# 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

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | 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 (USA) Larry Black Robert Taylor Gerald Tinker Eddie Hart | 38.19 (WR) | Soviet Union (URS) Aleksandr Kornelyuk Vladimir Lovetskiy Juris Silovs Valeriy Borzov | 38.50 | West Germany (FRG) Jobst Hirscht Karlheinz Klotz Gerhard Wucherer Klaus Ehl | 38.79 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | Kenya (KEN) Charles Asati Munyoro 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 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 |

### Women

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | 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 (FRG) Christiane Krause Ingrid Becker Annegret Richter Heide Rosendahl | 42.81 (WR) | East Germany (GDR) Evelin Kaufer Christina Heinich Bärbel Struppert Renate Stecher | 42.95 | Cuba (CUB) Marlene Elejarde Carmen Valdés Fulgencia Romay Silvia Chivás | 43.36 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | East Germany (GDR) Dagmar Käsling Rita Kühne Helga Seidler Monika Zehrt | 3:22.95 (WR) | 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 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 |

## 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 |
| 12 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | 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 |
| 17 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 17 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 20 | Austria (AUT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | Jamaica (JAM) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | New Zealand (NZL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (24 entries) | Totals (24 entries) | 38 | 38 | 38 | 114 |