Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres
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100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...
sprint event at the 1972 Olympic Games in
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,
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, was held at
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on 31 August and 1 September. Eighty-five athletes from 55 nations competed. Each nation was limited to 3 athletes per rules in force since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by
Valeriy Borzov Valeriy Pylypovych Borzov ( uk, Валерій Пилипович Борзов; russian: Валерий Филиппович Борзов, Valeriy Filippovich Borzov; born 20 October 1949) is a former Soviet sprinter. He is a two-time Olympian, ...
of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, the first medal in the men's 100 metres for that nation. Jamaican
Lennox Miller Lennox Valencia Miller (8 October 1946 in Kingston, Jamaica – 8 November 2004 in Pasadena, California) was a champion runner and father of Inger Miller. Representing Jamaica, Miller won the silver medal in the 100 meters in the 1968 Summ ...
, silver medalist four years earlier, became the second man to make the podium twice in the event by taking bronze (after
Ralph Metcalfe Ralph Harold Metcalfe Sr. (May 29, 1910 – October 10, 1978) was an American track and field sprinter and politician. He jointly held the world record in the 100-meter dash and placed second in that event in two Olympics, first to Eddie Tola ...
in 1932 and 1936). This event is notable for the absence of favourites and world record holders Eddie Hart and Rey Robinson from their quarterfinal heats due to American sprint coach Stan Wright being given the wrong starting time. The three qualified American athletes, Robinson, Hart and Robert Taylor, were at the
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headquarters watching what they believed were replays of their morning preliminary races before being informed they were watching live coverage of the races they were scheduled to run in. The athletes rushed to the stadium, but Hart and Robinson, scheduled in the first two races, missed their heats, while Robert Taylor hurried to take off his warm up uniform before running his heat. An appeal by American officials to have Robinson and Hart run in another heat was rejected.


Background

This was the seventeenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Two finalists from 1968 returned:
Lennox Miller Lennox Valencia Miller (8 October 1946 in Kingston, Jamaica – 8 November 2004 in Pasadena, California) was a champion runner and father of Inger Miller. Representing Jamaica, Miller won the silver medal in the 100 meters in the 1968 Summ ...
of Jamaica and
Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa (30 March 1943 – 27 September 2016) was a Malagasy athlete who specialized in the 100 metres. At the 1964 Summer Olympics he was eliminated in the heats in both 100 and 200 metres. At the 1968 Summer Olympics he wa ...
of Madagascar. The favourite was Soviet
Valeriy Borzov Valeriy Pylypovych Borzov ( uk, Валерій Пилипович Борзов; russian: Валерий Филиппович Борзов, Valeriy Filippovich Borzov; born 20 October 1949) is a former Soviet sprinter. He is a two-time Olympian, ...
, the European champion. The American team was missing
John Carlos John Wesley Carlos (born June 5, 1945) is an American former track and field athlete and professional American football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he displayed the Black Power sal ...
, who had turned to professional football, but still had strong runners in Eddie Hart and Rey Robinson, who had matched the world record of 9.9 seconds in the U.S. Olympic trials, and Robert Taylor. Thirteen nations appeared in the event for the first time: Bolivia, Cambodia (then Khmer Republic), Chad, Kuwait, Lesotho, Malawi, Mongolia, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Upper Volta, the Virgin Islands, and Zambia (though Northern Rhodesia had competed previously). The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first seventeen Olympic men's 100 metres events.


Competition format

The event retained the same basic four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. It also expanded the "fastest loser" system, introduced in 1968, to include the quarterfinals as well as the preliminary heats. The first round consisted of 12 heats, each with 6–8 athletes. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next four fastest runners overall. This made 40 quarterfinalists, who were divided into five heats of 8 runners. The top three runners in each quarterfinal advanced, along with the single fastest fourth-place finisher. The 16 semifinalists competed in two heats of 8, with the top four in each semifinal advancing to the eight-man final.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 48.


Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. No records were set in the event at the 1972 Games.


Results


Heats

The top three runners in each of the twelve heats, and the next fastest four, advanced to the quarterfinal round.


Heat 1


Heat 2


Heat 3


Heat 4

The tailwind of 2.3 m/s made this heat ineligible for records purposes.


Heat 5


Heat 6


Heat 7


Heat 8

The tailwind of 2.10 m/s made this heat ineligible for records purposes.


Heat 9


Heat 10


Heat 11


Heat 12


Quarterfinals

The top three runners in each of the five heats and the next fastest one, advanced to the semifinal round.


Quarterfinal 1

Hart failed to appear due to a scheduling change and coaching error.


Quarterfinal 2

Robinson failed to appear due to a scheduling change and coaching error.


Quarterfinal 3


Quarterfinal 4

The tailwind of 3.40 m/s made this heat ineligible for records purposes.


Quarterfinal 5


Semifinals

The top four runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.


Semifinal 1

Papageorgopoulos was forced to scratch after he pulled a groin muscle in the quarter-finals.


Semifinal 2


Final

Borzov "won fairly easily." *
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speed =


References

3. Die Spiele, The official report of the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXth Olympiad Munich 1972, Volume 3 The competitions, page 49

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 metres Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics 100 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1972 Summer Olympics