| | Event type

400 metres Hurdles, Men

Date	31 August – 2 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympiastadion, Olympiapark, München
Participants	37 from 25 countries

Defending champion Dave Hemery was back and was co-favorite with American Ralph Mann, who had been US Champion from 1969-71 and won the US Olympic Trials. Hemery led the final with a very quick pace, but was surprised when he was caught at the eighth hurdle by Uganda’s John Akii-Bua. Akii-Bua’s strength showed in the last 100 metres as he won in world record time by 0.69 over the fast-closing Mann, with Hemery getting the bronze medal.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	911	John Akii-Bua	UGA	50.35 (1 h4)	49.25 (1 h1)	47.82 (1)	Gold	WR
2	998	Ralph Mann	USA	50.18 (2 h3)	49.53 (2 h1)	48.51 (2)	Silver
3	288	Dave Hemery	GBR	49.72 (1 h2)	49.66 (3 h1)	48.52 (3)	Bronze
4	1013	Jim Seymour	USA	49.81 (2 h5)	49.33 (1 h2)	48.64 (4)
5	398	Rainer Schubert	FRG	50.23 (3 h3)	49.80 (4 h1)	49.65 (5)
=6	436	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	50.54 (2 h4)	50.06 (4 h2)	49.66 (=6)
=6	934	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.73 (1 h5)	49.34 (2 h2)	49.66 (=6)
8	967	Yury Zorin	URS	50.35 (3 h2)	49.60 (3 h2)	50.25 (8)
5 h1 r2/3	414	Rolf Ziegler	FRG	50.17 (3 h5)	49.88 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	726	Tadeusz Kulczycki	POL	50.19 (4 h1)	50.80 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	871	Ivan Daniš	TCH	50.62 (3 h4)	50.01 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	31	Gary Knoke	AUS	50.10 (2 h2)	52.79 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	953	Viktor Savchenko	URS	49.90 (2 h1)	50.28 (7 h1)	–
8 h1 r2/3	240	Jean-Pierre Corval	FRA	50.15 (3 h1)	50.75 (8 h1)	–
AC h2 r2/3	362	Dieter Büttner	FRG	49.78 (1 h1)	– (DNF h2)	–
AC h2 r2/3	341	Christian Rudolph	GDR	50.00 (1 h3)	– (DNF h2)	–
4 h2 r1/3	578	Bill Koskei	KEN	50.58 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h3 r1/3	220	Ari Salin	FIN	50.45 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	29	Bruce Field	AUS	51.46 (4 h4)	–	–
4 h5 r1/3	690	Roger Johnson	NZL	50.48 (4 h5)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	173	Manuel Soriano	ESP	50.88 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	501	Giorgio Ballati	ITA	50.90 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	258	Jean-Pierre Perrinelle	FRA	51.81 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	835	Hansjörg Wirz	SUI	52.34 (5 h4)	–	–
5 h5 r1/3	581	Mike Murei	KEN	51.63 (5 h5)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	577	Fatwell Kimaiyo	KEN	51.23 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	1038	José Jacinto Hidalgo	VEN	54.00 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	752	José Carvalho	POR	52.64 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	975	Dick Bruggeman	USA	54.36 (6 h4)	–	–
6 h5 r1/3	772	Lee Chung-Ping	TPE	52.61 (6 h5)	–	–
7 h1 r1/3	521	Roberto Frinolli	ITA	51.69 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r1/3	701	Norman Brinkworth	PAK	54.67 (7 h2)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	903	Hassan Bergaoui	TUN	53.70 (7 h3)	–	–
7 h4 r1/3	764	Julio Ferrer	PUR	54.83 (7 h4)	–	–
7 h5 r1/3	660	Gladstone Agbamu	NGR	53.68 (7 h5)	–	–
8 h1 r1/3	611	Jean-Aimé Randrianalijaona	MAD	52.75 (8 h1)	–	–
AC h5 r1/3	307	John Sherwood	GBR	– (DNF h5)	–	–
DNS	1072	Francisco Rojas	PAR	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One

Date	31 August 1972 — 10:00
Format	Top 3 in each heat and next fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Time (automatic)
1	288	Dave Hemery	GBR	49.72	Q
2	934	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.73	Q
3	362	Dieter Büttner	FRG	49.78	Q
4	1013	Jim Seymour	USA	49.81	Q
5	953	Viktor Savchenko	URS	49.90	Q
6	341	Christian Rudolph	GDR	50.00	Q
7	31	Gary Knoke	AUS	50.10	Q
8	240	Jean-Pierre Corval	FRA	50.15	Q
9	414	Rolf Ziegler	FRG	50.17	Q
10	998	Ralph Mann	USA	50.18	Q
11	726	Tadeusz Kulczycki	POL	50.19	q
12	398	Rainer Schubert	FRG	50.23	Q
=13	967	Yury Zorin	URS	50.35	Q
=13	911	John Akii-Bua	UGA	50.35	Q
15	220	Ari Salin	FIN	50.45
16	690	Roger Johnson	NZL	50.48
17	436	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	50.54	Q
18	578	Bill Koskei	KEN	50.58
19	871	Ivan Daniš	TCH	50.62	Q
20	173	Manuel Soriano	ESP	50.88
21	501	Giorgio Ballati	ITA	50.90
22	577	Fatwell Kimaiyo	KEN	51.23
23	29	Bruce Field	AUS	51.46
24	581	Mike Murei	KEN	51.63
25	521	Roberto Frinolli	ITA	51.69
26	258	Jean-Pierre Perrinelle	FRA	51.81
27	835	Hansjörg Wirz	SUI	52.34
28	772	Lee Chung-Ping	TPE	52.61
29	752	José Carvalho	POR	52.64
30	611	Jean-Aimé Randrianalijaona	MAD	52.75
31	660	Gladstone Agbamu	NGR	53.68
32	903	Hassan Bergaoui	TUN	53.70
33	1038	José Jacinto Hidalgo	VEN	54.00
34	975	Dick Bruggeman	USA	54.36
35	701	Norman Brinkworth	PAK	54.67
36	764	Julio Ferrer	PUR	54.83
DNF	307	John Sherwood	GBR	–
DNS	1072	Francisco Rojas	PAR	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	1	Dieter Büttner	FRG	49.78	Q
2	7	Viktor Savchenko	URS	49.90	Q
3	6	Jean-Pierre Corval	FRA	50.15	Q
4	5	Tadeusz Kulczycki	POL	50.19	q
5	8	Manuel Soriano	ESP	50.88
6	3	Fatwell Kimaiyo	KEN	51.23
7	4	Roberto Frinolli	ITA	51.69
8	2	Jean-Aimé Randrianalijaona	MAD	52.75

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	5	Dave Hemery	GBR	49.72	Q
2	1	Gary Knoke	AUS	50.10	Q
3	6	Yury Zorin	URS	50.35	Q
4	4	Bill Koskei	KEN	50.58
5	7	Giorgio Ballati	ITA	50.90
6	2	José Jacinto Hidalgo	VEN	54.00
7	3	Norman Brinkworth	PAK	54.67

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	3	Christian Rudolph	GDR	50.00	Q
2	5	Ralph Mann	USA	50.18	Q
3	2	Rainer Schubert	FRG	50.23	Q
4	1	Ari Salin	FIN	50.45
5	7	Jean-Pierre Perrinelle	FRA	51.81
6	4	José Carvalho	POR	52.64
7	6	Hassan Bergaoui	TUN	53.70

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	2	John Akii-Bua	UGA	50.35	Q
2	4	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	50.54	Q
3	8	Ivan Daniš	TCH	50.62	Q
4	6	Bruce Field	AUS	51.46
5	5	Hansjörg Wirz	SUI	52.34
6	1	Dick Bruggeman	USA	54.36
7	3	Julio Ferrer	PUR	54.83
DNS	7	Francisco Rojas	PAR	–

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	8	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.73	Q
2	1	Jim Seymour	USA	49.81	Q
3	7	Rolf Ziegler	FRG	50.17	Q
4	3	Roger Johnson	NZL	50.48
5	6	Mike Murei	KEN	51.63
6	2	Lee Chung-Ping	TPE	52.61
7	5	Gladstone Agbamu	NGR	53.68
DNF	4	John Sherwood	GBR	–

Semi-Finals

Date	1 September 1972 — 14:30
Format	Top 4 in each heat advanced to the final.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Time (automatic)
1	911	John Akii-Bua	UGA	49.25	Q
2	1013	Jim Seymour	USA	49.33	Q
3	934	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.34	Q
4	998	Ralph Mann	USA	49.53	Q
5	967	Yury Zorin	URS	49.60	Q
6	288	Dave Hemery	GBR	49.66	Q
7	398	Rainer Schubert	FRG	49.80	Q
8	414	Rolf Ziegler	FRG	49.88
9	871	Ivan Daniš	TCH	50.01
10	436	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	50.06	Q
11	953	Viktor Savchenko	URS	50.28
12	240	Jean-Pierre Corval	FRA	50.75
13	726	Tadeusz Kulczycki	POL	50.80
14	31	Gary Knoke	AUS	52.79
DNF	341	Christian Rudolph	GDR	–
DNF	362	Dieter Büttner	FRG	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	2	John Akii-Bua	UGA	49.25	Q
2	1	Ralph Mann	USA	49.53	Q
3	5	Dave Hemery	GBR	49.66	Q
4	7	Rainer Schubert	FRG	49.80	Q
5	3	Rolf Ziegler	FRG	49.88
6	8	Ivan Daniš	TCH	50.01
7	6	Viktor Savchenko	URS	50.28
8	4	Jean-Pierre Corval	FRA	50.75

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	7	Jim Seymour	USA	49.33	Q
2	6	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.34	Q
3	3	Yury Zorin	URS	49.60	Q
4	5	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	50.06	Q
5	4	Tadeusz Kulczycki	POL	50.80
6	8	Gary Knoke	AUS	52.79
DNF	1	Christian Rudolph	GDR	–
DNF	2	Dieter Büttner	FRG	–

Final Round

Date	2 September 1972 — 16:15

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time (Automatic)
1	1	John Akii-Bua	UGA	47.82	WR
2	6	Ralph Mann	USA	48.51
3	5	Dave Hemery	GBR	48.52
4	4	Jim Seymour	USA	48.64
5	7	Rainer Schubert	FRG	49.65
=6	2	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.66
=6	8	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	49.66
8	3	Yury Zorin	URS	50.25