Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres

The women's 100 metres competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia was held at the Olympic Stadium on November 29–30.[1]

Women's 100 metres
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
VenueMelbourne Cricket Ground
DateNovember 24th (heats & semifinals)
November 26th (final)
Competitors37 from 18 nations
Winning time11.5
Medalists
Betty Cuthbert  Australia
Christa Stubnick  United Team of Germany
Marlene Mathews-Willard  Australia
Video on YouTube Official Video @16:22

In the final, Betty Cuthbert clearly beat her teammate Marlene Mathews-Willard out of the blocks, with Heather Armitage and Isabelle Daniels out quickly in close contention. Christa Stubnick had a burst of acceleration to quickly draw even with Daniels as Armitage was unable to hold her speed. Cuthbert expanded upon her slight advantage to pull away to a clear win. Stubnick was able to separate slightly from Daniels with Mathews-Willard steadily gaining from the back. Mathews-Willard caught Daniels and almost nipped Stubnick, clearly the fastest moving athlete at the finish.

Competition format

The women's 100m competition started with six heats, where the fastest two from each heat qualified to one of the two semifinals groups. The three fastest runners from each semifinals group advanced to the final.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Shirley Strickland (AUS) 11.3 Warsaw, Poland August 4, 1955
Olympic record  Helen Stephens (USA) 11.5 Berlin, Germany August 4, 1936

Results

Heat 1

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Giuseppina Leone Italy 11.8Q
2Vira Kalashnykova-Krepkina Soviet Union 11.9Q
3Mae Faggs United States 12.2
4Micheline Fluchot France 12.4
5Janet Jesudason Singapore 13.2
Mary Rao India DNF

Heat 2

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Marlene Mathews-Willard Australia 11.5Q, OR
2Galina Rezchikova Soviet Union 11.8Q
3Lucinda Williams United States 12.0
4Maria Kusion-Bibro Poland 12.2
5Maureen Rever Canada 12.2
6Franca Peggion Italy 12.4
7Mary Klass Singapore 12.6

Heat 3

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Betty Cuthbert Australia 11.4Q, OR
2Isabelle Daniels United States 11.6Q
3Anne Pashley Great Britain 11.7
4Barbara Janiszewska Poland 12.2
5Maria Musso Italy 12.2
6Diane Matheson Canada 12.4

Heat 4

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Heather Armitage Great Britain 11.5Q
2Gisela Birkemeyer United Team of Germany 11.7Q
3Shirley Strickland Australia 11.7
4Eleanor Haslam Canada 11.8
5Halina Górecka Poland 12.2
6Maeve Kyle Ireland 12.3

Heat 5

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Galina Popova Soviet Union 11.6Q
2Catherine Capdevielle France 11.7Q
3Inge Fuhrmann United Team of Germany 12.2
4Annie Choong Malaysia 12.5

Heat 6

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Christa Stubnick United Team of Germany 11.7Q
2June Foulds Great Britain 11.9Q
3Margaret Stuart New Zealand 12.3
4Elaine Winter South Africa 12.5
5Claudette Masdammer Guyana 12.7

Semifinal 1

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Christa Stubnick United Team of Germany 11.9Q
2Betty Cuthbert Australia 12.0Q
3Giuseppina Leone Italy 12.1Q
4June Foulds Australia 12.1
5Galina Popova Soviet Union 12.2
6Catherine Capdevielle France 12.4

Semifinal 2

RankAthleteCountryTimeNotes
1Marlene Mathews-Willard Australia 11.6Q
2Heather Armitage Great Britain 11.6Q
3Isabelle Daniels United States 11.7Q
4Gisela Birkemeyer United Team of Germany 11.9
5Vira Kalashnykova-Krepkina Soviet Union 11.9
6Galina Reshchikova Soviet Union 12.1

Final

Left-right: Isabelle Daniels, Giuseppina Leone, Betty Cuthbert, Marlene Mathews, Heather Armitage, Christa Stubnick
RankAthleteCountryTime
Betty Cuthbert Australia 11.5
Christa Stubnick United Team of Germany 11.7
Marlene Mathews-Willard Australia 11.7
4Isabelle Daniels United States 11.8
5Giuseppina Leone Italy 11.9
6Heather Armitage Great Britain 12.0

References

  1. "Athletics at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Women's 100 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
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