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1968 Olympic Games Ciudad de México, Mexico - Women's 400 m

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Details: Parent Category: Olympic Games (Athletics); Category: 1968 Olympic Games Ciudad de México, Mexico - (Athletics); Last Updated: 27 June 2016; Hits: 2696

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Host City: Ciudad de México, Mexico

Format: Top four in each heat advanced to the final.

Date Started: October 14, 1968

Format: Top four in each heat advanced to the semi-finals.

Date Finished: October 16, 1968

(Competitors: 29; Countries: 21; Finalists: 8)

Venue(s): University Olympic Stadium, Ciudad de México

Overview by IAAF

Board was the favourite and produced the fastest time before the final with 52.5 (52.56) in her semi-final, held in dry conditions after a storm had affected the first race, won by Henning in a German record 53.3 (53.33). Scott took the lead early on in the final, and held off Board until just before 300m, when the Briton took over. As the race unwound Board was clearly struggling, and the unheralded Besson slipped by in the last 20m to win by just over half a metre, with the tall Pechonkina leaving her effort too late and finishing third, a metre behind. The standard was unprecedented, even allowing for altitude, as seven beat 53 seconds as compared with a previous best of two in the same race. Tragically, Board contracted cancer at the end of the following season, and died in December 1970, aged 22.

Summary by Sports-reference.com

Great Britain’s Lillian Board was favored based on fast times early in the year. The lead in the final was taken by Jarvis Scott (USA) but she faded at 300 metres and Board took over. In the last 20 metres, France’s Colette Besson pulled up to win the gold medal with Board second. Besson was completely unheralded prior to the competition, but would place second in the 400 at the 1969 European Championships. Britain’s press was somewhat critical of Board, but later had cause to regret that. Within 18 months of the 1968 Olympics, she was diagnosed with cancer and died in December 1970, when she was only 22.

Records

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

*400 m*	Women		Final	16 October

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	52.03		Colette Besson	France	FRA	22	(=)OR	52.0 h
2	52.12		Lillian Board	Great Britain	GBR	19		52.1 h
3	52.25		Nataliya Pechonkina-Chistyakova	Soviet Union	URS	22		52.2 h
4	52.57		Janet Simpson	Great Britain	GBR	24		52.5 h
5	52.75		Aurelia Pentón	Cuba	CUB	27		52.7 h
6	52.79		Jarvis Scott	United States	USA	21		52.7 h
7	52.89		Helga Henning	West Germany	FRG	30		52.8 h
8	53.02		Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen	Netherlands	NED	20		53.0 h
*400 m*	Women		Semi-Finals Heat One	15 October

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	53.33	Q	Helga Henning	West Germany	FRG	30		53.3 h
2	53.62	Q	Colette Besson	France	FRA	22		53.6 h
3	54.01	Q	Janet Simpson	Great Britain	GBR	24		54.0 h
4	54.08	Q	Aurelia Pentón	Cuba	CUB	27		54.0 h
5	54.35		Esther Stroy	United States	USA	15		54.3 h
6	54.63		Una Morris	Jamaica	JAM	21		54.6 h
7	54.67		Ingrīda Verbele	Soviet Union	URS	20		54.6 h
8	55.37		Joan Fisher	Canada	CAN	19		55.2 h
*400 m*	Women		Semi-Finals Heat Two	15 October

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	52.56	Q	Lillian Board	Great Britain	GBR	19		52.5 h
2	52.69	Q	Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen	Netherlands	NED	20		52.6 h
3	52.83	Q	Nataliya Pechonkina-Chistyakova	Soviet Union	URS	22		52.8 h
4	53.22	Q	Jarvis Scott	United States	USA	21		53.2 h
5	53.64		Mary Green	Great Britain	GBR	24		53.6 h
6	53.93		Karin Wallgren-Lundgren	Sweden	SWE	24		53.9 h
7	54.30		Monique Noirot	France	FRA	27		54.2 h
8	57.39		Lois Drinkwater	United States	USA	17		57.3 h
*400 m*	Women		Round One Heat One	14 October

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	53.11	Q	Colette Besson	France	FRA	22		53.1 h
2	53.53	Q	Jarvis Scott	United States	USA	21		53.5 h
3	53.58	Q	Helga Henning	West Germany	FRG	30		53.5 h
4	54.62	Q	Joan Fisher	Canada	CAN	19		54.6 h
5	55.47		Enriqueta Basilio	Mexico	MEX	20		55.6 h
6	56.56		Joyce Bennett	Australia	AUS	23		56.5 h
*400 m*	Women		Round One Heat Two	14 October

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	52.86	Q	Aurelia Pentón	Cuba	CUB	27		52.8 h
2	53.00	Q	Lillian Board	Great Britain	GBR	19		52.9 h
3	54.07	Q	Ingrīda Verbele	Soviet Union	URS	20		54.0 h
4	54.19	Q	Una Morris	Jamaica	JAM	21		54.1 h
5	54.34		Anne Covell	Canada	CAN	18		54.3 h
6	54.91		Anna Chmelková	Czechoslovakia	TCH	24		54.9 h
7	55.61		Antónia Munkácsi	Hungary	HUN	29		55.6 h
8	58.25		Jean Robotham	Costa Rica	CRC	24		58.2 h
*400 m*	Women		Round One Heat Three	14 October

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	53.17	Q	Mirna van der Hoeven-Jansen	Netherlands	NED	20		53.1 h
2	53.58	Q	Esther Stroy	United States	USA	15		53.5 h
3	53.63	Q	Janet Simpson	Great Britain	GBR	24		53.6 h
4	53.67	Q	Monique Noirot	France	FRA	27		53.6 h
5	54.05		Tekla Chemabwai	Kenya	KEN	18		54.0 h
6	55.43		Sandra Brown	Australia	AUS	22		55.4 h
7	56.38		Channa Shezifi	Israel	ISR	24		56.3 h
*400 m*	Women		Round One Heat Four	14 October

Rank	Mark		Athlete	Country	NOC	Age	Records	Notes
1	53.73	Q	Nataliya Pechonkina-Chistyakova	Soviet Union	URS	22		53.7 h
2	54.00	Q	Mary Green	Great Britain	GBR	24		53.9 h
3	54.30	Q	Karin Wallgren-Lundgren	Sweden	SWE	24		54.2 h
4	54.56	Q	Lois Drinkwater	United States	USA	17		54.5 h
5	54.77		Donata Govoni	Italy	ITA	24		54.7 h
6	55.01		Eeva Haimi	Finland	FIN	22		55.0 h
7	56.34		Josefa Vicent	Uruguay	URU	18		56.3 h
8	57.09		Olajumoke Bodunrin	Nigeria	NGR	23		57h