2) 34.27 (3)	1:38.39 (2) 34.37 (3)	2:12.76
3	–	Nadezhda Matyukhina	URS	31.55 (4) 34.27 (3)	1:05.82 (4) 34.08 (2)	1:39.90 (3) 33.70 (2)	2:13.60
4	–	Françoise Monod	SUI	30.64 (2) 34.45 (5)	1:05.09 (3) 35.57 (4)	1:40.66 (4) 34.64 (4)	2:15.30
5	–	Olga de Ángulo	COL	31.74 (5) 34.43 (4)	1:06.17 (5) 35.58 (5)	1:41.75 (5) 35.59 (5)	2:17.34
6	–	Silvia Borgini	ARG	32.80 (6) 36.18 (6)	1:08.98 (6) 37.93 (6)	1:46.91 (6) 36.20 (6)	2:23.11
DNS	–	Hriska Peycheva	BUL	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Keena Rothhammer	USA	30.34 (1) 31.70 (1)	1:02.04 (1) 32.56 (1)	1:34.60 (1) 32.88 (2)	2:07.48	QOR
2	–	Hansje Bunschoten	NED	30.46 (2) 31.84 (2)	1:02.30 (2) 33.58 (2)	1:35.88 (2) 32.70 (1)	2:08.58	Q
3	–	Tatyana Zolotnitskaya	URS	31.00 (3) 32.95 (3)	1:03.95 (3) 34.69 (3)	1:38.64 (3) 34.48 (4)	2:13.12
4	–	Yelena Timoshenko	URS	31.13 (4) 33.61 (4)	1:04.74 (4) 35.24 (4)	1:39.98 (4) 34.08 (3)	2:14.06
5	–	Diana Sutherland	GBR	31.34 (=5) 34.25 (5)	1:05.59 (5) 35.63 (5)	1:41.22 (5) 34.78 (5)	2:16.00
6	–	Ileana Morales	VEN	31.34 (=5) 34.75 (6)	1:06.09 (6) 36.01 (6)	1:42.10 (6) 36.74 (6)	2:18.84
DNS	–	Mireille Bassoul	LBN	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Shane Gould	AUS	30.48 (1) 32.33 (1)	1:02.81 (1) 32.91 (1)	1:35.72 (1) 32.23 (1)	2:07.95	Q
2	–	Debbie Palmer	AUS	30.67 (3) 32.65 (2)	1:03.32 (2) 33.70 (2)	1:37.02 (2) 33.27 (2)	2:10.29
3	–	Uta Schütz	FRG	30.77 (5) 33.36 (3)	1:04.13 (3) 34.75 (4)	1:38.88 (4) 33.96 (3)	2:12.84
4	–	Mary Beth Rondeau	CAN	30.88 (6) 33.48 (4)	1:04.36 (4) 34.91 (5)	1:39.27 (5) 34.25 (4)	2:13.52
5	–	Susan Edmondson	GBR	30.70 (4) 33.72 (5)	1:04.42 (5) 34.40 (3)	1:38.82 (3) 34.72 (5)	2:13.54
6	–	Lucy Burle	BRA	30.63 (2) 35.12 (6)	1:05.75 (6) 36.20 (6)	1:41.95 (6) 36.62 (7)	2:18.57
7	–	Marcia Arriaga	MEX	32.11 (7) 35.32 (7)	1:07.43 (7) 36.34 (7)	1:43.77 (7) 35.16 (6)	2:18.93

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Andrea Eife	GDR	30.49 (2) 33.11 (3)	1:03.60 (3) 32.47 (1)	1:36.07 (2) 30.98 (1)	2:07.05	QOR
2	–	Shirley Babashoff	USA	30.21 (1) 32.53 (=1)	1:02.74 (1) 33.14 (2)	1:35.88 (1) 32.60 (2)	2:08.48	Q
3	–	Gudrun Wegner	GDR	30.88 (3) 32.53 (=1)	1:03.41 (2) 33.31 (3)	1:36.72 (3) 32.77 (4)	2:09.49
4	–	Angela Steinbach	FRG	31.01 (4) 33.21 (4)	1:04.22 (4) 33.66 (4)	1:37.88 (4) 32.71 (3)	2:10.59
5	–	Lesley Allardice	GBR	31.52 (5) 34.02 (5)	1:05.54 (5) 34.06 (5)	1:39.60 (5) 33.83 (5)	2:13.43
6	–	Roselina Ángel	COL	32.17 (7) 35.15 (6)	1:07.32 (6) 36.03 (7)	1:43.35 (6) 35.27 (6)	2:18.62
7	–	Hsu Yue-Yun	TPE	31.91 (6) 36.01 (7)	1:07.92 (7) 35.45 (6)	1:43.37 (7) 36.80 (7)	2:20.17

Final (1 September 1972 — 19:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	3	Shane Gould	AUS	29.23 (1) 30.81 (1)	1:00.04 (1) 32.25 (3)	1:32.29 (1) 31.27 (2)	2:03.56	WR
2	2	Shirley Babashoff	USA	29.69 (2) 31.75 (4)	1:01.44 (3) 31.86 (1)	1:33.30 (3) 31.03 (1)	2:04.33
3	5	Keena Rothhammer	USA	30.03 (8) 31.38 (2)	1:01.41 (2) 31.88 (2)	1:33.29 (2) 31.63 (5)	2:04.92
4	6	Ann Marshall	USA	29.90 (=5) 31.55 (3)	1:01.45 (4) 32.49 (4)	1:33.94 (4) 31.51 (4)	2:05.45
5	4	Andrea Eife	GDR	29.92 (7) 31.83 (5)	1:01.75 (5) 33.23 (6)	1:34.98 (5) 31.29 (3)	2:06.27
6	7	Hansje Bunschoten	NED	29.90 (=5) 32.39 (6)	1:02.29 (6) 32.89 (5)	1:35.18 (6) 33.22 (6)	2:08.40
7	8	Anke Rijnders	NED	29.71 (3) 32.63 (7)	1:02.34 (7) 33.27 (7)	1:35.61 (7) 33.80 (7)	2:09.41
8	1	Karin Tülling	GDR	29.76 (4) 33.12 (8)	1:02.88 (8) 33.76 (8)	1:36.64 (8) 35.06 (8)	2:11.70