4 x 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women
| Date | 30 August 1972 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Schwimmhalle, Olympiapark, München |
| Participants | 69 from 16 countries |
It was eight years since any nation other than the United States had set a world record in this event. But East Germany (GDR) was improving rapidly as a swimming power, at least among the women. The 100 freestyle champion, Sandy Neilson, who had one that gold the day before, led off the final for the USA and put them ahead, but on the second leg, the GDR’s Andrea Eife almost pulled even with Jenny Kemp. After the third leg, the race was a dead-heat, with the anchor swimmers Shirley Babashoff and Kornelia Ender. They would become great rivals, but most of that was in Montréal four years hence. On the final leg, Babashoff had a slight lead going out but almost missed the wall on her turn and Ender took the lead coming home, only to see Babashoff rally and edge her out for the gold medal for the Americans, who finished in a world record 3:55.19.
The biggest shock of the final was the performance of the Australian women, who finished far back in last. No Aussie woman broke a minute for her split, even anchorwoman Shane Gould. So far behind, she appeared to treat it as a warm-up swim for her 400 final, which took place an hour later, and posted a pedestrian 1:01.00.
Round One (30 August 1972 — 10:00)
Fastest eight advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | East Germany |  GDR | 3:58.11 | |||||
| Andrea Eife | – | 1:00.18 | 1:00.18 (2) | ||||||
| Sylvia Eichner | – | 59.81 | 1:59.99 (1) | ||||||
| Elke Sehmisch | – | 58.58 | 2:58.57 (1) | ||||||
| Kornelia Ender | – | 59.52 | 3:58.09 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | – | Netherlands |  NED | 4:02.70 | |||||
| Enith Brigitha | – | 59.37 | 59.37 (1) | ||||||
| Anke Rijnders | – | 1:01.14 | 2:00.51 (2) | ||||||
| Hansje Bunschoten | – | 1:00.71 | 3:01.22 (2) | ||||||
| Josien Elzerman | – | 1:01.47 | 4:02.69 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | – | Australia |  AUS | 4:05.44 | |||||
| Debbie Palmer | – | 1:01.48 | 1:01.48 (4) | ||||||
| Leanne Francis | – | 1:01.37 | 2:02.85 (3) | ||||||
| Sharon Booth | – | 1:01.07 | 3:03.92 (3) | ||||||
| Debra Cain | – | 1:01.50 | 4:05.42 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | – | Canada |  CAN | 4:05.95 | |||||
| Mary Beth Rondeau | – | 1:02.95 | 1:02.95 (7) | ||||||
| Judy Wright | – | 1:01.68 | 2:04.63 (6) | ||||||
| Leslie Cliff | – | 1:00.72 | 3:05.35 (4) | ||||||
| Wendy Cook | – | 1:00.58 | 4:05.93 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | – | Soviet Union |  URS | 4:07.55 | |||||
| Tatyana Zolotnitskaya | – | 1:02.03 | 1:02.03 (6) | ||||||
| Yelena Timoshenko | – | 1:01.83 | 2:03.86 (4) | ||||||
| Nadezhda Matyukhina | – | 1:01.56 | 3:05.42 (5) | ||||||
| Irina Ustimenko | – | 1:02.12 | 4:07.54 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | – | France |  FRA | 4:08.82 | |||||
| Claude Mandonnaud | – | 1:01.38 | 1:01.38 (3) | ||||||
| Chantal Schertz | – | 1:02.81 | 2:04.19 (5) | ||||||
| Christine Petit | – | 1:03.70 | 3:07.89 (6) | ||||||
| Guylaine Berger | – | 1:00.92 | 4:08.81 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | – | Mexico |  MEX | 4:14.95 | |||||
| María Teresa Ramírez | – | 1:01.79 | 1:01.79 (5) | ||||||
| Virginia Anchestegui | – | 1:03.96 | 2:05.75 (7) | ||||||
| Laura Vaca | – | 1:04.77 | 3:10.52 (7) | ||||||
| Marcia Arriaga | – | 1:04.42 | 4:14.94 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | – | Ireland |  IRL | 4:26.34 | |||||
| Ann O'Connor | – | 1:06.15 | 1:06.15 (8) | ||||||
| Christine Fulcher | – | 1:05.53 | 2:11.68 (8) | ||||||
| Brenda McGrory | – | 1:08.05 | 3:19.73 (8) | ||||||
| Aisling O'Leary | – | 1:06.59 | 4:26.32 (8) |
Heat Two
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | United States |  USA | 3:58.93 | |||||
| Kim Peyton | – | 1:00.12 | 1:00.12 (1) | ||||||
| Lynn Skrifvars | – | 1:00.60 | 2:00.72 (1) | ||||||
| Jane Barkman | – | 59.39 | 3:00.11 (1) | ||||||
| Ann Marshall | – | 58.81 | 3:58.92 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | – | West Germany |  FRG | 4:01.63 | |||||
| Gudrun Beckmann | – | 1:01.63 | 1:01.63 (5) | ||||||
| Jutta Weber | – | 1:00.62 | 2:02.25 (3) | ||||||
| Angela Steinbach | – | 59.96 | 3:02.21 (2) | ||||||
| Heidi Reineck | – | 59.40 | 4:01.61 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | – | Sweden |  SWE | 4:03.99 | |||||
| Anita Zarnowiecki | – | 1:01.08 | 1:01.08 (3) | ||||||
| Eva Andersson | – | 1:00.97 | 2:02.05 (2) | ||||||
| Diana Olsson | – | 1:00.40 | 3:02.45 (3) | ||||||
| Irwi Johansson | – | 1:01.53 | 4:03.98 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | – | Hungary |  HUN | 4:04.29 | |||||
| Andrea Gyarmati | – | 1:00.77 | 1:00.77 (2) | ||||||
| Judit Turóczy | – | 1:01.55 | 2:02.32 (4) | ||||||
| Edit Kovács | – | 1:01.82 | 3:04.14 (4) | ||||||
| Magdolna Patóh | – | 1:00.13 | 4:04.27 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | – | Japan |  JPN | 4:08.34 | |||||
| Yoshimi Nishigawa | – | 1:01.34 | 1:01.34 (4) | ||||||
| Shigeko Kawanishi | – | 1:01.64 | 2:02.98 (5) | ||||||
| Eiko Goshi | – | 1:01.88 | 3:04.86 (5) | ||||||
| Yukari Takemoto | – | 1:03.46 | 4:08.32 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | – | Great Britain |  GBR | 4:09.51 | |||||
| Diana Sutherland | – | 1:03.36 | 1:03.36 (8) | ||||||
| Judith Sirs | – | 1:03.17 | 2:06.53 (8) | ||||||
| Susan Edmondson | – | 1:01.74 | 3:08.27 (7) | ||||||
| Lesley Allardice | – | 1:01.23 | 4:09.50 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | – | Italy |  ITA | 4:10.70 | |||||
| Laura Podestà | – | 1:02.44 | 1:02.44 (6) | ||||||
| Patrizia Lanfredini | – | 1:02.62 | 2:05.06 (6) | ||||||
| Laura Gorgerino | – | 1:03.07 | 3:08.13 (6) | ||||||
| Federica Stabilini | – | 1:02.56 | 4:10.69 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | – | Switzerland |  SUI | 4:10.73 | |||||
| Margrit Thomet | – | 1:03.25 | 1:03.25 (7) | ||||||
| Irène Debrunner | – | 1:02.68 | 2:05.93 (7) | ||||||
| Christiane Flamand | – | 1:03.10 | 3:09.03 (8) | ||||||
| Françoise Monod | – | 1:01.68 | 4:10.71 (8) |
Final (30 August 1972 — 17:40)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | United States | USA | 3:55.19 | |||||
| Sandy Neilson | – | 58.98 | 58.98 (1) | ||||||
| Jenny Kemp | – | 58.99 | 1:57.97 (1) | ||||||
| Jane Barkman | – | 59.03 | 2:57.00 (1) | ||||||
| Shirley Babashoff | – | 58.18 | 3:55.18 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 4 | East Germany | GDR | 3:55.55 | |||||
| Gabriele Wetzko | – | 59.23 | 59.23 (2) | ||||||
| Andrea Eife | – | 58.96 | 1:58.19 (2) | ||||||
| Elke Sehmisch | – | 59.08 | 2:57.27 (2) | ||||||
| Kornelia Ender | – | 58.27 | 3:55.54 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | West Germany | FRG | 3:57.93 | |||||
| Jutta Weber | – | 59.84 | 59.84 (5) | ||||||
| Heidi Reineck | – | 59.02 | 1:58.86 (3) | ||||||
| Gudrun Beckmann | – | 59.99 | 2:58.85 (3) | ||||||
| Angela Steinbach | – | 59.07 | 3:57.92 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 7 | Hungary | HUN | 4:00.39 | |||||
| Andrea Gyarmati | – | 59.32 | 59.32 (3) | ||||||
| Judit Turóczy | – | 1:00.88 | 2:00.20 (4) | ||||||
| Edit Kovács | – | 1:01.12 | 3:01.32 (5) | ||||||
| Magdolna Patóh | – | 59.06 | 4:00.38 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 6 | Netherlands | NED | 4:01.49 | |||||
| Enith Brigitha | – | 59.46 | 59.46 (4) | ||||||
| Anke Rijnders | – | 1:00.85 | 2:00.31 (5) | ||||||
| Hansje Bunschoten | – | 59.93 | 3:00.24 (4) | ||||||
| Josien Elzerman | – | 1:01.24 | 4:01.48 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 2 | Sweden | SWE | 4:02.69 | |||||
| Anita Zarnowiecki | – | 1:01.16 | 1:01.16 (7) | ||||||
| Eva Andersson | – | 1:00.25 | 2:01.41 (6) | ||||||
| Diana Olsson | – | 1:00.30 | 3:01.71 (6) | ||||||
| Irwi Johansson | – | 1:00.97 | 4:02.68 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 8 | Canada | CAN | 4:03.83 | |||||
| Wendy Cook | – | 1:00.98 | 1:00.98 (6) | ||||||
| Judy Wright | – | 1:01.06 | 2:02.04 (7) | ||||||
| Mary Beth Rondeau | – | 1:01.37 | 3:03.41 (7) | ||||||
| Leslie Cliff | – | 1:00.41 | 4:03.82 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | 1 | Australia | AUS | 4:04.82 | |||||
| Debbie Palmer | – | 1:02.02 | 1:02.02 (8) | ||||||
| Leanne Francis | – | 1:01.09 | 2:03.11 (8) | ||||||
| Sharon Booth | – | 1:00.70 | 3:03.81 (8) | ||||||
| Shane Gould | – | 1:01.00 | 4:04.81 (8) |