The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 371 competitors, 298 men and 73 women, took part in 180 events in 22 sports.
The Soviet Union won 50 gold medals in the year, when the fiftieth anniversary of the USSR's founding was celebrated in the country. That fact pleased the Soviet authorities.
Medalists
The USSR finished first in the final medal rankings, with 50 gold and 99 total medals.
Gold
Basketball
- Alzhan Zharmukhamedov, Zurab Sakandelidze, Gennady Volnov, Ivan Yedeshko, Sergei Kovalenko, Modestas Paulauskas, Anatoly Polivoda, Ivan Dvornyi, Mikheil Korkia, Aleksandr Belov, Sergey Belov and Aleksandr Boloshev â men's team competition.
Boxing
Canoeing
Cycling
Diving
Equestrian
Fencing
Gymnastics
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Rowing
Men's single sculls â 1st place ( gold medal)
Men's double sculls â 1st place ( gold medal)
Sailing
Shooting
Volleyball
- Nina Smoleyeva, Tatyana Tretyakova-Ponyaeva, Lyubov Tyurina, Inna Ryskal, Roza Salikhova, Tatyana Sarycheva, Tatyana Gonobobleva, Natalya Kudreva, Galina Leontyeva, Lyudmila Borozna, Lyudmila Buldakova and Vera Duyunova-Galushka â women's team competition
Water polo
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Silver
Equestrian
Fencing
Gymnastics
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Shooting
Swimming
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Bronze
Athletics
Cycling
Fencing
Football (soccer)
- Gennady Yevryuzhikhin, Oganes Zanazanyan, Vyacheslav Semyonov, Andrei Yakubik, Yury Yeliseyev, Vladimir Pilguy, Yevgeny Rudakov, Yozhef Sabo, Yevgeny Lovchev, Sergei Olshansky, Vladimir Onishchenko, Viktor Kolotov, Anatoly Kuksov, Yury Istomin, Vladimir Kaplichnyi, Murtaz Khurtsilava, Arkady Andriasyan, Oleg Blokhin and Revaz Dzodzuashvili â men's team competition
Gymnastics
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Sailing
Shooting
Swimming
Volleyball
- Aleksandr Saprykin, Yury Starunsky, Leonid Zayko, Vladimir Patkin, Yury Poyarkov, Vladimir Putyatov, Vladimir Kondra, Valery Kravchenko, Yevgeny Lapinsky, Viktor Borshch, Yefim Chulak and Vyatcheslav Domanyi â men's team competition
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Results by event
Archery
Women's individual competition:
Men's individual competition:
Athletics
Men's 100 metres
* First heat â 10.51s (â did not advance)
Men's 800 metres
* Heat â 1:48.3
* Semifinals â 1:46.3
* Final â 1:45.9
* Heat â 1:51.0
* Semifinals â 1:49.6 (â did not advance)
* Heat â 1:48.6
* Semifinals â 1:50.1 (â did not advance)
Men's 1,500 metres
* Heat â 3:42.3
* Semifinals â 3:41.6
* Final â 3:40.2 (â 8th place)
* Heat â DNS (â did not advance)
* Heat â 3:42.3 (â did not advance)
Men's 5000 metres
* Heat â 13:57.6 (â did not advance)
* Heat â 14:08.6 (â did not advance)
Men's 4 ÃÂ 100 m relay
* Heat â 39.15s
* Semifinals â 39.00s
* Final â 38.50s (â Silver medal)
Men's high jump
* Qualifying round â 2.15m
* Final â 2.23m (â Gold medal)
* Qualifying round â 2.15m
* Final â 2.15m (â 8th place)
* Qualifying round â 2.15m
* Final â 2.15m (â 12th place)
Women's javelin throw
* Qualifying round â 55.90 m
* Final â 56.36 m (â 8th place)
Basketball
Men's team competition
- Preliminary round (group B)
* Defeated Senegal (94âÂÂ52)
* Defeated West Germany (87âÂÂ63)
* Defeated Italy (79âÂÂ66)
* Defeated Poland (94âÂÂ64)
* Defeated Puerto Rico (100âÂÂ87)
* Defeated Philippines (111âÂÂ80)
* Defeated Yugoslavia (74âÂÂ67)
* Defeated Cuba (67âÂÂ60)
* Defeated United States (51âÂÂ50) â Gold medal
Boxing
Men's light middleweight (â 71 kg)
* First round â bye
* Second round â defeated Reggie Jones (USA), 3:2
* Third round â lost to Alan Minter (GBR), 0:5
Men's heavyweight (+ 81 kg)
* First round â lost to Duane Bobick (USA), 0:5
Canoeing
Cycling
Fifteen cyclists represented the Soviet Union in 1972.
Individual road race
Team time trial
Sprint
1000m time trial
* Final â 1:07.73 (â 8th place)
Tandem
Team pursuit
Diving
Men's 3m springboard
Men's 10m platform
Women's 3m springboard
Women's 10m platform
- Alla Seiina â 314.76 points (10th place)
- Natalia Kuznecova â 184.02 points (13th place)
- Tatjana Shtyreva â 177.33 points (19th place)
Equestrian
Fencing
20 fencers, 15 men and 5 women, represented the Soviet Union in 1972.
Men's foil
Men's team foil
Men's épée
Men's team épée
Men's sabre
Men's team sabre
Women's foil
Women's team foil
Football
Gymnastics
Handball
Men's team competition
The Soviet team came away from the three-game opening round with no losses, but only one win. Ties with Denmark and Sweden and a win over Poland put the Soviet Union in a tie with Sweden at the top of the division. Since both teams moved on to the second round, the fact that Sweden won the tie-breaker mattered little. The Soviets' hopes were high after the first game of the second round, a win over East Germany that put the team on top of the division. However, their subsequent loss to Czechoslovakia dropped them to third in the group. This meant that they played in a game for fifth and sixth place against host nation West Germany. Their win was little consolation for being eliminated from medal contention.
Men's team competition:
- Soviet Union â 5th place (3âÂÂ1âÂÂ2)
- Team roster
* Nikolai Semenov
* Mikhail Ischenko
* Aleksandr Panov
* Vladimir Maksimov
* Valentin Kulev
* Vasili Ilyin
* Anatoli Shevchenko
* Yuri Klimov
* Mikhail Luzenko
* Alexander Resanov
* Valeri Gassi
* Albert Oganesov
* Yan Vilson
* Yuri Lagutin
* Ivan Usaty
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Three male pentathletes represented the Soviet Union in 1972.
Men's individual competition
Men's team competition
- Onishenko, Lednev and Shmelev â 15968 pts (â Gold medal)
Rowing
The Soviet Union had 26 male rowers participate in all seven rowing events in 1972.
Men's single sculls
*Heat â 7:42.67
*Semifinals â 8:13.49
*Final â 7:10.12 (â Gold medal)
Men's coxless pair â 8th place
Men's coxed pair
*Heat â 7:43.84
*Semifinals â 8:07.34
*Final â 7:24.44 (â 5th place)
Men's coxless four â 4th place
Men's coxed four â 4th place
Men's eight â 4th place
Sailing
Shooting
Fourteen male shooters represented the Soviet Union in 1972. Yakiv Zhelezniak won gold, Boris Melnik and Yevgeny Petrov won silvers and Viktor Torshin won a bronze medal.
25 m pistol
50 m pistol
300 m rifle, three positions
50 m rifle, three positions
50 m rifle, prone
50 m running target
Trap
Skeet
Swimming
Men's 100m freestyle
* Heat â 52.87s
* Semifinals â 52.60s
* Final â 51.77s (â Bronze medal)
* Heat â 53.64s
* Semifinals â 53.55s
* Final â 52.44s (â 6th place)
* Heat â 53.78s
* Semifinals â 53.68s (â did not advance)
Men's 200m freestyle
* Heat â 1:56.15
* Final â 1:57.24 (â 7th place)
* Heat â 1:57.92 (â did not advance)
* Heat â 1:57.04 (â did not advance)
Men's 4 ÃÂ 100 m freestyle relay
* Heat â 3:32.72
* Final â 3:29.72 (â Silver medal)
Men's 4 ÃÂ 200 m freestyle relay
* Heat â 7:51.44
* Final â 7:45.76 (â Bronze medal)
Volleyball
Men's team competition
- Preliminary round (group A)
* Defeated Tunisia (3âÂÂ0)
* Defeated South Korea (3âÂÂ0)
* Defeated Bulgaria (3âÂÂ1)
* Defeated Czechoslovakia (3âÂÂ0)
* Defeated Poland (3âÂÂ2)
* Lost to East Germany (1âÂÂ3)
* Defeated Bulgaria (3âÂÂ0) â Bronze medal
*Viktor Borsch
*Vyacheslav Domany
*Vladimir Patkyn
*Leonid Zayko
*Yuri Starunsky
*Alex Saprikyne
*Vladimir Kondra
*Elim Chulak
*Vladimir Poutyatov
*Valery Kravchenko
*Yevgeny Lapinsky
*Yuri Poyarkov
Water polo
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Medals by republic
In the following table for team events number of team representatives, who received medals are counted, not "one medal for all the team", as usual. Because there were people from different republics in one team.
Top 5 sports societies
In the following table for team events number of team representatives, who received medals are counted, not "one medal for all the team", as usual. Because there were people from different sports societies in one team.
Bibliography
References
- â for medal stats by republic and by sports society