# Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase

These are the official results of the men's 3000 metres steeplechase event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The competition was held on 1 and 4 September.

## Heats

The top three runners in each of the four heats (blue), advanced to the final round.

### Heat one

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Tapio Kantanen | Finland | 8:24.8 | OR |
| 2 | Kip Keino | Kenya | 8:27.6 | |
| 3 | Takaharu Koyama | Japan | 8:29.8 | |
| 4 | Gheorghe Cefan | Romania | 8:33.8 | |
| 5 | Andy Holden | Great Britain | 8:33.8 | |
| 6 | Toni Feldmann | Switzerland | 8:35.8 | |
| 7 | Steve Savage | United States | 8:39.0 | |
| 8 | Gérard Buchheit | France | 8:41.2 | |
| 9 | Filbert Bayi | Tanzania | 8:41.4 | |
| 10 | Vitus Ashaba | Uganda | 8:45.0 | |
| 11 | Tadeusz Zieliński | Poland | 8:49.8 | |
| 12 | Wigmar Pedersen | Denmark | 9:03.0 | |

### Heat two

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Ben Jipcho | Kenya | 8:31.6 |
| 2 | Mikko Ala-Leppilampi | Finland | 8:31.8 |
| 3 | Mikhail Zhelev | Bulgaria | 8:35.8 |
| 4 | Willi Maier | West Germany | 8:37.6 |
| 5 | Akira Takeuchi | Japan | 8:40.4 |
| 6 | Sergey Skripka | Soviet Union | 8:41.4 |
| 7 | Jan Voje | Norway | 8:42.0 |
| 8 | Hans Menet | Switzerland | 8:45.4 |
| 9 | Eddie Leddy | Ireland | 8:47.4 |
| 10 | Kazimierz Maranda | Poland | 8:50.4 |
| 11 | Esau Adenji | Cameroon | 9:34.4 |
| 12 | Kerry O'Brien | Australia | DNF |

### Heat three

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 1 | Pekka Päivärinta | Finland | 8:29.0 |
| 2 | Romualdas Bitė | Soviet Union | 8:30.2 |
| 3 | Jean-Paul Villain | France | 8:30.4 |
| 4 | Josef Horčic | Czechoslovakia | 8:30.6 |
| 5 | Anders Gärderud | Sweden | 8:30.8 |
| 6 | Willi Wagner | West Germany | 8:34.0 |
| 7 | Paul Thijs | Belgium | 8:35.0 |
| 8 | John Bicourt | Great Britain | 8:38.8 |
| 9 | Doug Brown | United States | 8:41.2 |
| 10 | Panagiotis Nakopoulos | Greece | 8:48.4 |
| 11 | Yohannes Mohamed | Ethiopia | 8:52.6 |
| 12 | Robert Hackman | Ghana | 8:57.6 |

### Heat four

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Amos Biwott | Kenya | 8:23.8 | OR |
| 2 | Bronisław Malinowski | Poland | 8:28.2 | |
| 3 | Dušan Moravčík | Czechoslovakia | 8:33.4 | |
| 4 | Steve Hollings | Great Britain | 8:35.0 | |
| 5 | Franco Fava | Italy | 8:35.0 | |
| 6 | Hans-Dieter Schulten | West Germany | 8:39.8 | |
| 7 | Boualem Rahoui | Algeria | 8:41.0 | |
| 8 | Spyridon Kontosoros | Greece | 8:41.0 | |
| 9 | Georges Kaiser | Switzerland | 8:45.4 | |
| 10 | Mike Manley | United States | 8:50.4 | |
| 11 | Sverre Sørnes | Norway | 8:54.8 | |
| 12 | Usaia Sotutu | Fiji | 9:12.0 | |
| 13 | Julio Quevedo | Guatemala | 9:28.4 | |

## Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Kip Keino | Kenya | 8:23.6 | OR |
| | Ben Jipcho | Kenya | 8:24.6 | |
| | Tapio Kantanen | Finland | 8:24.8 | |
| 4 | Bronisław Malinowski | Poland | 8:28.0 | |
| 5 | Dušan Moravčík | Czechoslovakia | 8:29.2 | |
| 6 | Amos Biwott | Kenya | 8:33.6 | |
| 7 | Romualdas Bitė | Soviet Union | 8:34.6 | |
| 8 | Pekka Päivärinta | Finland | 8:37.2 | |
| 9 | Takaharu Koyama | Japan | 8:37.8 | |
| 10 | Mikko Ala-Leppilampi | Finland | 8:41.0 | |
| 11 | Jean-Paul Villain | France | 8:46.8 | |
| 12 | Mikhail Zhelev | Bulgaria | 9:02.6 | |