These are the official results of the
Women's 800 metres event at the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...
in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. The competition was held on 31 of August and 3 of September.
The favorite coming into the Olympics was
West German
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...
champion and world record holder
Hildegard Falck. In the 1971 West German Championships she became the first woman to officially better two minutes. She was the pre Olympic favorite to win the gold on home soil, the rest of the field was wide open to claim the other podium spots.
In the final, like the men's race, the favorite was the slowest starter, though Falck quickly moved into sixth place. By the end of the first lap the field was tightly packed,
Ileana Silai,
Vera Nikolić and
Svetla Zlateva and three abreast for the lead at 58.31. At 500 metres, Falck decided to move and slightly accelerated away from
Nijolė Sabaitė and
Gunhild Hoffmeister but found herself blocked behind the wall. The wall began to break up during the final turn, Silai the first to start fading allowing Falck some running room, coming off the turn she accelerated into the lead. Pulling away from the field Falck relaxed to cruise across the finish line. Sabaitė made a late run at her from a huge deficit, as she came into view, Falck had to accelerate a little to hold her off for a narrow win. Hoffmeister followed Sabaitė in passing the pack for bronze, but was too far behind to be competitive for higher medals.
While the 2 minute barrier had been broken barely a year before this race, five women finished under 2 minutes here, with the remainder of the field bunched within .17 of a second of 2 minutes. While the world record was 1:58.5 (hand timed at the time), this electronically timed 1:58.55 was intrinsically faster, but that conversion was not included in record keeping. Zlateva would improve the world record the following year.
Heats
The top three runners in each heat (blue) and the next fastest (pink), advanced to the semifinal round.
Heat one
Heat two
Heat three
Heat four
Heat five
Semifinals
Top four in each heat advanced to the final round.
Heat one
Heat two
Final
Key: OR = Olympic record; DNS = did not start; DNF = did not finish
References
External links
Official report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics - Women's 800 metres
Women's 800 metres
800 metres at the Olympics
1972 in women's athletics
Women's events at the 1972 Summer Olympics