The men's 400 metres hurdles was an event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The competition was held on 31 August - 2 September. There were 37 competitors from 25 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by John Akii-Bua of Uganda, the nation's first medal in the event and first gold medal in any Olympic event. Ralph Mann returned the United States to the podium after a one-Games absence with his silver medal, while David Hemery added a bronze to his 1968 gold to become the fifth man (and first non-American) to earn multiple medals in the event while extending Great Britain's podium streak in the 400 metres hurdles to three Games.

Background

This was the 15th time the event was held. It had been introduced along with the men's 200 metres hurdles in 1900, with the 200 being dropped after 1904 and the 400 being held through 1908 before being left off the 1912 programme. However, when the Olympics returned in 1920 after World War I, the men's 400 metres hurdles was back and would continue to be contested at every Games thereafter.

Four of the eight finalists from the 1968 Games returned: gold medalist David Hemery and bronze medalist John Sherwood of Great Britain, seventh-place finisher Rainer Schubert of West Germany, and eighth-place finisher Roberto Frinolli of Italy. Hemery was one of the favorites, along with Ralph Mann of the United States, who had won the American championship from 1969 to 1971 as well as the U.S. trials. Uganda's John Akii-Bua had run the fastest time in 1971, but had little competitive experience.

Madagascar, Nigeria, and Spain each made their debut in the event; East Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 15th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every edition of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition used the three-round format used every Games since 1908 (except the four-round competition in 1952): quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. Ten sets of hurdles were set on the course. The hurdles were 3 feet (91.5 centimetres) tall and were placed 35 metres apart beginning 45 metres from the starting line, resulting in a 40 metres home stretch after the last hurdle. The 400 metres track was standard.

There were 5 quarterfinal heats with 7 or 8 athletes each. The top 3 men in each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals, along with the next fastest hurdler overall. The 16 semifinalists were divided into 2 semifinals of 8 athletes each, with the top 4 in each semifinal advancing to the 8-man final.

Records

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

John Akii-Bua was the first to run the event in under 48 seconds, setting a new world record in the final with a time of 47.82 seconds.

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round Thursday, 31 August 1972 10:00 Quarterfinals Friday, 1 September 1972 14:30 Semifinals Saturday, 2 September 1972 16:15 Final

Results

Quarterfinals

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

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Dieter Büttner 49.78 2 Viktor Savchenko 49.90 3 Jean-Pierre Corval 50.15 4 Tadeusz Kulczycki 50.19 5 Manuel Soriano 50.88 6 Fatwell Kimaiyo 51.23 7 Roberto Frinolli 51.69 8 Jean-Aimé Randrianalijaona 52.75

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 David Hemery 49.72 2 Gary Knoke 50.10 3 Yuriy Zorin 50.35 4 Bill Koskei 50.58 5 Giorgio Ballati 50.90 6 José Jacinto Hidalgo 54.00 7 Norman Brinkworth 54.67

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Christian Rudolph 50.00 2 Ralph Mann 50.18 3 Rainer Schubert 50.23 4 Ari Salin 50.45 5 Jean-Pierre Perrinelle 51.81 6 José Carvalho 52.64 7 Hassan Bergaoui 53.70

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Akii-Bua 50.35 2 Stavros Tziortzis 50.54 3 Ivan Daniš 50.62 4 Bruce Field 51.46 5 Hansjörg Wirz 52.34 6 Dick Bruggeman 54.36 7 Julio Ferrer 54.83 — Francisco Rojas Soto

Quarterfinal 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Yevgeny Gavrilenko 49.73 2 Jim Seymour 49.81 3 Rolf Ziegler 50.17 4 Roger Johnson 50.48 5 Mike Murei 51.63 6 Lee Chung-Ping 52.61 7 Gladstone Agbamu 53.68 — John Sherwood

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Akii-Bua 49.25 2 Ralph Mann 49.53 3 David Hemery 49.66 4 Rainer Schubert 49.80 5 Rolf Ziegler 49.88 6 Ivan Daniš 50.01 7 Viktor Savchenko 50.28 8 Jean-Pierre Corval 50.75

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jim Seymour 49.33 2 Yevgeny Gavrilenko 49.34 3 Yuriy Zorin 49.60 4 Stavros Tziortzis 50.06 5 Tadeusz Kulczycki 50.80 6 Gary Knoke 52.79 — Christian Rudolph Dieter Büttner

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Akii-Bua 47.82 6 Ralph Mann 48.51 5 David Hemery 48.52 4 4 Jim Seymour 48.64 5 7 Rainer Schubert 49.65 6 2 Yevgeny Gavrilenko 49.66 8 Stavros Tziortzis 49.66 8 3 Yuriy Zorin 50.25

Results summary

Rank Athlete Nation Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Notes John Akii-Bua 50.35 49.25 47.82 Ralph Mann 50.18 49.53 48.51 David Hemery 49.72 49.66 48.52 4 Jim Seymour 49.81 49.33 48.64 5 Rainer Schubert 50.23 49.80 49.65 6 Yevgeny Gavrilenko 49.73 49.34 49.66 Stavros Tziortzis 50.54 50.06 49.66 8 Yuriy Zorin 50.35 49.60 50.25 9 Rolf Ziegler 50.17 49.88 Did not advance 10 Ivan Daniš 50.62 50.01 11 Viktor Savchenko 49.90 50.28 12 Jean-Pierre Corval 50.15 50.75 13 Tadeusz Kulczycki 50.19 50.80 14 Gary Knoke 50.10 52.79 15 Christian Rudolph 50.00 Dieter Büttner 49.78 17 Ari Salin 50.45 Did not advance 18 Roger Johnson 50.48 19 Bill Koskei 50.58 20 Manuel Soriano 50.88 21 Giorgio Ballati 50.90 22 Fatwell Kimaiyo 51.23 23 Bruce Field 51.46 24 Mike Murei 51.63 25 Roberto Frinolli 51.69 26 Jean-Pierre Perrinelle 51.81 27 Hansjörg Wirz 52.34 28 Lee Chung-Ping 52.61 29 José Carvalho 52.64 30 Jean-Aimé Randrianalijaona 52.75 31 Gladstone Agbamu 53.68 32 Hassan Bergaoui 53.70 33 José Jacinto Hidalgo 54.00 34 Dick Bruggeman 54.36 35 Norman Brinkworth 54.67 36 Julio Ferrer 54.83 37 John Sherwood — Francisco Rojas Soto

References

External links Official report