Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics

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.

Medal summary

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Valeri Borzov Soviet Union (URS)	10.14	Robert Taylor United States (USA)	10.24	Lennox Miller Jamaica (JAM)	10.33
200 metres	Valeri Borzov Soviet Union (URS)	20.00	Larry Black United States (USA)	20.19	Pietro Mennea Italy (ITA)	20.30
400 metres	Vincent Matthews United States (USA)	44.66	Wayne Collett United States (USA)	44.80	Julius Sang Kenya (KEN)	44.92
800 metres	Dave Wottle United States (USA)	1:45.86	Yevgeni Arzhanov Soviet Union (URS)	1:45.89	Mike Boit Kenya (KEN)	1:46.01
1500 metres	Pekka Vasala Finland (FIN)	3:36.33	Kipchoge Keino Kenya (KEN)	3:36.81	Rod Dixon New Zealand (NZL)	3:37.46
5000 metres	Lasse Virén Finland (FIN)	13:26.42 (OR)	Mohammed Gammoudi Tunisia (TUN)	13:27.33	Ian Stewart Great Britain (GBR)	13:27.61
10000 metres	Lasse Virén Finland (FIN)	27:38.35 (WR)	Emiel Puttemans Belgium (BEL)	27:39.58	Miruts Yifter Ethiopia (ETH)	27:40.96
110 metre hurdles	Rodney Milburn United States (USA)	13.24 (WR)	Guy Drut France (FRA)	13.34	Thomas Hill United States (USA)	13.48
400 metre hurdles	John Akii-Bua Uganda (UGA)	47.82 (WR)	Ralph Mann United States (USA)	48.51	David Hemery Great Britain (GBR)	48.52
3000 m steeplechase	Kipchoge Keino Kenya (KEN)	8:23.64 (WR)	Ben Jipcho Kenya (KEN)	8:24.62	Tapio Kantanen Finland (FIN)	8:24.66
4×100 metre relay	United States (USA) Larry Black Robert Taylor Gerald Tinker Edward Hart	38.19 (WR)	Soviet Union (URS) Aleksandr Kornelyuk Vladimir Lovetsky Yuris Silovs Valeri Borzov	38.50	West Germany (FRG) Jobst Hirscht Karlheinz Klotz Gerhard Wucherer Klaus Ehl	38.79
4×400 metre relay	Kenya (KEN) Charles Asati Hezahiah Nyamau Robert Ouko Julius Sang	2:59.83	Great Britain (GBR) Martin Reynolds Alan Pascoe David Hemery David Jenkins	3:00.46	France (FRA) Gilles Bertould Daniel Velasques Francis Kerbiriou Jacques Carette	3:00.65
Marathon	Frank Shorter United States (USA)	2:12:19.8	Karel Lismont Belgium (BEL)	2:14:31.8	Mamo Wolde Ethiopia (ETH)	2:15:08.4
20 km walk	Peter Frenkel East Germany (GDR)	1:26:42.4	Volodymyr Holubnychy Soviet Union (URS)	1:26:55.2	Hans Reimann East Germany (GDR)	1:27:16.6
50 km walk	Bernd Kannenberg West Germany (FRG)	3:56:11.6	Veniamin Soldatenko Soviet Union (URS)	3:58:24.0	Larry Young United States (USA)	4:00:46.0
High jump	Jüri Tarmak Soviet Union (URS)	2.23 m	Stefan Junge East Germany (GDR)	2.21 m	Dwight Stones United States (USA)	2.21 m
Long jump	Randy Williams United States (USA)	8.24 m	Hans Baumgartner West Germany (FRG)	8.18 m	Arnie Robinson United States (USA)	8.03 m
Triple jump	Viktor Saneyev Soviet Union (URS)	17.35 m	Jörg Drehmel East Germany (GDR)	17.30 m	Nelson Prudêncio Brazil (BRA)	17.05 m
Pole vault	Wolfgang Nordwig East Germany (GDR)	5.50 m (OR)	Robert Seagren United States (USA)	5.40 m	Jan Johnson United States (USA)	5.35 m
Shot put	Władysław Komar Poland (POL)	21.18 m (OR)	George Woods United States (USA)	21.17 m	Hartmut Briesenick East Germany (GDR)	21.14 m
Discus throw	Ludvík Daněk Czechoslovakia (TCH)	64.40 m	Jay Silvester United States (USA)	63.50 m	Ricky Bruch Sweden (SWE)	63.40 m
Javelin throw	Klaus Wolfermann West Germany (FRG)	90.48 m (OR)	Jānis Lūsis Soviet Union (URS)	90.46 m	Bill Schmidt United States (USA)	84.42 m
Hammer throw	Anatoli Bondarchuk Soviet Union (URS)	75.50 m (OR)	Jochen Sachse East Germany (GDR)	74.96 m	Vasili Khmelevski Soviet Union (URS)	74.04 m
Decathlon	Nikolai Avilov Soviet Union (URS)	8454 pts (WR)	Leonid Litvinenko Soviet Union (URS)	8035 pts	Ryszard Katus Poland (POL)	7984 pts

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Renate Stecher East Germany (GDR)	11.07 (WR)	Raelene Boyle Australia (AUS)	11.23	Silvia Chibás Cuba (CUB)	11.24
200 metres	Renate Stecher East Germany (GDR)	22.40 (=WR)	Raelene Boyle Australia (AUS)	22.45	Irena Szewińska Poland (POL)	22.74
400 metres	Monika Zehrt East Germany (GDR)	51.08	Rita Wilden West Germany (FRG)	51.21	Kathy Hammond United States (USA)	51.64
800 metres	Hildegard Falck West Germany (FRG)	1:58.55 (OR)	Nijolė Sabaitė Soviet Union (URS)	1:58.65	Gunhild Hoffmeister East Germany (GDR)	1:59.19
1500 metres	Ludmila Bragina Soviet Union (URS)	4:01.38 (WR)	Gunhild Hoffmeister East Germany (GDR)	4:02.83	Paola Pigni Italy (ITA)	4:02.85
100 metre hurdles	Annelie Ehrhardt East Germany (GDR)	12.59 (WR)	Valeria Bufanu Romania (ROU)	12.84	Karin Balzer East Germany (GDR)	12.90
4×100 metre relay	West Germany (FRG) Christiane Krause Ingrid Becker Annegret Richter Heide Rosendahl	42.81	East Germany (GDR) Evelyn Kaufer Christina Heinich Bärbel Struppert Renate Stecher	42.95	Cuba (CUB) Marlene Elejarde Carmen Valdés Fulgencia Romay Silvia Chibás	43.36
4×400 metre relay	East Germany (GDR) Dagmar Käsling Rita Kühne Helga Seidler Monika Zehrt	3:22.95	United States (USA) Mable Fergerson Madeline Manning Cheryl Toussaint Kathy Hammond	3:25.15	West Germany (FRG) Anette Rückes Inge Bödding Hildegard Falck Rita Wilden	3:26.51
High jump	Ulrike Meyfarth West Germany (FRG)	1.92 m (=WR)	Yordanka Blagoeva Bulgaria (BUL)	1.88 m	Ilona Gusenbauer Austria (AUT)	1.85 m
Long jump	Heide Rosendahl West Germany (FRG)	6.78 m	Diana Yorgova Bulgaria (BUL)	6.77 m	Eva Šuranová Czechoslovakia (TCH)	6.67 m
Shot put	Nadezhda Chizhova Soviet Union (URS)	21.03 m (WR)	Margitta Gummel East Germany (GDR)	20.22 m	Ivanka Hristova Bulgaria (BUL)	19.35 m
Discus throw	Faina Melnik Soviet Union (URS)	66.62 m (OR)	Argentina Menis Romania (ROU)	65.06 m	Vasilka Stoeva Bulgaria (BUL)	64.34 m
Javelin throw	Ruth Fuchs East Germany (GDR)	63.88 m (OR)	Jacqueline Todten East Germany (GDR)	62.54 m	Kate Schmidt United States (USA)	59.94 m
Pentathlon	Mary Peters Great Britain (GBR)	4801 pts (WR)	Heide Rosendahl West Germany (FRG)	4791 pts	Burglinde Pollak East Germany (GDR)	4768 pts

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union (URS)	9	7	1	17
2	East Germany (GDR)	8	7	5	20
3	United States (USA)	6	8	8	22
4	West Germany (FRG)	6	3	2	11
5	Finland (FIN)	3	0	1	4
6	Kenya (KEN)	2	2	2	6
7	Great Britain (GBR)	1	1	2	4
8	Poland (POL)	1	0	2	3
9	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	1	0	1	2
10	Uganda (UGA)	1	0	0	1
11	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	2	2	4
12	Australia (AUS)	0	2	0	2
	Belgium (BEL)	0	2	0	2
	Romania (ROU)	0	2	0	2
15	France (FRA)	0	1	1	2
16	Tunisia (TUN)	0	1	0	1
17	Cuba (CUB)	0	0	2	2
	Ethiopia (ETH)	0	0	2	2
	Italy (ITA)	0	0	2	2
20	Austria (AUT)	0	0	1	1
	Brazil (BRA)	0	0	1	1
	Jamaica (JAM)	0	0	1	1
	New Zealand (NZL)	0	0	1	1
	Sweden (SWE)	0	0	1	1

References

• Athletics Australia

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