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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
Ludvík Daněk
VenueOlympic Stadium
DatesSeptember 1 & 2
Competitors29 from 18 nations
Winning distance64.40
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ludvík Daněk
 Czechoslovakia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Jay Silvester
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ricky Bruch
 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

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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

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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

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

World record  Jay Silvester (USA)
 Ricky Bruch (SWE)
68.40 Reno, United States
Stockholm, Sweden
18 September 1968
5 July 1972
Olympic record  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

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All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Friday, 1 September 1972 10:00 Qualifying
Saturday, 2 September 1972 15:00 Final

Results

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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

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Rank Athlete Nation Group 1 2 3 Distance Notes
1 Ludvík Daněk  Czechoslovakia B 64.32 64.32 Q
2 Jorma Rinne  Finland B 62.02 62.02 Q
3 Géza Fejér  Hungary B 61.58 61.58 Q
4 Pentti Kahma  Finland A 58.50 61.24 61.24 Q
5 Ricky Bruch  Sweden A 61.24 61.24 Q
6 Jay Silvester  United States A 58.98 61.20 61.20 Q
7 Ferenc Tégla  Hungary A 60.60 60.60 Q
8 János Murányi  Hungary B 54.42 60.34 60.34 Q
9 Silvano Simeon  Italy B 58.38 59.78 59.78 Q
10 Tim Vollmer  United States A 59.60 59.60 Q
11 Namakoro Niaré  Mali A 59.38 59.38 Q
12 Detlef Thorith  East Germany A 59.36 59.36 Q
13 John Powell  United States B 54.94 59.30 59.30 Q
14 Les Mills  New Zealand A 59.22 59.22 Q
15 Klaus-Peter Hennig  West Germany A 55.32 X 58.64 58.64
16 Dirk Wippermann  West Germany B 56.42 58.10 57.96 58.10
17 Hein-Direck Neu  West Germany A 56.36 58.10 X 58.10
18 Zdravko Pečar  Yugoslavia B X 57.84 53.52 57.84
19 Bill Tancred  Great Britain B X 55.86 57.24 57.24
20 Robin Tait  New Zealand B 56.60 55.88 X 56.60
21 Ain Roost  Canada A 56.58 55.48 X 56.58
22 Hartmut Losch  East Germany B 56.64 X 56.28 56.64
23 Erlendur Valdimarsson  Iceland B 55.38 55.16 53.26 55.38
24 John Watts  Great Britain A 53.48 X 53.86 53.86
25 Kaj Andersen  Denmark A X 51.60 53.52 53.52
26 Praveen Kumar  India B 52.58 53.12 51.58 53.12
27 Heimo Reinitzer  Austria B X 52.32 52.56 52.56
28 Said Farouk Al-Turki  Saudi Arabia A X 33.78 X 33.78
Armando de Vincentis  Italy A X X X No mark
Stoyan Slavkov  Bulgaria A DNS
Julio Bequer  Cuba B DNS
Joussef Nagui Assad  Egypt B DNS
Noel Matouba  Republic of the Congo B DNS

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ludvík Daněk  Czechoslovakia 58.12 60.38 62.38 62.54 61.70 64.40 64.40
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Jay Silvester  United States 62.12 X 63.50 X X 62.86 63.50
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ricky Bruch  Sweden 59.12 X 61.52 62.76 63.40 62.60 63.40
4 John Powell  United States 61.92 62.82 60.44 X 61.38 X 62.82
5 Géza Fejér  Hungary 62.50 62.56 X X 61.50 62.62 62.62
6 Detlef Thorith  East Germany 61.74 62.42 61.06 X 59.88 X 62.42
7 Ferenc Tégla  Hungary 58.38 59.66 57.40 X 58.16 60.60 60.60
8 Tim Vollmer  United States 59.26 60.24 X X X 58.54 60.24
9 Pentti Kahma  Finland 57.20 58.92 59.66 Did not advance 59.66
10 Silvano Simeon  Italy 58.80 59.34 58.36 Did not advance 59.34
11 Jorma Rinne  Finland 57.30 56.88 59.22 Did not advance 59.22
12 János Murányi  Hungary 57.92 57.16 X Did not advance 57.92
13 Namakoro Niaré  Mali 56.48 55.10 X Did not advance 56.48
14 Les Mills  New Zealand X 54.48 55.86 Did not advance 55.86

References

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  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. ^ a b c "Discus Throw, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 3, p. 62.
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