Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Swimming pictogram
Venue	Olympia Schwimmhalle
Dates	28 August – 4 September 1972
No. of events	29
Competitors	532 from 52 nations
←  1968 1976  →

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

Perhaps the most spectacular athletic events were in swimming.^{[ citation needed ]} 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". ^[3]

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. ^[4] 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
	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 details	Mark Spitz   United States	51.22 (WR)	Jerry Heidenreich   United States	51.65	Vladimir Bure   Soviet Union	51.77
200 m freestyle details	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 details	Brad Cooper   Australia	4:00.27 (OR)	Steve Genter   United States	4:01.94	Tom McBreen   United States	4:02.64
1500 m freestyle details	Mike Burton   United States	15:52.58 (WR)	Graham Windeatt   Australia	15:58.48	Doug Northway   United States	16:09.25
100 m backstroke details	Roland Matthes   East Germany	56.58 (OR)	Mike Stamm   United States	57.70	John Murphy   United States	58.35
200 m backstroke details	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 details	Nobutaka Taguchi   Japan	1:04.94 (WR)	Tom Bruce   United States	1:05.43	John Hencken   United States	1:05.61
200 m breaststroke details	John Hencken   United States	2:21.55 (WR)	David Wilkie   Great Britain	2:23.67	Nobutaka Taguchi   Japan	2:23.88
100 m butterfly details	Mark Spitz   United States	54.27 (WR)	Bruce Robertson   Canada	55.56	Jerry Heidenreich   United States	55.74
200 m butterfly details	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 details	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 details	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 details	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 details	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 details	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 details	Sandy Neilson   United States	58.59 (OR)	Shirley Babashoff   United States	59.02	Shane Gould   Australia	59.06
200 m freestyle details	Shane Gould   Australia	2:03.56 (WR)	Shirley Babashoff   United States	2:04.33	Keena Rothhammer   United States	2:04.92
400 m freestyle details	Shane Gould   Australia	4:19.04 (WR)	Novella Calligaris   Italy	4:22.44	Gudrun Wegner   East Germany	4:23.11
800 m freestyle details	Keena Rothhammer   United States	8:53.68 (WR)	Shane Gould   Australia	8:56.39	Novella Calligaris   Italy	8:57.46
100 m backstroke details	Melissa Belote   United States	1:05.78 (OR)	Andrea Gyarmati   Hungary	1:06.26	Susie Atwood   United States	1:06.34
200 m backstroke details	Melissa Belote   United States	2:19.19 (WR)	Susie Atwood   United States	2:20.38	Donna Gurr   Canada	2:23.22
100 m breaststroke details	Cathy Carr   United States	1:13.58 (WR)	Galina Prozumenshchikova   Soviet Union	1:14.99	Beverley Whitfield   Australia	1:15.73
200 m breaststroke details	Beverley Whitfield   Australia	2:41.05 (OR)	Dana Schoenfield   United States	2:42.05	Galina Prozumenshchikova   Soviet Union	2:42.36
100 m butterfly details	Mayumi Aoki   Japan	1:03.34 (WR)	Roswitha Beier   East Germany	1:03.61	Andrea Gyarmati   Hungary	1:03.73
200 m butterfly details	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 details	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 details	Gail Neall   Australia	5:02.97 (WR)	Leslie Cliff   Canada	5:03.57	Novella Calligaris   Italy	5:03.99
4 × 100 m freestyle relay details	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 details	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. "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.
4. "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.