Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

The men's marathon at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany was held on Sunday September 10, 1972. The race started at 15:00h local time. There were 74 competitors from 39 countries. Twelve of them did not finish.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Frank Shorter of the United States, the nation's first Olympic marathon victory since 1908 and third overall (matching France and Ethiopia for most golds in the event). Karel Lismont won Belgium's second medal in the marathon with his silver (after a bronze in 1948). Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia became only the second man, after his countryman Abebe Bikila, to win two medals in the marathon. Ethiopia's four-Games medal streak was matched only by Finland (1920–1932).

Men's marathon
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Olympic Stadium (2014)
VenueOlympiastadion, Munich
DateSeptember 10
Competitors74 from 39 nations
Winning time2:12:19
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Frank Shorter
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Karel Lismont
 Belgium
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Mamo Wolde
 Ethiopia
← 1968
1976 →

Summary

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Frank Shorter, who was born in Munich, became the first American in 64 years to win the Olympic marathon, moving into the lead at 15km and never being challenged.

Unfortunately, Shorter was not the first runner to enter the Olympic stadium, as West German student Norbert Südhaus had run onto the Olympic course wearing a West German track uniform, and ran the last kilometre, including a full lap of the stadium. Thinking that Südhaus was the winner, the crowd began cheering him before officials realized the hoax. Shorter arrived 35 seconds later, as Südhaus was being escorted off the track by security, and was perplexed to see someone ahead of him, and to hear the booing and jeering (meant for Südhaus).

This was the third time in Olympic history that an American had won the marathon, after Thomas Hicks in 1904 and Johnny Hayes in 1908, and in none of those three instances did the winner enter the stadium first: Hicks, like Shorter, was preceded by a hoaxer, whereas Hayes was declared the winner after Dorando Pietri of Italy was disqualified for receiving illegal assistance.

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 runners from the 1968 marathon included defending champion Mamo Wolde (who had also run in 1964, along with his brother Demissie Wolde, who returned in 1972 after not competing in 1968), silver medalist Kenji Kimihara of Japan, fourth-place finisher İsmail Akçay of Turkey, seventh-place finisher Derek Clayton of Australia, and ninth-place finisher Akio Usami of Japan. Frank Shorter of the United States was favored after winning the Pan-American and Fukuoka marathons.[2]

Bolivia, Haiti, North Korea, Malawi, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Swaziland each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its 17th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format and course

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As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a route created to resemble the mascot, Waldi. The course was arranged so that the head of the dog faced west, with athletes running counter-clockwise, starting at the back of the dog's neck and continuing around the ears. The mouth of the dog was represented by the path through the Nymphenburg Park, and its front feet were represented by the run through the Hirschgarten. The belly was the main downtown street in Munich, and its rear feet, rear end and tail were all in the English Garden, a parkland extending along the Isar River. The athletes continued along the back of the dog and entered the Olympic Stadium.[3]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics.

World record   Derek Clayton (AUS) 2:08:33.6 Antwerp, Belgium 30 May 1969
Olympic record   Abebe Bikila (ETH) 2:12:11.2 Tokyo, Japan 21 October 1964

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

Schedule

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All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

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

Results

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Rank Athlete Nation Time
  Frank Shorter   United States 2:12:19
  Karel Lismont   Belgium 2:14:31
  Mamo Wolde   Ethiopia 2:15:08
4 Kenny Moore   United States 2:15:39
5 Kenji Kimihara   Japan 2:16:27
6 Ron Hill   Great Britain 2:16:30
7 Donald MacGregor   Great Britain 2:16:34
8 Jack Foster   New Zealand 2:16:56
9 Jack Bacheler   United States 2:17:38
10 Lengissa Bedane   Ethiopia 2:18:36
11 Seppo Nikkari   Finland 2:18:49
12 Akio Usami   Japan 2:18:58
13 Derek Clayton   Australia 2:19:49
14 Yury Velikorodnykh   Soviet Union 2:20:02
15 Anatolijus Baranovas   Soviet Union 2:20:10
16 Paul Angenvoorth   West Germany 2:20:19
17 Richard Mabuza   Swaziland 2:20:39
18 Demissie Wolde   Ethiopia 2:20:44
19 Reino Paukkonen   Finland 2:21:06
20 Colin Kirkham   Great Britain 2:21:54
21 Antonio Brutti   Italy 2:22:12
22 Dave McKenzie   New Zealand 2:22:19
23 Daniel McDaid   Ireland 2:22:25
24 Renato Martini   Italy 2:22:41
25 Eckhard Lesse   East Germany 2:22:49
26 Jacinto Sabinal   Mexico 2:22:56
27 Gyula Tóth   Hungary 2:22:59
28 Fernand Kolbeck   France 2:23:01
29 Hernán Barreneche   Colombia 2:23:40
30 Jørgen Jensen   Denmark 2:24:00
31 Manfred Steffny   West Germany 2:24:25
32 Lutz Philipp   West Germany 2:24:25
33 Ferenc Szekeres   Hungary 2:25:17
34 Terry Manners   New Zealand 2:25:29
35 Ihor Shcherbak   Soviet Union 2:25:37
36 Yoshiaki Unetani   Japan 2:25:59
37 Kim Chang-son   North Korea 2:26:45
38 Franco De Menego   Italy 2:26:52
39 Agustín Fernández   Spain 2:27:14
40 Edward Stawiarz   Poland 2:28:12
41 Armando Aldegalega   Portugal 2:28:24
42 Desmond McGann   Ireland 2:28:31
43 Carlos Cuque   Guatemala 2:28:37
44 Alfons Sidler   Switzerland 2:29:09
45 Alfredo Penaloza   Mexico 2:29:51
46 Walter Van Renterghem   Belgium 2:29:58
47 Donald Walsh   Ireland 2:31:12
48 Álvaro Mejía   Colombia 2:31:56
49 Ryu Man-hyong   North Korea 2:32:29
50 Carlos Pérez   Spain 2:33:22
51 Rafael Tadeo   Mexico 2:35:48
52 Víctor Mora   Colombia 2:37:34
53 Fernando Molina   Argentina 2:38:18
54 Julio Quevedo   Guatemala 2:40:38
55 Ramón Cabrera   Argentina 2:42:37
56 Matthews Kambale   Malawi 2:45:50
57 Hla Thein   Burma 2:48:53
58 Ricardo Condori   Bolivia 2:56:11
59 Fulgence Rwabu   Uganda 2:57:04
60 Bhakta Bahadur Sapkota   Nepal 2:57:58
61 Crispin Quispe   Bolivia 3:07:22
62 Maurice Charlotin   Haiti 3:29:21
Gaston Roelants   Belgium DNF
Rodolfo Gómez   Nicaragua DNF
İsmail Akçay   Turkey DNF
Nazario Araújo   Argentina DNF
Juvenal Rocha   Bolivia DNF
Pekka Tiihonen   Finland DNF
Richard Juma   Kenya DNF
Jama Awil Aden   Somalia DNF
Lucien Rosa   Ceylon DNF
Shag Musa Medani   Sudan DNF
Julius Wakachu   Tanzania DNF
Jit Bahadur Khatri Chhetri   Nepal DNF
Hüseyin Aktaş   Turkey DNS
Josef Jánský   Czechoslovakia DNS

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's Marathon". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  2. ^ "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  3. ^ Martin, David; Gynn, Roger (2000). The Olympic Marathon. Human Kinetics. p. 281. ISBN 978-0-88011-969-6.
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