Eighteen year-old Dixie Willis (AUS) was fastest in the heats with
2:05.9 (2:06.03). The veteran Russian Shevtsova, who had won bronze
in the European Championships six years earlier, under her maiden
name of Lysenko, was favourite, having set a world record of 2:04.3
two months earlier.
Willis set the pace in the final, passing 400m in 60.0, with
Shevtsova, Jones and Donath in close attendance. Willis still led into
the finishing straight, with Donath beginning to fade. Shevtsova and
Jones moved up to overtake, and Willis trod on the kerb and suddenly
stepped off the track with 70m remaining. Shevtsova and Jones battled
to the tape with the Soviet star getting home by half a metre, equalling
her world record in the process. Willis stepped back onto the track and
finished in approximately 2:27.5, though in official results she is listed
as a non-finisher.
Soviet Union
Australia
UT Germany
Great Britain
Hungary
Poland
France
South Korea
Bulgaria
Romania
Italy
United States
Canada
Czechoslovakia
Netherlands
Turkey
Switzerland
Mexico