Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Athletics
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Athletics; at the Games of the XX Olympiad
No. of events	38
Competitors	1,324 from 104 nations
	← 1968 1976 →

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, 38 events in athletics were contested, 24 for men and 14 for women. There were a total number of 1324 participating athletes from 104 countries.

No. of events38

Competitors1,324 from 104 nations

Quick facts Athletics at the Games of the XX Olympiad, No. of events ...

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Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Valeriy Borzov Soviet Union	10.14	Robert Taylor United States	10.24	Lennox Miller Jamaica	10.33
200 metres details	Valeriy Borzov Soviet Union	20.00	Larry Black United States	20.19	Pietro Mennea Italy	20.30
400 metres details	Vincent Matthews United States	44.66	Wayne Collett United States	44.80	Julius Sang Kenya	44.92
800 metres details	Dave Wottle United States	1:45.86	Yevhen Arzhanov Soviet Union	1:45.89	Mike Boit Kenya	1:46.01
1500 metres details	Pekka Vasala Finland	3:36.33	Kipchoge Keino Kenya	3:36.81	Rod Dixon New Zealand	3:37.46
5000 metres details	Lasse Virén Finland	13:26.42 (OR)	Mohammed Gammoudi Tunisia	13:27.33	Ian Stewart Great Britain	13:27.61
10,000 metres details	Lasse Virén Finland	27:38.35 (WR)	Emiel Puttemans Belgium	27:39.58	Miruts Yifter Ethiopia	27:40.96
110 metres hurdles details	Rod Milburn United States	13.24 (WR)	Guy Drut France	13.34	Thomas Hill United States	13.48
400 metres hurdles details	John Akii-Bua Uganda	47.82 (WR)	Ralph Mann United States	48.51	David Hemery Great Britain	48.52
3000 metres steeplechase details	Kipchoge Keino Kenya	8:23.64 (OR)	Ben Jipcho Kenya	8:24.62	Tapio Kantanen Finland	8:24.66
4 × 100 metres relay details	United States Larry Black Robert Taylor Gerald Tinker Eddie Hart	38.19 (WR)	Soviet Union Aleksandr Kornelyuk Vladimir Lovetskiy Juris Silovs Valeriy Borzov	38.50	West Germany Jobst Hirscht Karlheinz Klotz Gerhard Wucherer Klaus Ehl	38.79
4 × 400 metres relay details	Kenya Charles Asati Munyoro Nyamau Robert Ouko Julius Sang	2:59.83	Great Britain Martin Reynolds Alan Pascoe David Hemery David Jenkins	3:00.46	France Gilles Bertould Daniel Velasques Francis Kerbiriou Jacques Carette	3:00.65
Marathon details	Frank Shorter United States	2:12:19.8	Karel Lismont Belgium	2:14:31.8	Mamo Wolde Ethiopia	2:15:08.4
20 kilometres walk details	Peter Frenkel East Germany	1:26:42.4 (OR)	Volodymyr Holubnychy Soviet Union	1:26:55.2	Hans-Georg Reimann East Germany	1:27:16.6
50 kilometres walk details	Bernd Kannenberg West Germany	3:56:11.6 (OR)	Veniamin Soldatenko Soviet Union	3:58:24.0	Larry Young United States	4:00:46.0
High jump details	Jüri Tarmak Soviet Union	2.23 m	Stefan Junge East Germany	2.21 m	Dwight Stones United States	2.21 m
Pole vault details	Wolfgang Nordwig East Germany	5.50 m (OR)	Bob Seagren United States	5.40 m	Jan Johnson United States	5.35 m
Long jump details	Randy Williams United States	8.24 m	Hans Baumgartner West Germany	8.18 m	Arnie Robinson United States	8.03 m
Triple jump details	Viktor Saneyev Soviet Union	17.35 m	Jörg Drehmel East Germany	17.31 m	Nelson Prudêncio Brazil	17.05 m
Shot put details	Władysław Komar Poland	21.18 m (OR)	George Woods United States	21.17 m	Hartmut Briesenick East Germany	21.14 m
Discus throw details	Ludvík Daněk Czechoslovakia	64.40 m	Jay Silvester United States	63.50 m	Ricky Bruch Sweden	63.40 m
Hammer throw details	Anatolij Bondarčuk Soviet Union	75.50 m (OR)	Jochen Sachse East Germany	74.96 m	Vasiliy Khmelevskiy Soviet Union	74.04 m
Javelin throw details	Klaus Wolfermann West Germany	90.48 m (OR)	Jānis Lūsis Soviet Union	90.46 m	Bill Schmidt United States	84.42 m
Decathlon details	Mykola Avilov Soviet Union	8454 pts (WR)	Leonid Lytvynenko Soviet Union	8035 pts	Ryszard Katus Poland	7984 pts

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres details	Renate Stecher East Germany	11.07 (WR)	Raelene Boyle Australia	11.23	Silvia Chivás Cuba	11.24
200 metres details	Renate Stecher East Germany	22.40 (=WR)	Raelene Boyle Australia	22.45	Irena Szewińska Poland	22.74
400 metres details	Monika Zehrt East Germany	51.08	Rita Wilden West Germany	51.21	Kathy Hammond United States	51.64
800 metres details	Hildegard Falck West Germany	1:58.55 (OR)	Nijolė Sabaitė Soviet Union	1:58.65	Gunhild Hoffmeister East Germany	1:59.19
1500 metres details	Lyudmila Bragina Soviet Union	4:01.38 (WR)	Gunhild Hoffmeister East Germany	4:02.83	Paola Pigni Italy	4:02.85
100 metres hurdles details	Annelie Ehrhardt East Germany	12.59 (WR)	Valeria Bufanu Romania	12.84	Karin Balzer East Germany	12.90
4 × 100 metres relay details	West Germany Christiane Krause Ingrid Becker Annegret Richter Heide Rosendahl	42.81 (WR)	East Germany Evelin Kaufer Christina Heinich Bärbel Struppert Renate Stecher	42.95	Cuba Marlene Elejarde Carmen Valdés Fulgencia Romay Silvia Chivás	43.36
4 × 400 metres relay details	East Germany Dagmar Käsling Rita Kühne Helga Seidler Monika Zehrt	3:22.95 (WR)	United States Mable Fergerson Madeline Manning Cheryl Toussaint Kathy Hammond	3:25.15	West Germany Anette Rückes Inge Bödding Hildegard Falck Rita Wilden	3:26.51
High jump details	Ulrike Meyfarth West Germany	1.92 m (=WR)	Yordanka Blagoeva Bulgaria	1.88 m	Ilona Gusenbauer Austria	1.88 m
Long jump details	Heide Rosendahl West Germany	6.78 m	Diana Yorgova Bulgaria	6.77 m	Eva Šuranová Czechoslovakia	6.67 m
Shot put details	Nadezhda Chizhova Soviet Union	21.03 m (WR)	Margitta Gummel East Germany	20.22 m	Ivanka Khristova Bulgaria	19.35 m
Discus throw details	Faina Melnik Soviet Union	66.62 m (OR)	Argentina Menis Romania	65.06 m	Vasilka Stoeva Bulgaria	64.34 m
Javelin throw details	Ruth Fuchs East Germany	63.88 m (OR)	Jacqueline Todten East Germany	62.54 m	Kate Schmidt United States	59.94 m
Pentathlon details	Mary Peters Great Britain	4801 pts (WR)	Heide Rosendahl West Germany	4791 pts	Burglinde Pollak East Germany	4768 pts

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	9	7	1	17
2	East Germany	8	7	5	20
3	United States	6	8	8	22
4	West Germany	6	3	2	11
5	Finland	3	0	1	4
6	Kenya	2	2	2	6
7	Great Britain	1	1	2	4
8	Poland	1	0	2	3
9	Czechoslovakia	1	0	1	2
10	Uganda	1	0	0	1
11	Bulgaria	0	2	2	4
12	Australia	0	2	0	2
	Belgium	0	2	0	2
	Romania	0	2	0	2
15	France	0	1	1	2
16	Tunisia	0	1	0	1
17	Cuba	0	0	2	2
	Ethiopia	0	0	2	2
	Italy	0	0	2	2
20	Austria	0	0	1	1
	Brazil	0	0	1	1
	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
	New Zealand	0	0	1	1
	Sweden	0	0	1	1
Totals (24 entries)		38	38	38	114

Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Medal summary

Men

Women

Medal table

References

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