Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:

{{World Olympic Record

| world_athlete = {{flagathlete|Ada den Haan|NED}}

| world_mark = 2:46.4 min

| world_place = Naarden, Netherlands

| world_date = 13 November 1956

| world_ref =

| olympic_athlete = {{flagIOCathlete|Éva Novák-Gerard|HUN|1952 Summer}}

| olympic_mark = 2:54.0 min

| olympic_place = Helsinki, Finland

| olympic_date = 26 July 1952

| olympic_ref =

}}

Hungarian Éva Székely originally held the Olympic record in the event after swimming a time of 2:51.7 min four years ago.Kolkka, p. 591. However Székely had used the butterfly stroke for her swim, which was now disallowed as a new 100 metres event had been introduced. Éva Novák-Gerard's time of 2:54.0 min in 1952 at the same event was instead replaced as the current Olympic record.Doyle, p. 588.

The following records were established during the competition:

Ursula Happe's Olympic record was set using a technique of swimming long distances underwater during her run. This technique would later be disallowed by FINA in the late 1950s to ensure the majority of the race was swum on the surface.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSSW4RhZOiwC&dq=breaststroke&pg=PA219 |title=Breaststroke |work=Swimming Fastest |last=Maglischo |first=Ernest W. |year=2003 |publisher=Human Kinetics |page=219 |isbn=0736031804 }}{{cite book |last=Mallon |first=Bill |title=The Olympic Record Book |year=1988 |publisher=Garland Publishing |isbn=0824029488 |page=[https://archive.org/details/olympicrecordboo0000mall/page/240 240] |chapter=Olympic Records by Sport; Summer Sports |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/olympicrecordboo0000mall/page/240 }}

• {{cite web | url=http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1956/OR1956.pdf | title=The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XVI Olympiad Melbourne 1956 | year=1956 | accessdate=1 July 2012 | editor=Edward A. Doyle | publisher=Organising Committee for the Games of the XVI Melbourne }}
• {{cite web | url=http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1952/OR1952.pdf | title=The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XV Olympiad Helsinki 1952 | year=1955 | accessdate=1 July 2012 | editor=Sulo Kolkka | publisher=Organising Committee for the Games of the XV Olympiad Helsinki }}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/womens-200-metres-breaststroke.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417170034/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/SWI/womens-200-metres-breaststroke.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Women's 200 metres Breaststroke |accessdate=1 July 2012 |work=Olympics at Sports-Reference.com |publisher=Sports Reference, LLC}}

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{{Footer Olympic Champions 200 m Breaststroke Women}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 1956 Summer Olympics - Women's 200 Metre Breaststroke}}

Women's breaststroke 200 metres

Category:1956 in women's swimming

Category:Women's events at the 1956 Summer Olympics