# Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metres

These are the official results of the Women's 400 metres event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The competition was held on 2 & 7 of September. The favorite coming into the Olympics was Monika Zehrt of East Germany who equaled the world record in the previous July. The other world record holder was Marilyn Neufville of Jamaica, who was also favored to win, but was injured and unable to compete. This left the field open to challenge the world record holder for the top prize.

## Heats

The top four runners in each heat (blue) and the next four fastest (pink), advanced to the quarterfinal round.

### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charlene Rendina | Australia | 7 | 51.94 | OR |
| 2 | Rita Wilden | West Germany | 4 | 51.97 | |
| 3 | Mable Fergerson | United States | 1 | 52.05 | |
| 4 | Judith Ayaa | Uganda | 2 | 52.85 | |
| 5 | Karoline Käfer | Austria | 3 | 53.60 | |
| 6 | Asunción Acosta | Cuba | 5 | 54.52 | |
| 7 | Barbara Bishop | Barbados | 6 | 56.35 | |

### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time |
| 1 | Kathy Hammond | United States | 1 | 53.45 |
| 2 | Jannette Roscoe | Great Britain | 7 | 53.67 |
| 3 | Marika Eklund | Finland | 3 | 53.81 |
| 4 | Natalya Pechonkina | Soviet Union | 2 | 53.81 |
| 5 | Krystyna Kacperczyk | Poland | 4 | 53.85 |
| 6 | Junaidah Aman | Malaysia | 5 | 57.36 |
| - | Christiane Casapicola | Austria | 6 | DNS |

### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time |
| 1 | Monika Zehrt | East Germany | 3 | 52.49 |
| 2 | Mona-Lisa Strandvall | Finland | 5 | 52.85 |
| 3 | Trudy Ruth | Netherlands | 2 | 53.16 |
| 4 | Tekla Chemabwai | Kenya | 4 | 53.38 |
| 5 | Debra Edwards | United States | 1 | 54.43 |
| 6 | Maria Sykora | Austria | 7 | 54.46 |
| 7 | Josefa Vicent | Uruguay | 6 | 55.33 |

### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time |
| 1 | Nicole Duclos | France | 4 | 52.69 |
| 2 | Györgyi Balogh | Hungary | 7 | 52.75 |
| 3 | Nadezhda Kolesnikova | Soviet Union | 2 | 53.20 |
| 4 | Karin Wallgren | Sweden | 5 | 53.70 |
| 5 | Bożena Zientarska | Poland | 3 | 54.20 |
| 6 | Ruth Williams | Jamaica | 6 | 55.72 |
| 7 | Aida Mantawel | Philippines | 1 | 57.91 |

### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time |
| 1 | Yvonne Saunders | Jamaica | 1 | 52.38 |
| 2 | Helga Seidler | East Germany | 6 | 52.79 |
| 3 | Colette Besson | France | 5 | 53.41 |
| 4 | Allison Ross-Edwards | Australia | 4 | 53.48 |
| 5 | Donata Govoni | Italy | 2 | 53.98 |
| 6 | Irén Orosz | Hungary | 3 | 54.83 |
| 7 | Arda Kalpakian | Lebanon | 7 | 1:05.18 |

### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time |
| 1 | Christel Frese | West Germany | 5 | 52.89 |
| 2 | Dagmar Käsling | East Germany | 6 | 52.99 |
| 3 | Aurelia Pentón | Cuba | 2 | 53.25 |
| 4 | Olga Syrovatskaya | Soviet Union | 7 | 53.62 |
| 5 | Janet Simpson | Great Britain | 8 | 54.13 |
| 6 | Joyce Sadowick | Canada | 3 | 54.59 |
| 7 | Elsy Rivas | Colombia | 1 | 56.33 |
| 8 | Kamaljit Sandhu | India | 4 | 57.74 |

### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time |
| 1 | Carmen Trustée | Cuba | 7 | 52.80 |
| 2 | Penny Hunt | New Zealand | 5 | 52.82 |
| 3 | Danuta Piecyk | Poland | 6 | 53.08 |
| 4 | Verona Bernard | Great Britain | 4 | 53.31 |
| 5 | Anette Rückes | West Germany | 3 | 53.92 |
| 6 | Vreni Leiser | Switzerland | 1 | 54.65 |
| 7 | Grace Muneene | Zambia | 2 | 57.71 |

## Quarterfinals

The top four runners in each heat advanced to the semifinal round.

### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time |
| 1 | Charlene Rendina | Australia | 5 | 51.96 |
| 2 | Helga Seidler | East Germany | 3 | 51.97 |
| 3 | Nadezhda Kolesnikova | Soviet Union | 1 | 52.30 |
| 4 | Trudy Ruth | Netherlands | 8 | 52.45 |
| 5 | Karoline Käfer | Austria | 6 | 52.82 |
| 6 | Jannette Roscoe | Great Britain | 7 | 53.01 |
| 7 | Anette Rückes | West Germany | 2 | 53.22 |
| - | Carmen Trustée | Cuba | 4 | DNS |

### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time |
| 1 | Yvonne Saunders | Jamaica | 8 | 52.13 |
| 2 | Monika Zehrt | East Germany | 2 | 52.33 |
| 3 | Judith Ayaa | Uganda | 7 | 52.68 |
| 4 | Christel Frese | West Germany | 1 | 53.01 |
| 5 | Colette Besson | France | 3 | 53.39 |
| 6 | Marika Eklund | Finland | 6 | 53.50 |
| 7 | Tekla Chemabwai | Kenya | 5 | 53.54 |
| 8 | Natalya Pechonkina | Soviet Union | 4 | 54.58 |

### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Györgyi Balogh | Hungary | 2 | 51.71 | OR |
| 2 | Rita Wilden | West Germany | 8 | 51.91 | |
| 3 | Aurelia Pentón | Cuba | 6 | 52.02 | |
| 4 | Kathy Hammond | United States | 5 | 52.44 | |
| 5 | Danuta Piecyk | Poland | 4 | 52.62 | |
| 6 | Penny Hunt | New Zealand | 1 | 52.66 | |
| 7 | Olga Syrovatskaya | Soviet Union | 7 | 53.42 | |
| 8 | Donata Govoni | Italy | 3 | 53.78 | |

### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time |
| 1 | Dagmar Käsling | East Germany | 1 | 52.33 |
| 2 | Mona-Lisa Strandvall | Finland | 3 | 52.53 |
| 3 | Mable Fergerson | United States | 7 | 52.93 |
| 4 | Nicole Duclos | France | 8 | 52.96 |
| 5 | Verona Bernard | Great Britain | 2 | 53.29 |
| 6 | Allison Ross-Edwards | Australia | 5 | 53.60 |
| 7 | Karin Wallgren | Sweden | 6 | 53.87 |
| 8 | Krystyna Kacperczyk | Poland | 4 | 54.39 |

## Semifinals

Top four in each heat advanced to the final round.

### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Helga Seidler | East Germany | 4 | 51.68 | OR |
| 2 | Dagmar Käsling | East Germany | 8 | 51.73 | |
| 3 | Györgyi Balogh | Hungary | 5 | 51.90 | |
| 4 | Kathy Hammond | United States | 1 | 51.92 | |
| 5 | Aurelia Pentón | Cuba | 6 | 52.15 | |
| 6 | Mona-Lisa Strandvall | Finland | 7 | 52.23 | |
| 7 | Judith Ayaa | Uganda | 2 | 52.91 | |
| - | Christel Frese | West Germany | 3 | DNF | |

### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Monika Zehrt | East Germany | 5 | 51.47 | OR |
| 2 | Rita Wilden | West Germany | 3 | 51.76 | |
| 3 | Charlene Rendina | Australia | 8 | 51.90 | |
| 4 | Mable Fergerson | United States | 6 | 51.91 | |
| 5 | Yvonne Saunders | Jamaica | 2 | 51.93 | |
| 6 | Nicole Duclos | France | 4 | 52.18 | |
| 7 | Nadezhda Kolesnikova | Soviet Union | 7 | 52.29 | |
| 8 | Trudy Ruth | Netherlands | 1 | 53.02 | |

## Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Lane | Time | Notes |
| | Monika Zehrt | East Germany | 7 | 51.08 | OR |
| | Rita Wilden | West Germany | 4 | 51.21 | |
| | Kathy Hammond | United States | 5 | 51.64 | |
| 4 | Helga Seidler | East Germany | 6 | 51.86 | |
| 5 | Mable Fergerson | United States | 3 | 51.96 | |
| 6 | Charlene Rendina | Australia | 8 | 51.99 | |
| 7 | Dagmar Käsling | East Germany | 1 | 52.19 | |
| 8 | Györgyi Balogh | Hungary | 2 | 52.39 | |
Key: OR = Olympic record; DNS = did not start; DNF = did not finish