The women's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2009 Maccabiah Games took place on 20 July at the Wingate Institute

Wingate Institute

The Wingate Institute is a sports training facility located south of Netanya, Israel, established in 1957. Named after Orde Wingate, the facility serves as the host facility for numerous Israeli national teams as well as a military training base....

. This swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event used medley swimming

Medley swimming

Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley or by four swimmers as a medley relay...

. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of eight lengths of the pool. The first two lengths were swum using the butterfly stroke

Butterfly stroke

The butterfly is a swimming stroke swum on the breast, with both arms moving simultaneously. The butterfly kick was developed separately, and is also known as the "dolphin kick"...

, the second pair with the backstroke

Backstroke

The backstroke, also sometimes called the back crawl, is one of the four swimming styles regulated by FINA, and the only regulated style swum on the back. This has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimmers not being able to see where they are going. It is also the only...

, the third pair of lengths in breaststroke

Breaststroke

The breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on his or her chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to its stability and the ability to keep the head out of the water a large portion of the time. In most swimming classes, beginners learn...

, and the final two were freestyle

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

. Unlike other events using freestyle, swimmers could not use butterfly, backstroke, or breaststroke for the freestyle leg; most swimmers use the front crawl

Front crawl

The front crawl, forward crawl, or freestyle is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is nearly universally used during a freestyle swimming competition, hence the synonymously used term "freestyle". It is one of two...

 in freestyle events anyway.

Two heats were held. The heat in which a swimmer competed did not formally matter for advancement, as the swimmers with the top eight times from the entire field qualified for the final; there, they all competed in a single final heat to earn final placements.

Nations with three or more swimmers meeting the standard could enter only three such swimmers in the final.

Medalists

400 m individual medley

Israel Amit Bechar Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...  (ISR)

Israel Roni Balzam Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...  (ISR)

United States Rachel Kessler United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...  (USA)

Heats

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Heat	Lane	Notes
1	Amit Bechar	Israel Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...	5:03.45	2	4	Q
2	Rachel Kessler	United States United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	5:03.77	2	5	Q
3	Roni Balzam	Israel Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...	5:05.00	2	3	Q
3	Rebecca Lewinson	United States United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	5:07.57	1	5	Q
5	Julie Feingold	United States United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	5:11.68	1	4	Q
6	Shahar Silberman	Israel Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...	5:12.21	1	3	Q
7	Amit Loutati	Israel Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...	5:12.47	1	6
8	Rony Shtein	Israel Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...	5:12.91	2	6
9	Madeleine Golison	United States United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	5:22.58	2	2
10	Dana Samuel	South Africa South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...	5:39.28	2	7	Q
11	Nathalia Pieroni	Brazil Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...	5:46.20	1	2	Q

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4	Amit Bechar	Israel Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...	4:57.15
	3	Roni Balzam	Israel Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...	5:03.44
	5	Rachel Kessler	United States United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	5:04.39
4	6	Rebecca Lewinson	United States United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	5:09.92
5	7	Shahar Silberman	Israel Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...	5:12.65
6	2	Julie Feingold	United States United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	5:17.14
7	1	Dana Samuel	South Africa South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...	5:33.60
8	8	Nathalia Pieroni	Brazil Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...	5:52.00