# Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump

The men's long jump event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich was held on 8 & 9 of September. Thirty-six athletes from 25 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 6cm by Randy Williams of the United States, the nation's second consecutive and 15th overall gold medal in the men's long jump. Hans Baumgartner earned West Germany's first medal in the event (Germany had taken silver in 1936).

## Background

This was the 17th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1968 Games were fourth-place finisher (and 1960 and 1964 bronze medalist) Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union, seventh-place finisher Jack Pani of France (who did not start this time), ninth-place finisher (and 1964 gold medalist) Lynn Davies of Great Britain, eleventh-place finisher Leonid Barkovskyy of the Soviet Union, and thirteenth-place finisher (and 1964 finalist) Michael Ahey of Ghana. The favorite was Arnie Robinson of the United States.
Bolivia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Togo each made their first appearance in the event. The United States appeared for the 17th time, the only nation to have long jumpers at each of the Games thus far.

## Competition format

The 1972 competition used the two-round format with divided final introduced in 1952. The qualifying round gave each competitor three jumps to achieve a distance of 7.80 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. The final provided each jumper with three jumps; the top eight jumpers received an additional three jumps for a total of six, with the best to count (qualifying round jumps were not considered for the final).

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Bob Beamon (USA) | 8.90 | Mexico City, Mexico | 18 October 1968 |
| Olympic record | Bob Beamon (USA) | 8.90 | Mexico City, Mexico | 18 October 1968 |
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

## Schedule

Qualifying and the final were held on separate days for the first time since 1920.
All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 8 September 1972 | 10:30 | Qualifying |
| Saturday, 9 September 1972 | 15:20 | Final |

## Results
### Qualifying

All jumpers reaching 7.80 m (25 ft 7 in), shown in blue and the top 12 including ties, shown in green, advanced to the final round.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Group | 1 | 2 | 3 | Distance | Notes |
| 1 | Randy Williams | United States | A | 8.34 | — | — | 8.34 | Q |
| 2 | Preston Carrington | United States | B | 8.22 | — | — | 8.22 | Q |
| 3 | Grzegorz Cybulski | Poland | A | 7.61 | 8.01 | — | 8.01 | Q |
| 4 | Arnie Robinson | United States | B | 7.99 | — | — | 7.99 | Q |
| 5 | Leonid Barkovskyy | Soviet Union | A | 7.66 | 7.98 | — | 7.98 | Q |
| 6 | Hans Baumgartner | West Germany | A | 7.98 | — | — | 7.98 | Q |
| 7 | Max Klauß | East Germany | B | 7.93 | — | — | 7.93 | Q |
| 7 | Joshua Owusu | Ghana | B | 7.93 | — | — | 7.93 | Q |
| 9 | Valeriy Podluzhniy | Soviet Union | A | 7.91 | — | — | 7.91 | Q |
| 10 | Ari Väänänen | Finland | A | 7.67 | 7.90 | — | 7.90 | Q |
| 11 | Alan Lerwill | Great Britain | B | 7.86 | — | — | 7.86 | Q |
| 12 | Jacques Rousseau | France | A | 7.77 | 7.79 | 7.51 | 7.79 | q |
| 13 | Igor Ter-Ovanesyan | Soviet Union | B | X | 7.77 | X | 7.77 | |
| 14 | Jaroslav Brož | Czechoslovakia | A | 7.76 | X | 7.74 | 7.76 | |
| 15 | Bruce Field | Australia | A | X | 7.59 | 7.76 | 7.76 | |
| 16 | Rolf Bernhard | Switzerland | A | 7.30 | 7.68 | 7.61 | 7.68 | |
| 17 | Gábor Katona | Hungary | A | X | 7.68 | X | 7.68 | |
| 18 | Lynn Davies | Great Britain | A | 7.64 | 7.53 | X | 7.64 | |
| 19 | Josef Schwarz | West Germany | B | 7.63 | X | 7.62 | 7.63 | |
| 20 | Jerzy Homziuk | Poland | A | 7.63 | X | X | 7.63 | |
| 21 | Finn Bendixen | Norway | A | 7.46 | 7.45 | 7.61 | 7.61 | |
| 22 | Andreas Gloerfeld | West Germany | B | X | 7.60 | X | 7.60 | |
| 23 | Wilfredo Maisonave | Puerto Rico | B | 7.35 | 7.58 | X | 7.58 | |
| 24 | Christian Tourret | France | B | 7.54 | 7.53 | 7.55 | 7.55 | |
| 25 | Carol Corbu | Romania | A | 7.54 | 7.52 | 7.46 | 7.54 | |
| 26 | Henry Jackson | Jamaica | A | 7.11 | 7.24 | 7.50 | 7.50 | |
| 27 | Milán Matos | Cuba | B | 7.42 | 7.46 | 7.47 | 7.47 | |
| 28 | Takayoshi Kawagoe | Japan | B | 7.45 | 7.47 | 6.72 | 7.47 | |
| 29 | Michael Ahey | Ghana | A | X | 7.39 | — | 7.39 | |
| 30 | Mohinder Singh Gill | India | A | X | X | 7.30 | 7.30 | |
| 31 | Martin Adouna | Togo | B | 7.21 | 7.25 | 7.10 | 7.25 | |
| 32 | Linus Rebmann | Switzerland | B | X | 7.25 | 5.68 | 7.25 | |
| 33 | Chen Chin-Long | Republic of China | B | 6.79 | X | X | 6.79 | |
| 34 | Lionel Caero | Bolivia | A | 6.77 | 6.60 | 6.52 | 6.77 | |
| 35 | Bilal Said Al-Azma | Saudi Arabia | A | 6.32 | 6.15 | 6.16 | 6.32 | |
| — | Jesper Tørring | Denmark | B | X | X | X | No mark | |
| — | Mansor Dia | Senegal | A | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Patrich Onyango | Kenya | A | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Jack Pani | France | A | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Jong Gu Hyon | North Korea | A | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Milan Spasojević | Yugoslavia | B | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Samuela Yavala | Fiji | B | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Byambajavyn Enkhbaatar | Mongolia | B | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Luiz Carlos de Souza | Brazil | B | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Jan Kobuszewski | Poland | B | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Samuel Igun | Nigeria | B | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Dennis Freeman | Liberia | B | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |
| — | Giuseppe Gentile | Italy | B | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Distance |
| | Randy Williams | United States | 8.24 | 7.32 | 7.72 | 7.80 | 7.77 | — | 8.24 |
| | Hans Baumgartner | West Germany | X | 7.99 | 8.18 | x | 7.83 | 8.05 | 8.18 |
| | Arnie Robinson | United States | X | 7.89 | 7.95 | X | 8.03 | X | 8.03 |
| 4 | Joshua Owusu | Ghana | 7.71 | 7.77 | 7.88 | 7.70 | 7.98 | 8.01 | 8.01 |
| 5 | Preston Carrington | United States | 7.99 | X | X | 7.95 | 7.63 | 7.69 | 7.99 |
| 6 | Max Klauß | East Germany | 7.51 | 7.94 | 7.96 | 7.86 | 6.13 | 7.88 | 7.96 |
| 7 | Alan Lerwill | Great Britain | X | 7.91 | 7.69 | X | 7.78 | 7.85 | 7.91 |
| 8 | Leonid Barkovskyy | Soviet Union | 7.56 | 7.53 | 7.75 | 7.61 | 7.56 | X | 7.75 |
| 9 | Valeriy Podluzhniy | Soviet Union | X | 7.56 | 7.72 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 7.72 |
| 10 | Jacques Rousseau | France | 7.65 | 7.37 | 7.52 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 7.65 |
| 11 | Ari Väänänen | Finland | 7.62 | 7.57 | 7.60 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 7.62 |
| 12 | Grzegorz Cybulski | Poland | 7.44 | 7.58 | 7.53 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 7.58 |