Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle

The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place August 30. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of eight lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Gold	Shane Gould File:Flag of Australia.svg Australia
Silver	Novella Calligaris File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy
Bronze	Gudrun Wegner File:Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Jenny Wylie	File:Flag of the United States.svg United States	4:27.53	OR, Q
2	Anke Rijnders	File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	4:29.94	Q
3	Karin Tülling	File:Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany	4:32.56
4	Federica Stabilini	File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	4:36.32
5	Maria Teresa Ramírez	File:Flag of Mexico.svg Mexico	4:39.14
6	Helga Wagner	File:Flag of Germany.svg West Germany	4:47.61
7	Kirsten Knudsen	File:Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark	4:53.76

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Shirley Babashoff	File:Flag of the United States.svg United States	4:31.98	Q
2	Karen Moras	File:Flag of Australia.svg Australia	4:36.14
3	Mary Beth Rondeau	File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada	4:36.71
4	Anne Marie McCaffrey	File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada	4:39.92
5	Roselina Angee	File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia	4:45.97
6	Belinda Phillips	File:Flag of Jamaica.svg Jamaica	4:47.54
7	Hsu Yue-yun	File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Chinese Taipei	4:57.58

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Shane Gould	File:Flag of Australia.svg Australia	4:28.46	Q
2	Hansje Bunschoten	File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	4:28.76	Q
3	Uta Schütz	File:Flag of Germany.svg West Germany	4:34.67
4	Narelle Moras	File:Flag of Australia.svg Australia	4:37.57
5	Susan Edmondson	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Great Britain	4:39.10
6	Ileana Morales	File:Flag of Venezuela (1954–2006).png Venezuela	4:44.73
7	Diana Sutherland	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Great Britain	4:47.66

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Novella Calligaris	File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	4:24.14	OR, Q
2	Keena Rothhammer	File:Flag of the United States.svg United States	4:24.82	Q
3	Gudrun Wegner	File:Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany	4:25.13	Q
4	Olga de Angulo	File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia	4:40.09
5	Jaynie Parkhouse	File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand	4:40.24
6	June Green	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Great Britain	4:45.81
7	Eleni Avlonitou	File:Flag of Greece (1970-1975).svg Greece	4:52.10
8	Patricia López	File:Flag of Argentina (1861–2010).svg Argentina	4:59.68

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Shane Gould	File:Flag of Australia.svg Australia	4:19.04	WR
2	Novella Calligaris	File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	4:22.44
3	Gudrun Wegner	File:Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany	4:23.11
4	Shirley Babashoff	File:Flag of the United States.svg United States	4:23.59
5	Jenny Wylie	File:Flag of the United States.svg United States	4:24.07
6	Keena Rothhammer	File:Flag of the United States.svg United States	4:24.22
7	Hansje Bunschoten	File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	4:29.70
8	Anke Rijnders	File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands	4:31.51

Key: WR = World record