Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Swimming
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Swimming; at the Games of the XX Olympiad
	Olympia Schwimmhalle
Venue	Olympia Schwimmhalle
Dates	28 August – 4 September 1972
No. of events	29
Competitors	532 from 52 nations

The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich, West Germany, 29 events in swimming were contested. There was a total of 532 participants from 52 countries competing.^[1]^[2]

Perhaps the most spectacular athletic events were in swimming. Mark Spitz had a remarkable run, competing in seven events, winning seven Olympic titles and setting seven world records. In 2008, Michael Phelps matched Spitz's feat of setting seven world records in a single Olympics. According to the official Olympic website, "He took part in the 4 × 200 m one hour after his final in the 100 m butterfly. As for the 200 m freestyle gold, it was his third medal in three days" .

On the women's side of the competition, Shane Gould of Australia won five medals. She won the 200 m and 400 m freestyle as well as the 200 m individual medley, each with a new world-record time. In addition, she won the silver and the bronze in the 800 m and 100 m freestyle, respectively. In 2022, Gould remains the only woman in history to have claimed five medals in solo events in swimming at a single Olympic Games.^[3] Another 15-years-old, American Sandy Neilson, won three gold medals.

The Olympic record was broken at least once in all 29 events. In 20 of those events, a new world record was set.

Events

The following events were contested (all pool events were long course, and distances are in metres unless otherwise stated):

Freestyle: 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m (women), 1500 m (men)
Backstroke: 100 m, 200 m
Breaststroke: 100 m, 200 m
Butterfly: 100 m, 200 m
Individual Medley: 200 m, 400 m
Relays: 4 × 100 m free, 4 × 200 m free (men); 4 × 100 m medley

Participating nations

532 swimmers from 52 nations competed.^[1]

Argentina (4)
Australia (24)
Austria (2)
Belgium (4)
Brazil (12)
Bulgaria (3)
Cambodia (4)
Canada (38)
Chinese Taipei (3)
Colombia (4)
Czechoslovakia (3)
Denmark (6)
East Germany (37)
Ecuador (1)
Egypt (2)
El Salvador (7)
Finland (1)
France (18)
Great Britain (36)
Greece (5)
Hong Kong (2)
Hungary (16)
Iceland (4)
Ireland (7)
Israel (1)
Italy (24)
Jamaica (1)
Japan (15)
Kuwait (2)
Lebanon (2)
Malaysia (2)
Mexico (22)
Netherlands (19)
New Zealand (6)
Norway (4)
Peru (3)
Philippines (7)
Poland (5)
Romania (3)
Singapore (3)
South Korea (1)
Soviet Union (26)
Spain (9)
Sweden (15)
Switzerland (10)
Trinidad and Tobago (1)
Turkey (2)
United States (51)
Uruguay (2)
Venezuela (4)
West Germany (44)
Yugoslavia (5)

Medal table


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	17	14	12	43
2	Australia (AUS)	6	2	2	10
3	East Germany (GDR)	2	5	2	9
4	Japan (JPN)	2	0	1	3
5	Sweden (SWE)	2	0	0	2
6	Soviet Union (URS)	0	2	3	5
7	Canada (CAN)	0	2	2	4
8	West Germany (FRG)	0	1	3	4
9	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	2	3
9	Italy (ITA)	0	1	2	3
11	Great Britain (GBR)	0	1	0	1
Totals (11 entries)		29	29	29	87

Results

Men's events

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Mark Spitz United States	51.22 (WR)	Jerry Heidenreich United States	51.65	Vladimir Bure Soviet Union	51.77
200 m freestyle	Mark Spitz United States	1:52.78 (WR)	Steve Genter United States	1:53.73	Werner Lampe West Germany	1:53.99
400 m freestyle	Brad Cooper Australia	4:00.27 (OR)	Steve Genter United States	4:01.94	Tom McBreen United States	4:02.64
1500 m freestyle	Mike Burton United States	15:52.58 (WR)	Graham Windeatt Australia	15:58.48	Doug Northway United States	16:09.25
100 m backstroke	Roland Matthes East Germany	56.58 (OR)	Mike Stamm United States	57.70	John Murphy United States	58.35
200 m backstroke	Roland Matthes East Germany	2:02.82 (WR)	Mike Stamm United States	2:04.09	Mitch Ivey United States	2:04.33
100 m breaststroke	Nobutaka Taguchi Japan	1:04.94 (WR)	Tom Bruce United States	1:05.43	John Hencken United States	1:05.61
200 m breaststroke	John Hencken United States	2:21.55 (WR)	David Wilkie Great Britain	2:23.67	Nobutaka Taguchi Japan	2:23.88
100 m butterfly	Mark Spitz United States	54.27 (WR)	Bruce Robertson Canada	55.56	Jerry Heidenreich United States	55.74
200 m butterfly	Mark Spitz United States	2:00.70 (WR)	Gary Hall, Sr. United States	2:02.86	Robin Backhaus United States	2:03.23
200 m individual medley	Gunnar Larsson Sweden	2:07.17 (WR)	Tim McKee United States	2:08.37	Steve Furniss United States	2:08.45
400 m individual medley	Gunnar Larsson Sweden	4:31.98 (OR)	Tim McKee United States	4:31.98 (OR)	András Hargitay Hungary	4:32.70
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	United States (USA) David Edgar John Murphy Jerry Heidenreich Mark Spitz	3:26.42 (WR)	Soviet Union (URS) Vladimir Bure Viktor Mazanov Viktor Aboimov Igor Grivennikov	3:29.72	East Germany (GDR) Roland Matthes Wilfried Hartung Peter Bruch Lutz Unger	3:32.42
4 × 200 m freestyle relay	United States (USA) John Kinsella Fred Tyler Steve Genter Mark Spitz	7:35.78 (WR)	West Germany (FRG) Klaus Steinbach Werner Lampe Hans Vosseler Hans Fassnacht	7:41.69	Soviet Union (URS) Igor Grivennikov Viktor Mazanov Georgi Kulikov Vladimir Bure	7:45.76
4 × 100 m medley relay	United States (USA) Mike Stamm Tom Bruce Mark Spitz Jerry Heidenreich	3:48.16 (WR)	East Germany (GDR) Roland Matthes Klaus Katzur Hartmut Flöckner Lutz Unger	3:52.26	Canada (CAN) Erik Fish William Mahony Bruce Robertson Robert Kasting	3:53.26

Women's events

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Sandy Neilson United States	58.59 (OR)	Shirley Babashoff United States	59.02	Shane Gould Australia	59.06
200 m freestyle	Shane Gould Australia	2:03.56 (WR)	Shirley Babashoff United States	2:04.33	Keena Rothhammer United States	2:04.92
400 m freestyle	Shane Gould Australia	4:19.04 (WR)	Novella Calligaris Italy	4:22.44	Gudrun Wegner East Germany	4:23.11
800 m freestyle	Keena Rothhammer United States	8:53.68 (WR)	Shane Gould Australia	8:56.39	Novella Calligaris Italy	8:57.46
100 m backstroke	Melissa Belote United States	1:05.78 (OR)	Andrea Gyarmati Hungary	1:06.26	Susie Atwood United States	1:06.34
200 m backstroke	Melissa Belote United States	2:19.19 (WR)	Susie Atwood United States	2:20.38	Donna Gurr Canada	2:23.22
100 m breaststroke	Cathy Carr United States	1:13.58 (WR)	Galina Prozumenshchikova Soviet Union	1:14.99	Beverley Whitfield Australia	1:15.73
200 m breaststroke	Beverley Whitfield Australia	2:41.05 (OR)	Dana Schoenfield United States	2:42.05	Galina Prozumenshchikova Soviet Union	2:42.36
100 m butterfly	Mayumi Aoki Japan	1:03.34 (WR)	Roswitha Beier East Germany	1:03.61	Andrea Gyarmati Hungary	1:03.73
200 m butterfly	Karen Moe United States	2:15.57 (WR)	Lynn Colella United States	2:16.34	Ellie Daniel United States	2:16.74
200 m individual medley	Shane Gould Australia	2:23.07 (WR)	Kornelia Ender East Germany	2:23.59	Lynn Vidali United States	2:24.06
400 m individual medley	Gail Neall Australia	5:02.97 (WR)	Leslie Cliff Canada	5:03.57	Novella Calligaris Italy	5:03.99
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	United States (USA) Shirley Babashoff Jane Barkman Jenny Kemp Sandy Neilson	3:55.19 (WR)	East Germany (GDR) Andrea Eife Kornelia Ender Elke Sehmisch Gabriele Wetzko	3:55.55	West Germany (FRG) Gudrun Beckmann Heidemarie Reineck Angela Steinbach Jutta Weber	3:57.93
4 × 100 m medley relay	United States (USA) Melissa Belote Cathy Carr Deena Deardurff Sandy Neilson	4:20.75 (WR)	East Germany (GDR) Christine Herbst Renate Vogel Roswitha Beier Kornelia Ender	4:24.91	West Germany (FRG) Gudrun Beckmann Vreni Eberle Silke Pielen Heidemarie Reineck	4:26.46

Gallery of the medalists

Some of the Olympic medalists in Munich:

Mark Spitz, winner of the 100-metre freestyle, 200-metre freestyle, 100-metre butterfly, 200-metre butterfly, 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay, 4 × 200-metre freestyle relay, and 4 × 100-metre medley relay.
Mike Burton, winner of the 1500-metre freestyle.
Gunnar Larsson, winner of the 200-metre individual medley and 400-metre individual medley.
Shane Gould, winner of the 200-metre freestyle, 400-metre freestyle, and 200-metre individual medley.
John Hencken, winner of the 200-metre breaststroke.
Brad Cooper, winner of the 400-metre freestyle.
Roland Matthes, winner of the 100-metre backstroke and 200-metre backstroke.
Cathy Carr, winner of the 100-metre breaststroke and 4 × 100-metre medley relay.
Melissa Belote, winner of the 100-metre backstroke, 200-metre backstroke, and 4 × 100-metre medley relay.

References

1 2 "Swimming at the 1972 Munich Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
↑ "Olympedia – Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
↑ "Happy 65th To Shane Gould, Still The Only Swim Sorority Champ To Claim Five Solo Medals In The Olympic Pool At One Games". State of Swimming. Retrieved 21 August 2016.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[SportsRef-1] 1 2 "Swimming at the 1972 Munich Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2016.

[2] "Olympedia – Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 17 December 2023.

[State_of_Swimming-3] "Happy 65th To Shane Gould, Still The Only Swim Sorority Champ To Claim Five Solo Medals In The Olympic Pool At One Games". State of Swimming. Retrieved 21 August 2016.

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Swimming at the Summer Olympics
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