| Final 19:30 | time | L | | 1. Marie-Jose Perec |  FRA | 49.13s | 4 | | 2. Grit Breuer |  GER | 49.42s | 3 | | 3. Sandra Myers |  ESP | 49.78s | 5 | | 4. Olga Vladykina-Bryzgina |  URS | 49.82s | 6 | | 5. Jearl Miles-Clark |  USA | 50.50s | 8 | | 6. Ximena Restrepo |  COL | 50.79s | 2 | | 7. Lillie Leatherwood | USA | 51.53s | 7 | | 8. Diane Dixon | USA | 51.73s | 1 |
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| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Marie-Jose Perec | FRA | 49.94s | 4 | | 2. Grit Breuer | GER | 50.14s | 2 | | 3. Olga Vladykina-Bryzgina | URS | 50.26s | 6 | | 4. Diane Dixon | USA | 50.75s | 5 | | 5. Lorraine Hanson |  GBR | 50.93s | 3 | | 6. Norfalia Carabali | COL | 52.40s | 8 | | 7. Renee Poetschka |  AUS | 52.76s | 7 | | 8. Julia Merino | ESP | 53.41s | 1 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Sandra Myers | ESP | 50.64s | 2 | | 2. Lillie Leatherwood | USA | 50.68s | 5 | | 3. Jearl Miles-Clark | USA | 50.79s | 1 | | 4. Ximena Restrepo | COL | 50.82s | 4 | | 5. Lyudmila Dzhigalova | URS | 50.85s | 3 | | 6. Fatima Yusuf |  NGR | 50.91s | 7 | | 7. Linda Keough | GBR | 50.98s | 6 | | 8. Solvi Olsen-Meinseth |  NOR | 53.63s | 8 |
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| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Jearl Miles-Clark | USA | 51.88s | 4 | | 2. Sandra Myers | ESP | 52.01s | 3 | | 3. Grit Breuer | GER | 52.16s | 5 | | 4. Fatima Yusuf | NGR | 52.46s | 8 | | 5. Solvi Olsen-Meinseth | NOR | 52.95s | 1 | | 6. Aissatou Tandian |  SEN | 53.06s | 7 | | 7. Cheryl Allen |  CAN | 53.21s | 2 | | -. Aelita Yurchenko | URS | DNF | 6 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Lyudmila Dzhigalova | URS | 50.76s | 5 | | 2. Diane Dixon | USA | 50.84s | 6 | | 3. Linda Keough | GBR | 51.13s | 4 | | 4. Renee Poetschka | AUS | 51.65s | 2 | | 5. Julia Merino | ESP | 51.82s | 7 | | 6. Norfalia Carabali | COL | 52.38s | 1 | | 7. Judit Forgacs |  HUN | 53.79s | 8 | | -. Charity Opara | NGR | DQ | 3 |
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| Heat 3 | time | L | | 1. Marie-Jose Perec | FRA | 50.61s | 5 | | 2. Ximena Restrepo | COL | 50.66s | 3 | | 3. Lillie Leatherwood | USA | 50.75s | 8 | | 4. Olga Vladykina-Bryzgina | URS | 50.79s | 6 | | 5. Lorraine Hanson | GBR | 51.02s | 4 | | 6. Karin Janke | GER | 53.08s | 7 | | 7. Nancy McLeon |  CUB | 53.72s | 2 | | -. Martha Grossenbacher |  SUI | DNS | 1 |
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| Heats | Saturday 24.08 16:00 |
| Heat 1 | time | L | | 1. Marie-Jose Perec | FRA | 51.00s | 5 | | 2. Olga Vladykina-Bryzgina | URS | 51.36s | 3 | | 3. Linda Keough | GBR | 51.51s | 2 | | 4. Solvi Olsen-Meinseth | NOR | 52.84s | 6 | | 5. Cheryl Allen | CAN | 53.17s | 1 | | 6. Yanhong Huang |  CHN | 54.51s | 7 | | 7. Lasnet Nkouka |  CGO | 57.85s | 4 |
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| Heat 2 | time | L | | 1. Sandra Myers | ESP | 52.70s | 1 | | 2. Fatima Yusuf | NGR | 52.81s | 2 | | 3. Nancy McLeon | CUB | 52.87s | 3 | | 4. Norfalia Carabali | COL | 53.31s | 5 | | 5. Aissatou Tandian | SEN | 53.65s | 6 | | 6. Vaciseva Tavaga |  FIJ | 58.82s | 7 | | 7. Obieng Juliana Nzang |  GEQ | 1:04.13 | 4 |
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| Heat 3 | time | L | | 1. Jearl Miles-Clark | USA | 51.88s | 1 | | 2. Lorraine Hanson | GBR | 52.08s | 8 | | 3. Ximena Restrepo | COL | 52.41s | 2 | | 4. Karin Janke | GER | 53.73s | 7 | | 5. Reawadee Srithoa |  THA | 54.94s | 3 | | 6. Zeinabou Jean-Wali |  NIG | 1:05.03 | 5 | | -. Suzie Tanefo |  CMR | DNS | 6 | | -. Sharmaine Williams |  TKS | DQ | 4 |
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| Heat 4 | time | L | | 1. Diane Dixon | USA | 52.43s | 4 | | 2. Grit Breuer | GER | 52.56s | 6 | | 3. Aelita Yurchenko | URS | 52.65s | 7 | | 4. Renee Poetschka | AUS | 52.65s | 5 | | 5. Julia Merino | ESP | 53.04s | 8 | | 6. Orit Kolodni |  ISR | 54.26s | 3 | | 7. Claudia Acerenza |  URU | 55.82s | 2 | | 8. Graciela Von Schmeling |  PAR | 57.37s | 1 |
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| Heat 5 | time | L | | 1. Charity Opara | NGR | 51.06s | 1 | | 2. Lyudmila Dzhigalova | URS | 51.45s | 2 | | 3. Lillie Leatherwood | USA | 53.04s | 7 | | 4. Judit Forgacs | HUN | 53.24s | 6 | | 5. Martha Grossenbacher | SUI | 53.77s | 5 | | 6. Shermaine Ross |  GRN | 55.90s | 4 | | 7. Mary-Estelle Kapalu |  VAN | 56.47s | 3 |
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