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Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres

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Women's 400 metres
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
VenueEstadio Olímpico Universitario
DateOctober 14–16
Competitors29 from 22 nations
Winning time52.0
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Colette Besson  France
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lillian Board  Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Natalya Pechonkina  Soviet Union
← 1964
1972 →

The Women's 400 metres competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico was held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 14–16.[1]

Summary

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In the final, running in lane 1, Lillian Board went out fast, making up the stagger on Aurelia Pentón in lane 2. In lane 4, Jarvis Scott did the same to Colette Besson in lane 5 who was passing Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen in 6. On the backstretch, Scott opened up a clear lead on the field. Through the final turn, Natalya Pechonkina in lane 8 started to make headway against Scott's lead, with Board sandwiching the challenge from the inside. Coming off the turn, Board attacked and took the lead, Besson was still more than two metres behind Scott, but the rush was on. Besson shot past Scott and gained on Board with every step. After her early exuberance, Scott had no answer. Besson passed Board 10 metres before the line with Pechonkina taking bronze well ahead of Janet Simpson.

Competition format

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The Women's 200m competition consisted of heats (Round 1), Semifinals and a Final. The four fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the Semifinals. The four fastest competitors from each of the Semifinal races qualified for the final.

Records

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

World record  Shin Geum-Dan (PRK) 51.9 Pyongyang, North Korea October 23, 1962
Olympic record  Betty Cuthbert (AUS) 52.0 Tokyo, Japan October 17, 1964

Results

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Round 1

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Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Colette Besson  France 53.1 Q
2 Jarvis Scott  United States 53.5 Q
3 Helga Henning  West Germany 53.5 Q
4 Joan Fisher  Canada 54.6 Q
5 Enriqueta Basilio  Mexico 55.6
6 Joyce Bennett  Australia 56.5

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Aurelia Pentón  Cuba 52.8 Q
2 Lillian Board  Great Britain 52.9 Q
3 Ingrīda Verbele  Soviet Union 54.0 Q
4 Una Morris  Jamaica 54.1 Q
5 Anne Covell  Canada 54.3
6 Anna Chmelková  Czechoslovakia 54.9
7 Antónia Munkácsi  Hungary 55.6
8 Jean Robotham  Costa Rica 58.2

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen  Netherlands 53.1 Q
2 Esther Stroy  United States 53.5 Q
3 Janet Simpson  Great Britain 53.6 Q
4 Monique Noirot  France 53.6 Q
5 Tekla Chemabwai  Kenya 54.0
6 Sandra Brown  Australia 55.4
7 Hana Shezifi  Israel 56.3

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Natalya Pechonkina  Soviet Union 53.7 Q
2 Mary Green  Great Britain 53.9 Q
3 Karin Wallgren  Sweden 54.2 Q
4 Lois Anne Drinkwater  United States 54.5 Q
5 Donata Govoni  Italy 54.7
6 Eeva Haimi  Finland 55.0
7 Josefa Vicent  Uruguay 56.3
8 Olajumoke Bodunrin  Nigeria 57.0

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Helga Henning  West Germany 53.3 Q
2 Colette Besson  France 53.6 Q
3 Janet Simpson  Great Britain 54.0 Q
4 Aurelia Pentón  Cuba 54.0 Q
5 Esther Stroy  United States 54.3
6 Una Morris  Jamaica 54.6
7 Ingrīda Verbele  Soviet Union 54.6
8 Joan Fisher  Canada 55.2

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Lillian Board  Great Britain 52.5 Q
2 Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen  Netherlands 52.6 Q
3 Natalya Pechonkina  Soviet Union 52.8 Q
4 Jarvis Scott  United States 53.2 Q
5 Mary Green  Great Britain 53.6
6 Karin Wallgren  Sweden 53.9
7 Monique Noirot  France 54.2
8 Lois Drinkwater  United States 57.3

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Colette Besson  France 52.0
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lillian Board  Great Britain 52.1
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Natalya Pechonkina  Soviet Union 52.2
4 Janet Simpson  Great Britain 52.5
5 Aurelia Pentón  Cuba 52.7
6 Jarvis Scott  United States 52.7
7 Helga Henning  West Germany 52.8
8 Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen  Netherlands 53.0

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Women's 400 metres". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
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