The women's 100 metre butterfly event at the 1960 Olympic Games took place on August 29 and August 30.[1] This swimming event used the butterfly stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.
Eight fastest swimmers advanced directly to the finals
Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:09.8 | ||||
| 2 | 1:10.3 | ||||
| 3 | 1:13.2 | ||||
| 4 | 1:14.2 | ||||
| 5 | 1:16.5 | ||||
| 6 | 1:18.4 | ||||
| DNS |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:12.3 | ||||
| 2 | 1:12.6 | ||||
| 3 | 1:13.0 | ||||
| 4 | 1:18.4 | ||||
| 5 | 1:21.4 | ||||
| DNS | |||||
| DNS |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:11.1 | ||||
| 2 | 1:12.4 | ||||
| 3 | 1:14.6 | ||||
| 4 | 1:15.0 | ||||
| 5 | 1:17.9 | ||||
| 6 | 1:19.4 | ||||
| 7 | 1:20.4 |
Heemskerk and Fuhrmann after heat 4|thumbnailHeat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:11.0 | ||||
| 2 | 1:13.2 | ||||
| 3 | 1:14.2 | ||||
| 4 | 1:15.8 | ||||
| 5 | 1:16.3 | ||||
| 6 | 1:17.1 | ||||
| 7 | 1:19.5 |
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:09.5 | OR | ||||
| 1:10.4 | |||||
| 1:12.2 | |||||
| 4 | 1:13.3 | ||||
| 5 | 1:13.3 | ||||
| 6 | 1:13.3 | ||||
| 7 | 1:13.6 | ||||
| DNF |
Wood was in second place after 70 metres, but swallowed too much water, became confused, and stopped swimming.[2]
Key: DNF = Did not finish, OR = Olympic record