The men's
decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...
combined event at the
1972 Olympic Games took place on 7 & 8 September. The favorite was
Joachim Kirst
Joachim Kirst (born 21 May 1947 in Neustadt/Harz) is a retired East German decathlete. Kirst finished fifth at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, but did not finish the event during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. He won the decathlon a ...
, who had won the European Championship in
1969
1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...
and
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
. The decathletes were unfortunate, as they had to re-open the Olympics, the morning after the postponement due to the tragic events of the
Munich massacre. As the events continued the favorite, Kirst, hit the third hurdle in the 110 metres and fell, dropping out of the race.
Results
100m
Long Jump
Shot put
High jump
All heights in metres.
400m
110m hurdles
Discus throw
All distance are in metres.
Pole vault
Javelin throw
All distance are in metres.
1500m
Final standings
Standings after Event 10
8 September 1972
Legend:M = Mark, P = Points
Key: WR = world record; p = pass; x = fault; o = cleared; NM = no mark; DNF = did not finish; DNS = did not start; DQ = disqualified; T = tied
References
External links
Official report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics - Men's decathlon
Men's decathlon
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
Men's events at the 1972 Summer Olympics