Swimming at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke

The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1948 Olympic Games took place between 3 and 5 August, at the Empire Pool. This swimming event used the backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Gold	Karen Harup  Denmark
Silver	Suzanne Zimmerman  United States
Bronze	Judy-Joy Davies  Australia

Results

Heats

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Karen Margrethe Harup	Denmark	1:15.6
2	Judy-Joy Davies	Australia	1:16.4
3	Suzanne Zimmerman	United States	1:16.8
4	Ilona Novák	Hungary	1:17.3
5	Greetje Gaillard	Netherlands	1:18.2
6	Helen Yate	Great Britain	1:18.3
7	Ria van der Horst	Netherlands	1:18.7
8	Muriel Mellon	United States	1:18.7
9	Ngaire Lane	New Zealand	1:18.8
10	Monique Berlioux	France	1:18.8
11	Barbara Jensen	United States	1:18.8
12	Dicky van Ekris	Netherlands	1:19.3
13	Cathie Gibson	Great Britain	1:19.7
14	Beryl Marshall	Argentina	1:20.9
15	Vera Ellery	Great Britain	1:20.9
16	Ingegerd Fredin	Sweden	1:21.2
17	Magda Bruggemann	Mexico	1:21.4
18	Bea Ballintijn	Norway	1:22.1
19	Edith de Oliveira	Brazil	1:22.5
20	Ginette Jany-Sendral	France	1:22.7
21	Kolbrún Ólafsdóttir	Iceland	1:25.6
22	Doris Gontersweiler-Vetterli	Switzerland	1:26.2
23	Joyce Court	Canada	1:26.8
24	Liliana Gonzalias	Argentina	1:26.9

Semifinals

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Karen Margrethe Harup	Denmark	1:15.5	OR
2	Suzanne Zimmerman	United States	1:16.8	Q
3	Ilona Novák	Hungary	1:17.6	Q
4	Judy-Joy Davies	Australia	1:17.8	Q
5	Ria van der Horst	Netherlands	1:18.2	Q
6	Muriel Mellon	United States	1:18.2	Q
7	Dicky van Ekris	Netherlands	1:18.2	q
8	Greetje Gaillard	Netherlands	1:18.4	q
9	Cathie Gibson	Great Britain	1:18.6
10	Helen Yate	Great Britain	1:18.7
11	Ngaire Lane	New Zealand	1:19.0
12	Barbara Jensen	United States	1:19.1
13	Monique Berlioux	France	1:20.2
14	Beryl Marshall	Argentina	1:20.7
15	Vera Ellery	Great Britain	1:20.8
16	Ingegerd Fredin	Sweden	DNS

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Karen Harup	Denmark	1:14.4	OR
	Suzanne Zimmerman	United States	1:16.0
	Judy-Joy Davies	Australia	1:16.7
4	Ilona Novák	Hungary	1:18.4
5	Ria van der Horst	Netherlands	1:18.8
6	Dicky van Ekris	Netherlands	1:18.9
7	Muriel Mellon	United States	1:19.0
8	Greetje Gaillard	Netherlands	1:19.1

Key: OR = Olympic record