1972 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 400 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	400 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	64 athletes from 49 countries
Competition location	Olympic Stadium Munich
Competition phase	September 3, 1972 (preliminary) September 4, 1972 (quarter-finals / semi-finals) September 7, 1972 (final)
Medalist Vince Matthews ( USA )   Wayne Collett ( USA )   Julius Sang ( KEN )

The men's 400-meter run at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich was held on September 3rd, 4th and 7th, 1972 in the Munich Olympic Stadium. 64 athletes took part.

The American Vince Matthews became Olympic champion . He won ahead of his compatriot Wayne Collett and the Kenyan Julius Sang .

For the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany - Georg Nückles , Karl Honz and Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske started . All three runners qualified for the semifinals. Here Nückles was eliminated. In the final, Schlöske was fifth and Honz seventh.
Runners from the GDR, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Existing records

World record	43.86 s	Lee Evans ( USA )	Mexico City , Mexico	October 18, 1968
Olympic record			Mexico City Final , Mexico

Conducting the competition

The athletes competed in nine heats on September 3. The four best runners and the four fastest runners below made it to the quarter-finals on September 4th. From this, the first three runners and the following fastest qualified for the semi-finals on the same day. From the two preliminary rounds, the four best runners reached the final, which took place on September 7th. The long period between the semi-finals and the final was due to the Munich Olympic attack on September 5th, which also messed up the schedule.

Time schedule

September 3, 4:00 p.m .: Preliminaries
September 4, 11:35 a.m .: Quarter-finals
September 4, 5:15 p.m .: Semi-finals
September 5, 5:30 p.m .: Final

The directly qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue, the others in light green.

Preliminary round

Date: September 3, 1972, from 4 p.m.

Forward 1

Andrzej Badeński from Poland

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Andrzej Badeński	Poland	46.21 s
2	Charles Joseph	Trinidad and Tobago	46.38 s
3	Mulugetta Tadesse	Ethiopia	46.38 s
4th	Wickremasinghe Wimaladasa	Ceylon	46.62 s
5	Bjarni Stefánsson	Iceland	46.76 s
6th	Josip Alebić	Yugoslavia	47.01 s
7th	Silver Ayoo	Uganda	47.04 s
8th	Nutrat Iqbal Sahi	Pakistan	49.57 s

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	David Jenkins	Great Britain	46.15 s
2	Not so Faager	Sweden	46.29 s
3	Munyoro Nyamau	Kenya	46.33 s
4th	Omar Ghizlat	Morocco	46.37 s
5	Bruce Ijirighwo	Nigeria	46.59 s
6th	Samuela Yavala	Fiji	47.76 s
7th	Théophile Nkounkou	People's Republic of the Congo	47.86 s
8th	Francisco Menocal	Nicaragua	50.96 s

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Georg Nückles	BR Germany	46.64 s
2	Yoshiharu Tomonaga	Japan	47.01 s
3	Francis Kerbiriou	France	47.01 s
4th	Sam Bugri	Ghana	47.83 s
5	Thomas N'Ma	Liberia	49.73 s
6th	Jean-Max Faustin	Haiti	52.33 s
DNS	Marcello Fiasconaro	Italy
	Michael Frederiksson	Sweden

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Alberto Juantorena	Cuba	45.94 s
2	Wayne Collett	United States	46.00 s
3	Claver Kamanya	Tanzania	46.18 s
4th	Gilles Bertould	France	46.36 s
5	Eric Phillips	Venezuela	46.74 s
6th	Pedro Ferrer Andino	Puerto Rico	47.90 s
7th	Nicodemus Maipampe	Zambia	48.84 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Tegegne Bezabeh	Ethiopia	45.88 s
2	Vince Matthews	United States	45.94 s
3	Angelo Hussein	Sudan	47.01 s
4th	Robert Ojo	Nigeria	47.03 s
5	Fanahan McSweeney	Ireland	47.07 s
6th	Fernando Silva	Portugal	47.67 s
7th	Kassem Hamzé	Lebanon	49.20 s

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Charles Asati	Kenya	45.16 s
2	Leighton Priestley	Jamaica	45.75 s
3	Fernando Acevedo	Peru	45.80 s
4th	Jan Werner	Poland	45.93 s
5	Gary Armstrong	Great Britain	46.48 s
6th	Francisco Rojas	Paraguay	47.46 s
7th	Brian MacLaren	Canada	47.65 s
DNS	Caspar Springer	Barbados

Forward 7

Ibrahima Idrissou was the first athlete to take part in the Olympic Games for the Republic of Dahomey (now Benin ).

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Julius Sang	Kenya	45.24 s
2	Martin Reynolds	Great Britain	46.46 s
3	Roger Velasquez	France	46.70 s
4th	Karl Honz	BR Germany	46.77 s
5	Franklin Rahming	Bahamas	48.30 s
6th	Ibrahima Idrissou	Dahomey	48.50 s
7th	William Msiska	Malawi	48.81 s

Forward 8

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske	BR Germany	45.27 s
2	John Smith	United States	46.00 s
3	Kyriakos Onisiforou	Greece	46.94 s
4th	Reza Entezari	Iran	47.89 s
5	Mohammed Saad Mubarak	Kuwait	49.61 s
6th	Mohamed Jaman Al-Dosari	Saudi Arabia	49.67 s
DNS	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia

Forward 9

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Markku Kukkoaho	Finland	46.05 s
2	Zbigniew Jaremski	Poland	46.20 s
3	Arthur Cooper	Trinidad and Tobago	47.15 s
4th	Amadou Gakou	Senegal	47.68 s
5	Tambusamy Krishnan	Malaysia	48.31 s
6th	Frédérique Andrianaivo	Madagascar	48.72 s
7th	Savin Chem	Khmer Republic	48.82 s
DNS	Jimmy Sierra	Colombia

Quarter finals

Date: September 4, 1972, from 11.35 a.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Wayne Collett	United States	45.80 s
2	Alberto Juantorena	Cuba	45.96 s
3	Jan Werner	Poland	46.02 s
4th	Martin Reynolds	Great Britain	46.11 s
5	Charles Joseph	Trinidad and Tobago	46.14 s
6th	Robert Ojo	Nigeria	46.73 s
7th	Omar Ghizlat	Morocco	46.84 s
8th	Sam Bugri	Ghana	47.34 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske	BR Germany	45.41 s
2	Vince Matthews	United States	45.62 s
3	Tegegne Bezabeh	Ethiopia	45.97 s
4th	Gilles Bertould	France	46.14 s
5	Wickremasinghe Wimaladasa	Ceylon	46.50 s
6th	Leighton Priestley	Jamaica	47.76 s
7th	Arthur Cooper	Trinidad and Tobago	48.29 s
8th	Reza Entezari	Iran	48.69 s

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	David Jenkins	Great Britain	45.99 s
2	John Smith	United States	46.04 s
3	Markku Kukkoaho	Finland	46.11 s
4th	Munyoro Nyamau	Kenya	46.80 s
5	Bruce Ijirighwo	Nigeria	46.81 s
6th	Roger Velasquez	France	46.91 s
7th	Amadou Gakou	Senegal	46.96 s
8th	Angelo Hussein	Sudan	47.33 s

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Karl Honz	BR Germany	45.87 s
2	Julius Sang	Kenya	45.92 s
3	Zbigniew Jaremski	Poland	46.52 s
4th	Not so Faager	Sweden	46.54 s
5	Francis Kerbiriou	France	46.63 s
6th	Yoshiharu Tomonaga	Japan	46.92 s
7th	Gary Armstrong	Great Britain	47.10 s
8th	Kyriakos Onisiforou	Greece	47.22 s

Run 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Charles Asati	Kenya	46.04 s
2	Andrzej Badeński	Poland	46.19 s
3	Georg Nückles	BR Germany	46.30 s
4th	Claver Kamanya	Tanzania	46.55 s
5	Mulugetta Tadesse	Ethiopia	46.85 s
6th	Bjarni Stefánsson	Iceland	46.92 s
7th	Eric Phillips	Venezuela	46.97 s
DNS	Fernando Acevedo	Peru

Semifinals

Date: September 4, 1972, from 5.15 p.m.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Vince Matthews	United States	44.94 s
2	Karl Honz	BR Germany	45.32 s
3	John Smith	United States	45.46 s
4th	Charles Asati	Kenya	45.47 s
5	David Jenkins	Great Britain	45.91 s
6th	Tegegne Bezabeh	Ethiopia	45.98 s
7th	Georg Nückles	BR Germany	46.28 s
8th	Andrzej Badeński	Poland	46.38 s

Run 2

Zbigniew Jaremski from Poland, qualified for the semifinals , did not appear.

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Julius Sang	Kenya	45.30 s
2	Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske	BR Germany	45.62 s
3	Wayne Collett	United States	45.77 s
4th	Markku Kukkoaho	Finland	46.02 s
5	Alberto Juantorena	Cuba	46.07 s
6th	Jan Werner	Poland	46.26 s
7th	Martin Reynolds	Great Britain	46.71 s
DNS	Zbigniew Jaremski	Poland

final

Olympic champion Vince Matthews from the USA

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Vince Matthews	United States	44.66 s
2	Wayne Collett	United States	44.80 s
3	Julius Sang	Kenya	44.92 s
4th	Charles Asati	Kenya	45.13 s
5	Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske	BR Germany	45.31 s
6th	Markku Kukkoaho	Finland	45.49 s
7th	Karl Honz	BR Germany	45.68 s
DNF	John Smith	United States

Date: September 7, 1972, 5:30 p.m.

The US sprinter John Smith was the favorite. However, he was injured in the final and had to stop the race after a few meters. Other medal candidates were the two Americans Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett. The German Karl Honz, who had run a European record of 44.70 seconds at the German Championships a few weeks earlier , was also one of the favorites.
Matthews, four years ago starting runner of the US 4 x 400 meter relay , took the lead early and was able to withstand the attacks of his compatriot Collett to the finish. With his bronze medal, the Kenyan Julius Sang succeeded in winning the first medal for a black African sprinter . Fourth and fifth place went to Sang's compatriot Charles Asati and the German Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske, previously only sixth in the German championships, who could actually only start because the German runners placed in front of him at the state championships are spared for the relay and therefore not on exhausting individual run should participate. Karl Honz no longer had the form from the European record run and came in seventh.
There was a scandal at the award ceremony. During the ceremony, Collett joined his teammate on the top podium. Both were barefoot and had their training jackets open. They talked during the hymn. Both stood sideways, facing away from the flags, paying no attention to the anthem. The audience responded with whistles and boos. As he walked to the cabins, Collett held up a clenched fist while Matthews tossed his medal on the ribbon. The IOC responded by banning the two athletes from the 4-by-400-meter relay. A letter to the President of the United States Olympic Committee , Clifford Chuck, criticized the two athletes' behavior. The allegation was that Matthews and Collett violated Section 26, Article 1 of the Olympic Charter with their behavior. The medals and the placements were not withheld or canceled, however.

Due to the suspension of Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett and John Smith's injury, the US team could not nominate a team for the 4-by-400-meter relay race, which was carried out on September 9 and 10.

literature

• Werner Schneider / Sport-Informations-Dienst / Bertelsmann Sportredaktion, The Olympic Games 1972. Munich - Kiel - Sapporo, Bertelsmann-Verlag, Munich, Gütersloh, Vienna 1972, ISBN 3-570-04559-5 , p. 30

Video

• Munich 1972, VINCE MATTHEWS, 400m men amateur footage on YouTube , published on July 8, 2016, accessed on November 18, 2017

Web links

• SportsReference 400m , accessed November 18, 2017
• Official report, Volume 3 "The competitions" , p. 50, English / French / German (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on November 18, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 Page 548 (Engl.) ( Memento of 29 June 2011 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 18, 2017
2. ↑ Official Report, Volume 3 "The competitions" ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 43, English / French / German (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on November 18, 2017 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Official Report, Volume 3 "The competitions" ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 50, English / French / German (PDF, 28 MB), accessed on November 18, 2017 
4. ↑ SportsReference , accessed November 18, 2017
5. ↑ Article in Milwaukee Journal of September 8, 1972 , accessed November 18, 2017