# Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre breaststroke

The men's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place between August 29 and August 30 in the Schwimmhalle, Olympiapark, München. This swimming event used the breaststroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

## Medalists

| Gold | Nobutaka Taguchi Japan |
| Silver | Tom Bruce United States |
| Bronze | John Hencken United States |

## Results
### Heats

Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Mark Chatfield | United States | 1:05.89 |
| 2 | Bill Mahony | Canada | 1:07.14 |
| 3 | Bernard Combet | France | 1:08.08 |
| 4 | Paul Jarvie | Australia | 1:09.26 |
| 5 | Sokhon Yi | Khmer Republic | 1:11.00 |
| 6 | Edmondo Mingione | Italy | 1:11.75 |
| 7 | Morkal Faruk | Turkey | 1:13.86 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Nikolay Pankin | Soviet Union | 1:07.31 |
| 2 | Robert Stoddart | Canada | 1:08.44 |
| 3 | Malcolm O'Connell | Great Britain | 1:09.33 |
| 4 | Sándor Szabó | Hungary | 1:09.68 |
| 5 | Gustavo Salcedo | Mexico | 1:10.17 |
| 6 | Jean-Pierre Dubey | Switzerland | 1:10.31 |
| 7 | Cezary Śmiglak | Poland | 1:10.53 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | David Wilkie | Great Britain | 1:06.35 |
| 2 | Tom Bruce | United States | 1:06.45 |
| 3 | Klaus Katzur | East Germany | 1:07.36 |
| 4 | Vladimir Kosinsky | Soviet Union | 1:07.39 |
| 5 | Amman Jalmaani | Philippines | 1:09.28 |
| 6 | Steffen Kriechbaum | Austria | 1:09.87 |
| 7 | Bruno Bassoul | Lebanon | 1:19.94 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Nobutaka Taguchi | Japan | 1:06.07 |
| 2 | José Sylvio Fiolo | Brazil | 1:06.23 |
| 3 | Rainer Hradetzky | East Germany | 1:08.67 |
| 4 | Liam Ball | Ireland | 1:09.68 |
| 5 | Andreas Hellmann | West Germany | 1:10.13 |
| 6 | Karl Christian Koch | Denmark | 1:11.27 |
| 7 | Piero Ferracuti | El Salvador | 1:16.74 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | John Hencken | United States | 1:05.96 |
| 2 | Roger-Philippe Menu | France | 1:08.63 |
| 3 | Mike Whitaker | Canada | 1:08.86 |
| 4 | Felipe Muñoz | Mexico | 1:08.95 |
| 5 | Pedro Balcells | Spain | 1:09.37 |
| 6 | Alfredo Hunger | Peru | 1:11.44 |
| 7 | Theodoros Koutoumanis | Greece | 1:12.05 |
| 8 | Rudi Vingerhoets | Belgium | 1:12.59 |
Heat 6
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| 1 | Walter Kusch | West Germany | 1:06.95 |
| 2 | Viktor Stulikov | Soviet Union | 1:08.18 |
| 3 | Michael Günther | West Germany | 1:08.93 |
| 4 | Osvaldo Boretto | Argentina | 1:09.64 |
| 5 | János Tóth | Hungary | 1:10.02 |
| 6 | Angel Chakarov | Bulgaria | 1:10.34 |
| 7 | Paul Naisby | Great Britain | 1:11.05 |
| 8 | Guðjón Guðmundsson | Iceland | 1:11.11 |

### Semifinals

Semifinal 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | John Hencken | United States | 1:05.68 | WR |
| 2 | José Sylvio Fiolo | Brazil | 1:05.99 | |
| 3 | Tom Bruce | United States | 1:06.05 | |
| 4 | Klaus Katzur | East Germany | 1:06.82 | |
| 5 | Bill Mahony | Canada | 1:07.06 | |
| 6 | Bernard Combet | France | 1:07.76 | |
| 7 | Robert Stoddart | Canada | 1:08.61 | |
| 8 | Rainer Hradetzky | East Germany | 1:09.49 | |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Nobutaka Taguchi | Japan | 1:05.13 | WR |
| 2 | Walter Kusch | West Germany | 1:05.78 | |
| 3 | Nikolay Pankin | Soviet Union | 1:06.08 | |
| 4 | Mark Chatfield | United States | 1:06.08 | |
| 5 | David Wilkie | Great Britain | 1:06.25 | |
| 6 | Viktor Stulikov | Soviet Union | 1:06.66 | |
| 7 | Vladimir Kosinsky | Soviet Union | 1:07.08 | |
| 8 | Roger-Philippe Menu | France | 1:07.75 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| | Nobutaka Taguchi | Japan | 1:04.94 | WR |
| | Tom Bruce | United States | 1:05.43 | |
| | John Hencken | United States | 1:05.61 | |
| 4 | Mark Chatfield | United States | 1:06.01 | |
| 5 | Walter Kusch | West Germany | 1:06.23 | |
| 6 | José Sylvio Fiolo | Brazil | 1:06.24 | |
| 7 | Nikolay Pankin | Soviet Union | 1:06.36 | |
| 8 | David Wilkie | Great Britain | 1:06.52 | |
Key: WR = World record