Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1968 Olympic Games took place between 19 and 20 October. 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. Heat 1 Heat 2 Heat 3 Heat 4 Heat 5 Heat 6 Key: OR = Olympic record
Olympic-size swimming pool a minimum depth of from between from the end of the pool to at least from the end of the pool. At all other points, the minimum depth is . If the pool is used for Olympic Games or World Championships, then the minimum depth is increased to . At FINA's 2009 Congress, rules were approved for 10-lane courses for competition, as an alternative to the more traditional 8-lane course. Olympic-size swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions, large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race