| Event: | Women's 200 metre breaststroke |
| Games: | 1936 Summer |
| Venue: | Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin |
| Date: | 8 August (heats) 9 August (semifinals) 11 August (final) |
| Competitors: | 23 |
| Nations: | 12 |
| Win Value: | 3:03.6 |
| Gold: | Hideko Maehata |
| Goldnoc: | JPN |
| Silver: | Martha Genenger |
| Silvernoc: | GER |
| Bronze: | Inge Sørensen |
| Bronzenoc: | DEN |
| Prev: | 1932 |
The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1936 Summer Olympics, took place from 8 to 11 August, at the (50 m) Olympiapark Schwimmstadion Berlin. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which first appeared at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. A total of 23 competitors from 12 nations participated in the event.[1]
The world record holder at the time, Japanese Hideko Maehata, won the event four years after losing the gold medal to Australian Clare Dennis by one tenth of a second. Twenty four-year-old German silver medalist Martha Genenger broke the Olympic record in her heat on 8 August, but Maebata broke it again in the next heat with a time of 3:01.9 seconds.[1] Danish Inge Sørensen won the bronze medal, becoming the youngest ever female Olympic medalist (12 years, 24 days).[2] Sørensen's compatriot Valborg Christensen was favoured to win a medal in this event, but she was eliminated after finishing fifth in her semifinal.[3]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | OR | WR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 August | Heat 2 | 3:02.9 | OR | ||||
| 8 August | Heat 3 | 3:01.9 | OR |
The three fastest swimmers of each heat and the next two fastest swimmers overall (Hanni Hölzner and Dorothy Schiller) advanced to the semifinals on 9 August.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:06.7 | Q | |||
| 2 | 3:08.7 | Q | |||
| 3 | 3:10.4 | Q | |||
| 4 | 3:11.0 | q | |||
| 5 | 3:17.4 | q | |||
| 6 | 3:21.7 | ||||
| 7 | 3:24.3 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:02.9 | Q, OR | |||
| 2 | 3:07.8 | Q | |||
| 3 | 3:15.0 | Q | |||
| 4 | 3:19.1 | ||||
| 5 | 3:25.3 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:01.9 | Q, OR | |||
| 2 | 3:07.8 | Q | |||
| 3 | 3:15.7 | Q | |||
| 4 | 3:21.9 | ||||
| 5 | 3:25.8 | ||||
| 6 | 3:31.3 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:08.5 | Q | |||
| 2 | 3:10.8 | Q | |||
| 3 | 3:17.2 | Q | |||
| 4 | 3:21.3 | ||||
| 5 | 3:22.5 |
The three fastest swimmers of both semifinals and the best fourth-place finisher advanced to the final on 11 August.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:03.1 | Q | |||
| 2 | 3:06.0 | Q | |||
| 3 | 3:08.8 | Q | |||
| 4 | 3:09.7 | Q | |||
| 5 | 3:10.3 | ||||
| 6 | 3:15.8 | ||||
| 7 | 3:17.7 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:02.8 | Q | |||
| 2 | 3:09.2 | Q | |||
| 3 | 3:09.8 | Q | |||
| 4 | 3:11.4 | ||||
| 5 | 3:14.1 | ||||
| 6 | 3:18.4 | ||||
| 7 | 3:18.5 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3:03.6 | |||||
| 3:04.2 | |||||
| 3:07.8 | |||||
| 4 | 3:09.5 | ||||
| 3:09.5 | |||||
| 6 | 3:09.7 | ||||
| 7 | 3:12.8 |