| | Venue: Francisco Márquez Olympic Pool. 24 competitors from 15 nations. | 
 | | Final | Points | Final | Qualif. | age |  | 1. Milena Duchková |  TCH | 109.59 | 57.98 | 1. | 51.61 | 3. | 16 |  | 2. Natalya Lobanova |  URS | 105.14 | 51.34 | 3. | 53.80 | 1. | 21 |  | 3. Ann Peterson |  USA | 101.11 | 48.97 | 4. | 52.14 | 2. | 21 |  | 4. Beverly Boys |  CAN | 97.97 | 53.32 | 2. | 44.65 | 11. | 17 |  | 5. Bogusława Pietkiewicz |  POL | 95.09 | 45.56 | 8. | 49.53 | 4. | 24 |  | 6. Regina Krause |  FRG | 93.08 | 46.31 | 7. | 46.77 | 8. | 25 |  | 7. Keiko Osaki |  JPN | 93.08 | 47.42 | 5. | 45.66 | 10. | 21 |  | 8. Nancy Robertson |  CAN | 90.66 | 46.56 | 3. | 44.10 | 12. | 18 |  | 9. Ingeborg Pertmayr |  AUT | 89.43 | 41.20 | 9. | 48.23 | 5. | 21 |  | 10.Barbara Talmage |  USA | 87.29 | 40.20 | 10. | 47.09 | 7. | 27 |  | 11.Ingeborg Busch |  FRG | 85.31 | 38.09 | 11. | 47.22 | 6. | 24 |  | 12.Mandi Haswell |  GBR | 82.33 | 36.61 | 12. | 45.72 | 9. | 19 | 
 | | Divers performed three voluntary dives without limit of degrees of difficulty. The final ranking was determined by the combined score with the preliminary round. | 
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 |  |  | Divers performed three compulsory dives with limited degrees of difficulty and one voluntary dive without limits. First 12 advanced to Final. | 
 | | Ranking | Points |  | 1. Natalya Lobanova |  URS | 53.80 |  | 2. Ann Peterson |  USA | 52.14 |  | 3. Milena Duchková |  TCH | 51.61 |  | 4. Bogusława Pietkiewicz |  POL | 49.53 |  | 5. Ingeborg Pertmayr |  AUT | 48.23 |  | 6. Ingeborg Busch |  FRG | 47.22 |  | 7. Barbara Talmage |  USA | 47.09 |  | 8. Regina Krause |  FRG | 46.77 |  | 9. Mandi Haswell |  GBR | 45.72 |  | 10.Keiko Osaki |  JPN | 45.66 |  | 11.Beverly Boys |  CAN | 44.65 |  | 12.Nancy Robertson |  CAN | 44.10 |  | eliminated |  | 13.Bertha Baraldi |  MEX | 47.74 |  | 14.Galina Alekseyeva |  URS | 47.31 |  | 15.Elzbieta Wierniuk |  POL | 47.26 |  | 16.Dora Hernández |  MEX | 46.96 |  | 17.Tarja Liljeström |  FIN | 46.39 |  | 18.Robyn Bradshaw |  AUS | 45.58 |  | 19.Sylvia Fiedler |  GDR | 43.35 |  | 20.Lesley Bush |  USA | 43.72 |  | 21.Bruna Rossi |  ITA | 43.54 |  | 22.Nataliya Karpukhina |  URS | 43.52 |  | 23.Claudia Reiche |  GDR | 41.02 |  | 24.Park Chung-Cha |  KOR | 39.03 | 
 |  | | Olympic Champions Women 10m Paltform |  | 2016: | Ren Qian |  CHN |  | 2012: | Chen Ruolin |  CHN |  | 2008: | Chen Ruolin |  CHN |  | 2004: | Chantelle Newbery |  AUS |  | 2000: | Laura Wilkinson |  USA |  | 1996: | Fu Mingxia |  CHN |  | 1992: | Fu Mingxia |  CHN |  | 1988: | Xu Yanmei |  CHN |  | 1984: | Zhou Jihong |  CHN |  | 1980: | Martina Jäschke |  GDR |  | 1976: | Elena Vaytsekhovskaya |  URS |  | 1972: | Ulrika Knape |  SWE |  | 1968: | Milena Duchková |  TCH |  | 1964: | Lesley Bush |  USA |  | 1960: | Ingrid Krämer |  EUA |  | 1956: | Pat McCormick |  USA |  | 1952: | Pat McCormick |  USA |  | 1948: | Vicki Draves |  USA |  | 1936: | Dorothy Poynton-Hill |  USA |  | 1932: | Dorothy Poynton-Hill |  USA |  | 1928: | Elizabeth Becker-Pinkston |  USA |  | 1924: | Caroline Smith |  USA |  | 1920: | Stefanie Clausen |  DEN |  | 1912: | Greta Johansson |  SWE | 
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