| Final | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Shane Gould | AUS | 2:03.56 | 3. | | 2. Shirley Babashoff | USA | 2:04.33 | 5. | | 3. Keena Rothhammer | USA | 2:04.92 | 2. | | 4. Ann Marshall | USA | 2:05.45 | 4. | | 5. Andrea Eife | GDR | 2:06.27 | 1. | | 6. Hansje Bunschoten | NED | 2:08.40 | 6. | | 7. Anke Rijnders | NED | 2:09.41 | 8. | | 8. Karin Tülling | GDR | 2:11.70 | 7. |
|
| New event in the Olympic Games. |
|
| Heat 1 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Ann Marshall | USA | 2:08.12 | 4. | | 2. Karin Tülling | GDR | 2:09.01 | 7. | | 3. Jutta Weber | FRG | 2:12.44 | 12. | | 4. Merrily Stratten | CAN | 2:12.44 | 13. | | 5. Heather Coombridge | NZL | 2:14.78 | 22. | | 6. Karen LeGresley | CAN | 2:16.34 | 25. | | 7. Belinda Phillips | JAM | 2:19.49 | 31. |
|
| Heat 2 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Anke Rijnders | NED | 2:09.09 | 8. | | 2. Helen Gray | AUS | 2:12.76 | 14. | | 3. Nadezhda Matyukhina | URS | 2:13.60 | 20. | | 4. Françoise Monod | SUI | 2:15.30 | 23. | | 5. Olga de Angulo | COL | 2:17.34 | 26. | | 6. Silvia Borgini | ARG | 2:23.11 | 33. |
|
| Heat 3 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Keena Rothhammer | USA | 2:07.48 | 2. | | 2. Hansje Bunschoten | NED | 2:08.58 | 6. | | 3. Tatyana Zolotnitskaya | URS | 2:13.12 | 16. | | 4. Yelena Timoshenko | URS | 2:14.06 | 21. | | 5. Diana Sutherland | GBR | 2:16.00 | 24. | | 6. Ileana Morales | VEN | 2:18.84 | 29. |
|
| Heat 4 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Shane Gould | AUS | 2:07.95 | 3. | | 2. Deborah Palmer | AUS | 2:10.29 | 10. | | 3. Uta Schütz | FRG | 2:12.84 | 15. | | 4. Mary Beth Rondeau | CAN | 2:13.52 | 18. | | 5. Susan Edmondson | GBR | 2:13.54 | 19. | | 6. Lucy Burle | BRA | 2:18.57 | 27. | | 7. Marcia Arriaga | MEX | 2:18.93 | 30. |
|
| Heat 5 | Team | time | Rk. | | 1. Andrea Eife | GDR | 2:07.05 | 1. | | 2. Shirley Babashoff | USA | 2:08.48 | 5. | | 3. Gudrun Wegner | GDR | 2:09.49 | 9. | | 4. Angela Steinbach | FRG | 2:10.59 | 11. | | 5. Lesley Allardice | GBR | 2:13.43 | 17. | | 6. Roselina Angee | COL | 2:18.62 | 28. | | 7. Hsu Yue-Yun | TPE | 2:20.17 | 32. |
|
|
| 