1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. The final was held on Sunday 10 September 1972 and was contested by 10 athletes. The semi-finals were held on Saturday 9 September 1972 and were contested by 27 athletes. The heats were held on Friday 8 September 1972 and 71 athletes entered, with 66 runners from 46 nations competing. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by
Pekka Vasala
Pekka Antero Vasala (born 17 April 1948) is a retired Finnish middle-distance athlete who won an Olympic gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City he failed to advance from the first round of he ...
of Finland, the nation's first championship in the 1500 metres since back-to-back wins in 1924 and 1928.
Kipchoge Keino
Kipchoge Hezekiah Keino (born 17 January 1940) is a retired Kenyan track and field athlete. He was the chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee (KOC) until 29 September 2017. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Keino was among the first in a lon ...
of Kenya came half a second short of becoming the first man to successfully defend Olympic gold in the event; instead, his silver made him just the second man to win two medals of any color in the 1500 metres.
Background
This was the 17th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. All three medalists from 1968 (
Kipchoge Keino
Kipchoge Hezekiah Keino (born 17 January 1940) is a retired Kenyan track and field athlete. He was the chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee (KOC) until 29 September 2017. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Keino was among the first in a lon ...
of Kenya,
Jim Ryun
James Ronald Ryun (born April 29, 1947) is an American former Republican politician and Olympic track and field athlete, who at his peak was widely considered the world's top middle-distance runner. He won a silver medal in the 1500 m at the ...
of the United States, and Bodo Tümmler of West Germany) returned, along with two other finalists: sixth-place finisher Jacky Boxberger of France and seventh-place finisher
Henryk Szordykowski
Henryk Jan Szordykowski (3 June 1944 – 25 December 2022) was a retired Polish runner who specialized in the 800 metres and 1500 metres.
He was born in Iłowo-Osada and represented the club Wawel Kraków.Ben Jipcho (who had played a strategic role helping Keino in the 1968 final, but was now a legitimate contender himself) and
Marty Liquori
Martin William Liquori (born September 11, 1949) is a retired American middle distance athlete.
Liquori rose to fame when he became the third American high schooler to break the four-minute mile by running a 3:59.8 in 1967, three years after J ...
out with injury. A third Kenyan,
Mike Boit
Michael (Mike) Kipsugut Boit (born 6 January 1949) is a Kenyan former professional middle-distance athlete whose career spanned fifteen years. He is a professor at Kenyatta University in the Department of Exercise and Sports Science. He is an unc ...
, was also a challenger, but was more of an 800 metres specialist.
Rod Dixon
Rodney Phillip Dixon (born 13 July 1950) is a former New Zealand middle- to long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and in 1983 won the New York City Marathon.
Biography
Dixon was b ...
of New Zealand and
Pekka Vasala
Pekka Antero Vasala (born 17 April 1948) is a retired Finnish middle-distance athlete who won an Olympic gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City he failed to advance from the first round of he ...
of Finland were also strong challengers.
Sixteen nations made their 1500 metres debut in 1972: Algeria, Burma, Cameroon, East Germany, Ghana, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Panama, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The United States made its 17th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the men's 1500 metres at each Games to that point.
Competition format
The competition was again three rounds (used previously in 1952, 1964, and 1968). The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1964, but not used in 1968, returned; once again the semifinals were balanced. Now, however, the semifinal heats and final were set at 10 men each, rather than the 8 or 12 previously.
There were seven heats in the first round, each with 10 or 11 runners (before withdrawals). The top four runners in each heat, along with the next two fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 30 semifinalists were divided into three semifinals, each with 10 runners. The top three men in each semifinal, plus the fastest fourth-placer, advanced to the 10-man final.Official Report, vol. 3, pp. 51–52.
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics.
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.
Schedule
All times are
Central European Time
Central European Time (CET) is a standard time which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
The time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00.
It is used in most parts of Europe and in a few North African countries.
CET i ...
(
UTC+1
UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in:
*Central European Time
*West Africa Time
*Western European Summer Time
** B ...
)
Results
Round 1
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Heat 4
Both Ryun and Fordjour fell when the latter clipped the former's heel, knocking both out of contention for advancement. The United States appealed, asserting that Ryun was tripped, but the appeal was denied.