Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump

The men's high jump field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 9 and 10 at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany.[1] Forty athletes from 26 nations competed.[2] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Jüri Tarmak of the Soviet Union; he was the last man to win an Olympic gold medal using the straddle technique. The more popular and more widely used Fosbury Flop technique was the most common technique used.

Men's high jump
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
VenueOlympic Stadium
DatesSeptember 9 & 10
Competitors40 from 26 nations
Winning height2.23
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jüri Tarmak
 Soviet Union
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Stefan Junge
 East Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Dwight Stones
 United States
← 1968
1976 →

Tarmak's win was the Soviet Union's third victory in the men's high jump. The Soviet Union reached the podium for the fifth consecutive time, while the United States did so for the 17th consecutive time with Dwight Stones's bronze. East Germany won its first men's high jump medal, in its first appearance, with Stefan Junge's silver. It was the first time since 1956 that an athlete from outside the United States and Soviet Union reached the podium.

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. The returning finalists from the 1968 Games were eighth-place finisher Lawrie Peckham of Australia (also a 1964 finalist), ninth-place finisher Ingomar Sieghart of West Germany, and twelfth-place finisher Ahmed Senoussi of Chad. The top jumper of the previous year, world record holder and winner of the Pan American Games, was Pat Matzdorf from the United States. But in a surprise, he failed to make the US team, leaving the field wide open.[2]

Cambodia, Cameroon, Iran, South Korea, Malawi, and Somalia each made their debut in the event; East Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States appeared for the 17th time, having competed at each edition of the Olympic men's high jump to that point.

Competition format

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The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1912. There were two distinct rounds of jumping with results cleared between rounds. The qualifying round had the bar set at 1.80 metres, 1.90 metres, 2.00 metres, 2.06 metres, 2.09 metres, 2.12 metres, and 2.15 metres. All jumpers clearing 2.15 metres in the qualifying round advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 jumpers could achieve it, the top 12 (including ties) would advance to the final.

The final had jumps at 1.90 metres, 2.00 metres, 2.05 metres, 2.10 metres, 2.15 metres, 2.18 metres, 2.21 metres, and 2.23 metres.[2][3]

Records

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

World record   Pat Matzdorf (USA) 2.29 Berkeley, United States 3 July 1971
Olympic record   Dick Fosbury (USA) 2.24 Mexico City, Mexico 20 October 1968

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 9 September 1972 10:00 Qualifying
Sunday, 10 September 1972 15:00 Final

Results

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Key

  • o = Height cleared
  • x = Height failed
  • = Height passed
  • r  = Retired
  • SB = Season's best
  • PB = Personal best
  • NR = National record
  • AR = Area record
  • OR = Olympic record
  • WR = World record
  • WL = World lead
  • NM = No mark
  • DNS = Did not start
  • DQ = Disqualified

Top 12 and ties and all jumpers clearing 2.15 m (7 ft 12 in) advanced to the finals. All heights are listed in metres.

Qualifying

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Rank Athlete Nation Group 1.80 1.90 2.00 2.06 2.09 2.12 2.15 Height Notes
1 Henry Elliott   France A o o o o 2.15 Q
Dwight Stones   United States A o o o o 2.15 Q
3 Vasilios Papadimitriou   Greece A o o o o o 2.15 Q
István Major   Hungary A o o o o o 2.15 Q
Ádám Szepesi   Hungary A o o o o o 2.15 Q
Enzo Del Forno   Italy B o o o o o 2.15 Q
Șerban Ioan   Romania A o o o o o 2.15 Q
Jan Dahlgren   Sweden A o o o o o 2.15 Q
Rustam Akhmetov   Soviet Union A o o o o o 2.15 Q
Kęstutis Šapka   Soviet Union A o o o o o 2.15 Q
Jüri Tarmak   Soviet Union A o o o o o 2.15 Q
12 Hermann Magerl   West Germany A o xo o 2.15 Q
13 John Beers   Canada B xo o o xo o 2.15 Q
14 John Hawkins   Canada B o o o o xo 2.15 Q
Bernard Gauthier   France A o o o o xo 2.15 Q
16 Stefan Junge   East Germany A o o xxo xo 2.15 Q
17 Lawrie Peckham   Australia A o o xxo o xo 2.15 Q
18 Hidehiko Tomizawa   Japan A xo o o xxo xxo 2.15 Q
19 Gian Marco Schivo   Italy A o o xo o xxo xxo 2.15 Q
20 Chris Dunn   United States A o o xxx 2.12
21 Roman Moravec   Czechoslovakia A o o o o xxx 2.12
22 Ron Jourdan   United States A o o o o o xxx 2.12
23 Petar Bogdanov   Bulgaria A o o o xo xxx 2.12
24 Ingomar Sieghart   West Germany B o o o xo xo xxx 2.12
25 Teymour Ghiassi   Iran B o o o xxo xxx 2.12
26 Ioannis Kousoulas   Greece B o o o xxo xxo xxx 2.12
27 József Tihanyi   Hungary A o o o xxx 2.09
28 Rick Cuttell   Canada B xo xo o xxx 2.09
29 Jaroslav Alexa   Czechoslovakia A o o xo xxx 2.09
30 Michel Patry   Switzerland B o xo o xo xxx 2.09
31 Kuniyoshi Sugioka   Japan B o o xxx 2.06
32 Park Sang-su   South Korea B o o xxx 2.00
33 Noor Azhar Hamid   Singapore B o o o xxx 2.00
Abdullah Noor Wasughe   Somalia B o o o xxx 2.00
35 Ahmed Senoussi   Chad B xo xxx 2.00
36 Luis Barrionuevo   Argentina B o xxx 1.90
Sitha Sin   Khmer Republic B o xxx 1.90
Daniel Mkandawire   Malawi B o xxx 1.90
39 Hamadou Evelé   Cameroon B xo xxx 1.90
40 Suresh Babu   India B xxo xxx 1.90
Leif Falkum   Norway B DNS
Irolan Hechavarria   Cuba B DNS
Bogusław Białek   Poland B DNS

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation 2.00 2.05 2.10 2.15 2.18 2.21 2.23 2.26 Height
  Jüri Tarmak   Soviet Union o o o xo xo xxx 2.23
  Stefan Junge   East Germany xo o o o xo xxx 2.21
  Dwight Stones   United States o o o xxo xxx 2.21
4 Hermann Magerl   West Germany o o xo o xxx 2.18
5 Ádám Szepesi   Hungary o o o o xxo xxx 2.18
6 John Beers   Canada o o o xxx 2.15
István Major   Hungary o o o xxx 2.15
8 Rustam Akhmetov   Soviet Union o o o o xxx 2.15
9 John Hawkins   Canada o xo o xxx 2.15
10 Enzo Del Forno   Italy o o o xo xxx 2.15
11 Jan Dahlgren   Sweden o xo xo xxx 2.15
12 Vasilios Papadimitriou   Greece o o xxo xxx 2.15
Kęstutis Šapka   Soviet Union o o xxo xxx 2.15
14 Bernard Gauthier   France o o xo xxo xxx 2.15
15 Henry Elliott   France o xxx 2.10
16 Șerban Ioan   Romania o o xxx 2.10
17 Gian Marco Schivo   Italy o xo xxx 2.10
18 Lawrie Peckham   Australia o o xo xxx 2.10
19 Hidehiko Tomizawa   Japan xo o xxx 2.05

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's High Jump". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "High Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 3, p. 59.
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