Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 110 metres hurdles

The men's 110 metres hurdles event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich was held from 3–7 September.[1] Thirty-nine athletes from 27 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Rod Milburn of the United States, the nation's ninth of nine consecutive victories and the 15th overall gold medal in the event for the Americans. Guy Drut's silver was France's first medal in the event and the best result by a non-American since 1936.

Men's 110 metres hurdles
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Umm al-Quwain stamp commemorating Milburn's gold medal
VenueOlympic Stadium, Munich, West Germany
Dates3–7 September 1972
Competitors39 from 27 nations
Winning time13.24 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Rod Milburn
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Guy Drut
 France
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Tom Hill
 United States
← 1968
1976 →

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. Two finalists from 1968 returned: gold medalist Willie Davenport of the United States and sixth-place finisher Bo Forssander of Sweden. Davenport's countryman Rod Milburn was the "heavy favorite" entering the season, however. He had won 27 consecutive finals and set the world record in the 120 yards version of the race going into the U.S. Olympic trials, where he hit two early hurdles and nearly missed the team, coming in third to Tom Hill and Davenport.[2]

The Bahamas and Senegal each made their first appearance in the event; East Germany made its first appearance as a separate nation. The United States made its 17th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the 110 metres hurdles in each Games to that point.

Competition format

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The competition continued to use the three-round format used since 1908 (except 1960, which had four rounds) and eight-man semifinals and finals, as well as the "fastest loser" system, used since 1964. The first round consisted of five heats, with 7 or 8 hurdlers each. The top three hurdlers in each heat, along with the next fastest overall, advanced to the semifinals. The 16 semifinalists were divided into two semifinals of 8 hurdlers each; the top four hurdlers in each advanced to the 8-man final.[2][3]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics.

World record   Martin Lauer (FRG) 13.2 Zürich, Switzerland 7 July 1959
Olympic record   Ervin Hall (USA) 13.3 Mexico City, Mexico 17 October 1968

In the final, Rod Milburn ran the hurdles in 13.24 seconds. This was recognized as equivalent to the standing hand-timed world record of 13.2 seconds, and was a new Olympic record. When the IAAF moved to keeping records based on auto-timed results in 1977, Milburn's performance was the best to that date and was recognized as the world record.

Schedule

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All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

All three rounds were on separate days for the first time.

Date Time Round
Sunday, 3 September 1972 10:00 Round 1
Monday, 4 September 1972 15:00 Semifinals
Thursday, 7 September 1972 15:00 Final

Results

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Round 1

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The top three runners in each of the five heats, and the next fastest, advanced to the semifinal round.

Heat 1

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 3 Frank Siebeck   East Germany 13.83 Q
2 7 Willie Davenport   United States 13.97 Q
3 4 Leszek Wodzyński   Poland 14.03 Q
4 5 Eckart Berkes   West Germany 14.14
5 8 Adeola Aboyade-Cole   Nigeria 14.16
6 1 Arnaldo Bristol   Puerto Rico 14.61
7 6 Ahmed Ishtiaq Mubarak   Malaysia 14.78
8 2 Muhammad Ahmed Bashir   Pakistan 15.38
Wind: +0.2 m/s

Heat 2

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 4 Tom Hill   United States 13.62 Q
2 5 Berwyn Price   Great Britain 13.94 Q
3 1 Günther Nickel   West Germany 13.95 Q
4 2 Mirosław Wodzyński   Poland 14.02 q
5 7 Viktor Myasnikov   Soviet Union 14.13
6 8 Bo Forssander   Sweden 14.56
7 3 Alberto Matos   Portugal 14.74
8 6 Lee Chung-Ping   Republic of China 14.98
Wind: -1.6 m/s

Heat 3

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 4 Rod Milburn   United States 13.57 Q
2 3 Lubomír Nádeníček   Czechoslovakia 13.93 Q
3 8 Rich McDonald   Canada 14.36 Q
4 7 Danny Smith   Bahamas 14.46
5 1 Jesper Tørring   Denmark 14.50
6 5 Mal Baird   Australia 14.55
7 2 Simbara Maki   Ivory Coast 14.59
6 Giuseppe Buttari   Italy DSQ
Wind: -0.7 m/s

Heat 4

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 5 Marco Acerbi   Italy 13.99 Q
2 6 Marek Jóźwik   Poland 14.06 Q
3 3 Alan Pascoe   Great Britain 14.08 Q
4 1 Abdoulaye Sarr   Senegal 14.12
5 4 Manfred Schumann   West Germany 14.13
6 8 Beat Pfister   Switzerland 14.33
7 7 Moreldin Mohamed Hamdi   Sudan 15.80
2 Alejandro Casañas   Cuba DNF
Wind: +0.4 m/s

Heat 5

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 5 Guy Drut   France 13.78 Q
2 7 Sergio Liani   Italy 13.95 Q
3 4 Petr Čech   Czechoslovakia 14.04 Q
4 2 Godfrey Murray   Jamaica 14.16
5 6 Loránd Milassin   Hungary 14.21
6 1 David Wilson   Great Britain 14.31
7 3 Tony Nelson   Canada 14.73
Wind: +0.7 m/s

Semifinals

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The top four in each of the two heats advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 7 Tom Hill   United States 13.47 Q
2 5 Guy Drut   France 13.49 Q
3 6 Leszek Wodzyński   Poland 13.81 Q
4 8 Petr Čech   Czechoslovakia 13.82 Q
5 4 Sergio Liani   Italy 13.90
6 3 Rich McDonald   Canada 14.22
7 2 Berwyn Price   Great Britain 14.37
8 1 Mirosław Wodzyński   Poland 14.63
Wind: +1.2 m/s

Semifinal 2

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 5 Rod Milburn   United States 13.44 Q
2 8 Frank Siebeck   East Germany 13.58 Q
3 7 Willie Davenport   United States 13.73 Q
4 1 Lubomír Nádeníček   Czechoslovakia 13.89 Q
5 6 Marek Jóźwik   Poland 14.06
6 3 Günther Nickel   West Germany 14.23
7 2 Alan Pascoe   Great Britain 14.24
8 4 Marco Acerbi   Italy 14.45
Wind: +0.0 m/s

Final

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Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes
  5 Rod Milburn   United States 13.24 WR,[4] OR
  8 Guy Drut   France 13.34
  7 Tom Hill   United States 13.48
4 1 Willie Davenport   United States 13.50
5 6 Frank Siebeck   East Germany 13.71
6 3 Leszek Wodzyński   Poland 13.72
7 2 Lubomír Nádeníček   Czechoslovakia 13.76
8 4 Petr Čech   Czechoslovakia 13.86
Wind: +0.3 m/s

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's 110 metres Hurdles". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b "110 metres Hurdles, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 3, pp. 53–54.
  4. ^ Milburn's auto-time result of 13.24 seconds was recognized at the time as equivalent to the hand-timed world record of 13.2 seconds; it was also the best auto-timed result and the inaugural world record for auto-timed results when the IAAF switched from hand-timed records to auto-timed records in 1977.
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