Athletics at the 1972 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games
Host City: München, West Germany
Venue(s): Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park, München
Date Started: September 2, 1972
Date Finished: September 3, 1972
Format: Scoring by 1962/1971 point tables.
| Gold: | Mary Peters |
| Silver: | Heide Rosendahl |
| Bronze: | Burglinde Pollak |
At the 1971 European Championships, Heide Rosendahl had narrowly defeated Burglinde Pollak by 24 points, and they were the two favorites in München. In the second event, Mary Peters of Northern Ireland had the longest shot put (16.20) and moved into the lead. She also led the high jump with 1.82 (5-11½) and had a big lead after day one with Pollan second, while Rosendahl was in fifth place. The second day started with the long jump, and Rosendahl, who had won the individual long jump, led with a superb 6.83 (22-5) effort, but she was still over 100 points down to Peters. Rosendahl was also a good sprinter, and he 22.96 allowed her set a “world record” of 4,791 points, but Peters crossed the line 1.12 seconds later and bettered that mark with 4,801 points to win the gold medal.
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | P(1971AT) | P(1985AT) | EWT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mary Peters | 33 | Great Britain | GBR | Gold | 4.801 | 4.841 | WR | |
| 2 | Heide Rosendahl | 25 | West Germany | FRG | Silver | 4.791 | 4.852 | ||
| 3 | Burglinde Pollak | 21 | East Germany | GDR | Bronze | 4.768 | 4.807 | ||
| 4 | Christine Bodner-Laser | 21 | East Germany | GDR | 4.671 | 4.699 | |||
| 5 | Valentina Tikhomirova | 31 | Soviet Union | URS | 4.597 | 4.604 | |||
| 6 | Nedyalka Angelova | 23 | Bulgaria | BUL | 4.496 | 4.497 | |||
| 7 | Karen Mack | 24 | West Germany | FRG | 4.449 | 4.441 | |||
| 8 | Ilona Bruzsenyák | 21 | Hungary | HUN | 4.419 | 4.403 | |||
| 9 | Nadiya Tkachenko | 23 | Soviet Union | URS | 4.370 | 4.347 | |||
| 10 | Diane Jones | 21 | Canada | CAN | 4.349 | 4.318 | |||
| 11 | Ðurđa Fočić | 24 | Yugoslavia | YUG | 4.332 | 4.291 | |||
| 12 | Margot Eppinger | 20 | West Germany | FRG | 4.313 | 4.272 | |||
| 13 | Ann Wilson | 22 | Great Britain | GBR | 4.279 | 4.260 | 3-2 | ||
| 14 | Modupe Oshikoya | 18 | Nigeria | NGR | 4.279 | 4.260 | 2-3 | ||
| 15 | Debbie Van Kiekebelt | 18 | Canada | CAN | 4.272 | 4.224 | |||
| 16 | Lyn Tillett | 19 | Australia | AUS | 4.258 | 4.237 | |||
| 17 | Marie-Christine Debourse | 20 | France | FRA | 4.239 | 4.191 | |||
| 18 | Monika Peikert | 20 | East Germany | GDR | 4.232 | 4.192 | |||
| 19 | Gale Fitzgerald | 21 | United States | USA | 4.206 | 4.144 | |||
| 20 | Elena Vintilă | 26 | Romania | ROU | 4.199 | 4.174 | |||
| 21 | Jane Frederick | 20 | United States | USA | 4.167 | 4.095 | |||
| 22 | Odette Ducas | 31 | France | FRA | 4.101 | 4.045 | |||
| 23 | Margit Papp | 24 | Hungary | HUN | 4.074 | 3.997 | |||
| 24 | Edith Noeding | 17 | Peru | PER | 3.870 | 3.751 | |||
| 25 | Lucía Vaamonde | 22 | Venezuela | VEN | 3.794 | 3.685 | |||
| 26 | Kathrin Lardi | 29 | Switzerland | SUI | 3.788 | 3.667 | |||
| 27 | Margaret Murphy | 27 | Ireland | IRL | 3.770 | 3.652 | |||
| 28 | Lin Chun-Yu | 22 | Chinese Taipei | TPE | 3.676 | 3.535 | |||
| AC | Liese Sykora-Prokop | 31 | Austria | AUT | DNF | ||||
| AC | Gladys Chai | 19 | Malaysia | MAS | DNF |