Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metres hurdles

Men's 400 metres hurdles at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium, Munich, West Germany
Date	31 August 1972 & 2 September 1972
Medalists
John Akii-Bua   Uganda   Ralph Mann   United States   Dave Hemery   Great Britain

Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men
10,000 m		men
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3000 m steeplechase		men
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men
20 km walk		men
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men
Combined events
Pentathlon				women
Decathlon		men

These are the official results of the Men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The competition was held on 31 August - 2 September.

Heats

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

Heat one

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time
1	Dieter Büttner	West Germany	49.78
2	Viktor Savchenko	Soviet Union	49.90
3	Jean-Pierre Corval	France	50.15
4	Tadeusz Kulczycki	Poland	50.19
5	Manuel Soriano	Spain	50.88
6	Fatwell Kimaiyo	Kenya	51.23
7	Roberto Frinolli	Italy	51.69
8	Jean-Aimé Randrianalijaona	Madagascar	52.75

Heat two

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time
1	Dave Hemery	Great Britain	49.72
2	Gary Knoke	Australia	50.10
3	Yuriy Zorin	Soviet Union	50.35
4	Bill Koskei	Kenya	50.58
5	Giorgio Ballati	Italy	50.90
6	José Jacinto Hidalgo	Venezuela	54.00
7	Norman Brinkworth	Pakistan	54.67
-	Anton Borfis	Greece	DQ*

Heat three

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time
1	Christian Rudolph	East Germany	50.00
2	Ralph Mann	United States	50.18
3	Rainer Schubert	West Germany	50.23
4	Ari Salin	Finland	50.45
5	Jean-Pierre Perrinelle	France	51.81
6	José Carvalho	Portugal	52.64
7	Hassan Bergaoui	Tunisia	53.70

Heat four

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time
1	John Akii-Bua	Uganda	50.35
2	Stavros Tziortzis	Greece	50.54
3	Ivan Daniš	Czechoslovakia	50.62
4	Bruce Field	Australia	51.46
5	Hansjörg Wirz	Switzerland	52.34
6	Dick Bruggeman	United States	54.36
7	Julio Ferrer	Puerto Rico	54.83
-	Francisco Rojas Soto	Paraguay	DNS

Heat five

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time
1	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	Soviet Union	49.73
2	Jim Seymour	United States	49.81
3	Rolf Ziegler	West Germany	50.17
4	Roger Johnson	New Zealand	50.48
5	Mike Murei	Kenya	51.63
6	Lee Chung-Ping	Republic of China	52.61
7	Gladstone Agbamu	Nigeria	53.68
-	John Sherwood	Great Britain	DNF

Semifinals

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

Heat one

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time
1	John Akii-Bua	Uganda	49.25
2	Ralph Mann	United States	49.53
3	Dave Hemery	Great Britain	49.66
4	Rainer Schubert	West Germany	49.80
5	Rolf Ziegler	West Germany	49.88
6	Ivan Daniš	Czechoslovakia	50.01
7	Viktor Savchenko	Soviet Union	50.28
8	Jean-Pierre Corval	France	50.75

Heat two

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time
1	Jim Seymour	United States	49.33
2	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	Soviet Union	49.34
3	Yuriy Zorin	Soviet Union	49.60
4	Stavros Tziortzis	Greece	50.06
5	Tadeusz Kulczycki	Poland	50.80
6	Gary Knoke	Australia	52.79
-	Christian Rudolph	East Germany	DNF
-	Dieter Büttner	West Germany	DNF

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	John Akii-Bua	Uganda	47.82	WR
	Ralph Mann	United States	48.51
	Dave Hemery	Great Britain	48.52
4	Jim Seymour	United States	48.64
5	Rainer Schubert	West Germany	49.65
6T	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	Soviet Union	49.66
6T	Stavros Tziortzis	Greece	49.66
8	Yuriy Zorin	Soviet Union	50.25

References

• Sports-reference
• Official report