Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's discus throw

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Men's discus throw
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Ludvik Danek 1972.jpg
Ludvík Daněk
Venue Olympic Stadium
DatesSeptember 1 & 2
Competitors29 from 18 nations
Winning distance64.40
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Ludvík Daněk
Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia
Silver medal icon.svg Jay Silvester
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Ricky Bruch
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
  1968
1976  

The men's discus throw field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 1 and 2. [1] Twenty-nine athletes from 18 nations competed. [2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. After the retirement of four-time Olympic champion Al Oerter, this was an event that was open to everyone. The favorite was two-time Olympic medalist and 1971 European Champion Ludvík Daněk. Daněk won, completing a full set of three different medals in the event; it was Czechoslovakia's first gold medal in the men's discus throw. Daněk was the second man (after Oerter) to win three medals in the event. Jay Silvester of the United States took silver, keeping alive the American streak of medaling in every appearance of the event (though the nation's five-Games gold medal streak ended). Ricky Bruch earned Sweden's first medal in the men's discus throw with his bronze.

Background

This was the 17th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning finalists from the 1968 Games were bronze medalist (and 1964 silver medalist) Ludvík Daněk of Czechoslovakia, fourth-place finisher (and 1964 finalist) Hartmut Losch of East Germany, fifth-place finisher (and 1964 finalist) Jay Silvester of the United States, eighth-place finisher Ricky Bruch of Sweden, ninth-place finisher Hein-Direck Neu of West Germany, eleventh-place finisher Ferenc Tégla of Hungary, and twelfth-place finisher Robin Tait of New Zealand. Daněk was favored, though Silvester and Bruch (who shared the world record) were also serious contenders. [2]

India and Saudi Arabia each made their debut in the men's discus throw. The United States made its 17th appearance, having competed in every edition of the Olympic men's discus throw to date.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1936, with the qualifying round completely separate from the divided final. In qualifying, each athlete received three attempts; those recording a mark of at least 59.00 metres advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 athletes achieved that distance, the top 12 would advance. The results of the qualifying round were then ignored. Finalists received three throws each, with the top eight competitors receiving an additional three attempts. The best distance among those six throws counted. [2] [3]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Jay Silvester  (USA)
Flag of Sweden.svg  Ricky Bruch  (SWE)
68.40 Reno, United States
Stockholm, Sweden
18 September 1968
5 July 1972
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Al Oerter  (USA)64.78 Mexico City, Mexico 15 October 1968

For the first time since 1920, no new Olympic record was set in the event.

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

DateTimeRound
Friday, 1 September 197210:00Qualifying
Saturday, 2 September 197215:00Final

Results

All throwers reaching 59.00 m (193 ft 7 in) and the top 12 including ties advanced to the finals. All qualifiers are shown in blue. All distances are listed in metres.

Qualifying

RankAthleteNationGroup123DistanceNotes
1 Ludvík Daněk Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia B64.3264.32Q
2 Jorma Rinne Flag of Finland.svg  Finland B62.0262.02Q
3 Géza Fejér Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary B61.5861.58Q
4 Pentti Kahma Flag of Finland.svg  Finland A58.5061.2461.24Q
5 Ricky Bruch Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden A61.2461.24Q
6 Jay Silvester Flag of the United States.svg  United States A58.9861.2061.20Q
7 Ferenc Tégla Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary A60.6060.60Q
8 János Murányi Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary B54.4260.3460.34Q
9 Silvano Simeon Flag of Italy.svg  Italy B58.3859.7859.78Q
10 Tim Vollmer Flag of the United States.svg  United States A59.6059.60Q
11 Namakoro Niaré Flag of Mali.svg  Mali A59.3859.38Q
12 Detlef Thorith Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany A59.3659.36Q
13 John Powell Flag of the United States.svg  United States B54.9459.3059.30Q
14 Les Mills Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand A59.2259.22Q
15 Klaus-Peter Hennig Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany A55.32X58.6458.64
16 Dirk Wippermann Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany B56.4258.1057.9658.10
17 Hein-Direck Neu Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany A56.3658.10X58.10
18 Zdravko Pečar Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg  Yugoslavia BX57.8453.5257.84
19 Bill Tancred Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain BX55.8657.2457.24
20 Robin Tait Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand B56.6055.88X56.60
21 Ain Roost Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada A56.5855.48X56.58
22 Hartmut Losch Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany B56.64X56.2856.64
23 Erlendur Valdimarsson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland B55.3855.1653.2655.38
24 John Watts Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain A53.48X53.8653.86
25 Kaj Andersen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark AX51.6053.5253.52
26 Praveen Kumar Flag of India.svg  India B52.5853.1251.5853.12
27 Heimo Reinitzer Flag of Austria.svg  Austria BX52.3252.5652.56
28 Said Farouk Al-Turki Flag of Saudi Arabia (1938-1973).svg  Saudi Arabia AX33.78X33.78
Armando de Vincentis Flag of Italy.svg  Italy AXXXNo mark
Stoyan SlavkovFlag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg  Bulgaria ADNS
Julio BequerFlag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba BDNS
Joussef Nagui AssadFlag of Egypt (1972-1984).svg  Egypt BDNS
Noel MatoubaFlag of the People's Republic of Congo.svg  Republic of the Congo BDNS

Final

RankAthleteNation123456Distance
Gold medal icon.svg Ludvík Daněk Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 58.1260.3862.3862.5461.7064.40 64.40
Silver medal icon.svg Jay Silvester Flag of the United States.svg  United States 62.12X63.50XX62.8663.50
Bronze medal icon.svg Ricky Bruch Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 59.12X61.5262.7663.4062.6063.40
4 John Powell Flag of the United States.svg  United States 61.9262.8260.44X61.38X62.82
5 Géza Fejér Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 62.5062.56XX61.5062.6262.62
6 Detlef Thorith Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 61.7462.4261.06X59.88X62.42
7 Ferenc Tégla Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 58.3859.6657.40X58.1660.6060.60
8 Tim Vollmer Flag of the United States.svg  United States 59.2660.24XXX58.5460.24
9 Pentti Kahma Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 57.2058.9259.66Did not advance59.66
10 Silvano Simeon Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 58.8059.3458.36Did not advance59.34
11 Jorma Rinne Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 57.3056.8859.22Did not advance59.22
12 János Murányi Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 57.9257.16XDid not advance57.92
13 Namakoro Niaré Flag of Mali.svg  Mali 56.4855.10XDid not advance56.48
14 Les Mills Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand X54.4855.86Did not advance55.86

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References

  1. "Athletics at the 1972 Munich City Summer Games: Men's Discus Throw". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Discus Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  3. Official Report, vol. 3, p. 62.