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

The men's 100 metre butterfly event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place between August 30 and 31. This swimming event used the butterfly stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.
The winning margin was 1.29 seconds which as of 2023 remains the only time this event for men was won by more than one second at the Olympics.

## Medalists

| Gold | Mark Spitz United States |
| Silver | Bruce Robertson Canada |
| Bronze | Jerry Heidenreich United States |

## Results
### Heats

Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dave Edgar | United States | 57.30 | Q |
| 2 | Roger Pyttel | East Germany | 57.98 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Remmel | West Germany | 58.97 | |
| 4 | Andrzej Chudziński | Poland | 1:00.22 | |
| 5 | Alain Mosconi | France | 1:00.23 | |
| 6 | Salvador Vilanova | El Salvador | 1:01.25 | |
| 7 | Martin Edwards | Great Britain | 1:01:29 | |
| 8 | Bruno Bassoul | Lebanon | 1:05.45 | |
Key: Q = Qualified
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bruce Robertson | Canada | 56.45 | Q |
| 2 | István Szentirmay | Hungary | 58.07 | Q |
| 3 | Sérgio Waismann | Brazil | 58.37 | Q |
| 4 | Yasuhiro Komazaki | Japan | 59.71 | |
| 5 | Hugo Valencia | Mexico | 1:00.14 | |
| 6 | Feridun Aybars | Turkey | 1:04:46 | |
| 7 | Chhay-Kheng Nhem | Khmer Republic | 1:05.12 | |
| 8 | Wong Ronnie | Hong Kong | 1:07.50 | |
Key: Q = Qualified
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Roland Matthes | East Germany | 57.16 | Q |
| 2 | Neil Rogers | Australia | 57.40 | Q |
| 3 | John Mills | Great Britain | 58.28 | Q |
| 4 | Viktor Sharygin | Soviet Union | 58.40 | |
| 5 | Arturo Lang-Lenton | Spain | 59.22 | |
| 6 | Georgijs Kuļikovs | Soviet Union | 59.28 | |
| 7 | Dimitrios Karydis | Greece | 1:00.06 | |
| 8 | Roy Chan | Singapore | 1:02.24 | |
Key: Q = Qualified
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jerry Heidenreich | United States | 56.86 | Q |
| 2 | Lutz Stoklasa | West Germany | 57.50 | Q |
| 3 | Bob Kasting | Canada | 57.65 | Q |
| 4 | Geoffrey Ferreira | Trinidad and Tobago | 58.26 | Q |
| 5 | Jacques Leloup | Belgium | 58.77 | |
| 6 | Vladimir Krivtsov | Soviet Union | 59.83 | |
| 7 | Carlos Singson | Philippines | 1:02.11 | |
Key: Q = Qualified
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mark Spitz | United States | 56.45 | Q |
| 2 | Hartmut Flöckner | East Germany | 57.41 | Q |
| 3 | Juan Carlos Bello | Peru | 57.54 | Q |
| 4 | Byron MacDonald | Canada | 57.56 | Q |
| 5 | Hans Lampe | West Germany | 59.00 | |
| 6 | Sean Maher | Great Britain | 59.50 | |
| 7 | Vasil Dobrev | Bulgaria | 1:00.07 | |
| 8 | Aleksandar Pavličević | Yugoslavia | 1:00.29 | |
Key: Q = Qualified

### Semifinals

Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Roland Matthes | East Germany | 56.51 | Q |
| 2 | Bruce Robertson | Canada | 56.86 | Q |
| 3 | Byron MacDonald | Canada | 57.06 | Q |
| 4 | Neil Rogers | Australia | 57.28 | Q |
| 5 | Roger Pyttel | East Germany | 57.69 | |
| 6 | Sérgio Waismann | Brazil | 58.07 | |
| 7 | Lutz Stoklasa | West Germany | 58.33 | |
| 8 | Geoffrey Ferreira | Trinidad and Tobago | 58.54 | |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mark Spitz | United States | 55.98 | Q |
| 2 | Jerry Heidenreich | United States | 56.18 | Q |
| 3 | Dave Edgar | United States | 56.88 | Q |
| 4 | Hartmut Flöckner | East Germany | 56.96 | Q |
| 5 | Juan Carlos Bello | Peru | 57.51 | |
| 6 | Bob Kasting | Canada | 57.67 | |
| 7 | John Mills | Great Britain | 58.13 | |
| 8 | István Szentirmay | Hungary | 58.25 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| | Mark Spitz | United States | 54.27 | WR |
| | Bruce Robertson | Canada | 55.56 | |
| | Jerry Heidenreich | United States | 55.74 | |
| 4 | Roland Matthes | East Germany | 55.87 | |
| 5 | Dave Edgar | United States | 56.11 | |
| 6 | Byron MacDonald | Canada | 57.27 | |
| 7 | Hartmut Flöckner | East Germany | 57.40 | |
| 8 | Neil Rogers | Australia | 57.90 | |
Key: WR = World record