# Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's discus throw

The women's discus throw field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 9 & September 10. Armenia Soviet Faina Melnik was the strong favorite to win the gold. She has broken the world record five times since 1971 as well as being the European Champion in the same year. But twice in 1972 she had been beaten by Romanian Argentina Menis. Menis took the lead in round one breaking the Olympic record throw of 64.28 m (210 ft 10+1⁄2 in). In the start of the fourth round Menis lead with Melnik in fifth. Menis then improved her distance to 65.06 m (213 ft 5+1⁄2 in). Melnike threw next and overtook Menis with a throw of 66.62 m (218 ft 7 in) which held on to win the gold. Thirteen days later, Menis broke Melnik's world record with a throw of 67.32 m (220 ft 10+1⁄2 in).

## Records

| Standing records prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics |
| World record | Faina Melnik (URS) | 66.76 m | July 4, 1972 | Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Olympic record | Lia Manoliu (ROM) | 58.28 m | October 18, 1968 | Mexico City, Mexico |
| Broken records during the 1972 Summer Olympics |
| Olympic record | Faina Melnik (URS) | 66.62 m | September 10, 1972 | Munich, West Germany |

## Results

All throwers reaching 55.00 m (180 ft 5+1⁄2 in) and the top 12 including ties, advanced to the finals. All qualifiers are shown in blue. All distances are listed in metres.

### Qualifying

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Mark | 1st throw | 2nd throw | 3rd throw |
| 1 | Argentina Menis | Romania | 61.58 OR | 61.58 | p | p |
| 2 | Faina Melnik | Soviet Union | 61.26 | 53.00 | 61.26 | p |
| 3 | Tamara Danilova | Soviet Union | 60.34 | 60.34 | p | p |
| 4 | Gabriele Hinzmann | East Germany | 59.80 | 59.80 | p | p |
| 5 | Liesel Westermann | West Germany | 58.26 | 58.26 | p | p |
| 6 | Carmen Ionescu | Romania | 57.82 | x | 57.82 | p |
| 7 | Brigitte Berendonk | West Germany | 56.90 | 54.74 | 56.90 | p |
| 8 | Svetla Bozhkova | Bulgaria | 56.42 | 54.52 | 56.42 | p |
| 9 | Lia Manoliu | Romania | 55.88 | 55.88 | p | p |
| 10 | Rosemary Payne | Great Britain | 55.56 | x | 53.56 | 55.56 |
| 11 | Vasilka Stoeva | Bulgaria | 55.26 | x | 55.26 | p |
| 12 | Lyudmila Muravyova | Soviet Union | 55.24 | 55.24 | p | p |
| 13 | Josephine de la Viña | Philippines | 53.29 | 51.08 | x | 53.29 |
| 14 | Radostina Vasekova | Bulgaria | 53.86 | x | x | 53.86 |
| 15 | Krystyna Nadolna | Poland | 52.52 | x | 47.42 | 52.52 |
| 16 | Olga Connolly | United States | 51.58 | 51.58 | x | 50.76 |
| 17 | Maggy Wauters | Belgium | 49.62 | 49.62 | x | x |
| – | Ok-Ja Paik | South Korea | DNS |
| – | Jolán Kleiber-Kontsek | Hungary | DNS |
| – | Rosa Molina | Chile | DNS |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Mark | 1st throw | 2nd throw | 3rd throw | 4th throw | 5th throw | 6th throw |
| | Faina Melnik | Soviet Union | 66.62 OR | 60.56 | 61.32 | 57.96 | 66.62 OR | 62.76 | x |
| | Argentina Menis | Romania | 65.06 | 64.28 OR | 59.82 | 60.88 | 65.06 OR | 63.78 | 64.90 |
| | Vasilka Stoeva | Bulgaria | 64.34 | 61.08 | x | 64.20 | 62.24 | 64.34 | 62.10 |
| 4 | Tamara Danilova | Soviet Union | 62.86 | 62.64 OR | 58.14 | 62.86 | 61.14 | x | x |
| 5 | Liesel Westermann | West Germany | 62.18 | x | 57.04 | 62.18 | 61.66 | x | x |
| 6 | Gabriele Hinzmann | East Germany | 61.72 | 57.52 | 59.14 | 60.12 | 61.08 | 61.72 | 60.22 |
| 7 | Carmen Ionescu | Romania | 60.42 | 57.78 | 58.76 | 57.06 | 59.08 | x | 60.42 |
| 8 | Lyudmila Muravyova | Soviet Union | 59.00 | 57.52 | 57.92 | 59.00 | x | 58.86 | 57.20 |
| 9 | Lia Manoliu | Romania | 58.50 | 58.18 | 58.50 | x |
| 10 | Svetla Bozhkova | Bulgaria | 56.72 | 56.50 | 56.72 | x |
| 11 | Brigitte Berendonk | West Germany | 56.58 | 55.60 | x | 56.58 |
| 12 | Rosemary Payne | Great Britain | 56.50 | 56.50 | x | 52.26 |
Key: OR = Olympic record; p = pass; x = fault; NM = no mark