| | Event type

3,000 metres Steeplechase, Men

Date	1 – 4 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympiastadion, Olympiapark, München
Participants	49 from 29 countries

The 1971 European Champion had been France’s Jean-Paul Villain while the 1970 Commonwealth Games Champion had been Australian Tony Manning. Defending champion Amos Biwott had finished third to Manning at the Commonwealth Games, with his Kenyan teammate Ben Jipcho winning the silver medal. The world record holder was Australia’s Kerry O’Brien who had run 8:22.0 in 1970. The final was started at a snail’s pace, and improved only slightly to the second kilometer, after which the pace got very fast. This strung out the field and only Jipcho, Finland’s Tapio Kantanen and Jipcho’s teammate, Kip Keino, were together on the last lap. Keino had the best speed, having won the 1,500 metres at the 1968 Olympics. He ran away from Kantanen on the final straight as Jipcho also passed the Finn for the silver medal.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	Final
1	576	Kip Keino	KEN	8:27.6 (2 h1)	8:23.64 (1)	Gold	OR
2	574	Ben Jipcho	KEN	8:31.6 (1 h2)	8:24.62 (2)	Silver
3	207	Tapio Kantanen	FIN	8:24.8 (1 h1)	8:24.66 (3)	Bronze
4	729	Bronisław Malinowski	POL	8:28.2 (2 h4)	8:27.92 (4)
5	879	Dušan Moravčík	TCH	8:33.4 (3 h4)	8:29.06 (5)
6	572	Amos Biwott	KEN	8:23.73 (1 h4)	8:33.48 (6)
7	930	Romualdas Bitė	URS	8:30.2 (2 h3)	8:34.64 (7)
8	213	Pekka Päivärinta	FIN	8:28.95 (1 h3)	8:37.17 (8)
9	559	Takaharu Koyama	JPN	8:29.8 (3 h1)	8:37.66 (9)
10	200	Mikko Ala-Leppilampi	FIN	8:31.8 (2 h2)	8:41.03 (10)
11	271	Jean-Paul Villain	FRA	8:30.4 (3 h3)	8:46.72 (11)
12	76	Mihail Zhelev	BUL	8:35.8 (3 h2)	9:02.59 (12)
4 h1 r1/2	776	Gheorghe Cefan	ROU	8:33.8 (4 h1)	–
4 h2 r1/2	381	Willi Maier	FRG	8:37.6 (4 h2)	–
4 h3 r1/2	874	Josef Horčic	TCH	8:30.6 (4 h3)	–
4 h4 r1/2	291	Steve Hollings	GBR	8:35.0 (4 h4)	–
5 h1 r1/2	290	Andy Holden	GBR	8:33.8 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r1/2	565	Akira Takeuchi	JPN	8:40.4 (5 h2)	–
5 h3 r1/2	846	Anders Gärderud	SWE	8:30.8 (5 h3)	–
5 h4 r1/2	518	Franco Fava	ITA	8:35.0 (5 h4)	–
6 h1 r1/2	822	Toni Feldmann	SUI	8:35.8 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r1/2	958	Sergey Skripka	URS	8:41.4 (6 h2)	–
6 h3 r1/2	405	Willi Wagner	FRG	8:34.0 (6 h3)	–
6 h4 r1/2	399	Hans-Dieter Schulten	FRG	8:39.8 (6 h4)	–
7 h1 r1/2	1009	Steve Savage	USA	8:39.0 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r1/2	686	Jan Voje	NOR	8:42.0 (7 h2)	–
7 h3 r1/2	64	Paul Thys	BEL	8:35.0 (7 h3)	–
7 h4 r1/2	3	Boualem Rahoui	ALG	8:41.0 (7 h4)	–
8 h1 r1/2	235	Gérard Buchheit	FRA	8:41.2 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r1/2	827	Hans Menet	SUI	8:45.4 (8 h2)	–
8 h3 r1/2	275	John Bicourt	GBR	8:38.8 (8 h3)	–
8 h4 r1/2	427	Spyridon Kontosoros	GRE	8:41.0 (8 h4)	–
9 h1 r1/2	858	Filbert Bayi	TAN	8:41.4 (9 h1)	–
9 h2 r1/2	484	Eddie Leddy	IRL	8:47.4 (9 h2)	–
9 h3 r1/2	974	Doug Brown	USA	8:41.2 (9 h3)	–
9 h4 r1/2	824	Georges Kaiser	SUI	8:45.4 (9 h4)	–
10 h1 r1/2	912	Vitus Ashaba	UGA	8:45.0 (10 h1)	–
10 h2 r1/2	730	Kazimierz Maranda	POL	8:50.4 (10 h2)	–
10 h3 r1/2	431	Panagiotis Nakopoulos	GRE	8:48.4 (10 h3)	–
10 h4 r1/2	997	Mike Manley	USA	8:50.4 (10 h4)	–
11 h1 r1/2	750	Tadeusz Zieliński	POL	8:49.8 (11 h1)	–
11 h2 r1/2	122	Esau Adenji	CMR	9:34.4 (11 h2)	–
11 h3 r1/2	188	Yohannes Mohamed	ETH	8:52.6 (11 h3)	–
11 h4 r1/2	685	Sverre Sørnes	NOR	8:54.8 (11 h4)	–
12 h1 r1/2	156	Wigmar Pedersen	DEN	9:03.0 (12 h1)	–
12 h3 r1/2	421	Robert Hackman	GHA	8:57.6 (12 h3)	–
12 h4 r1/2	198	Usaia Sotutu	FIJ	9:12.0 (12 h4)	–
13 h4 r1/2	440	Julio Quevedo	GUA	9:28.4 (13 h4)	–
AC h2 r1/2	33	Kerry O'Brien	AUS	– (DNF h2)	–

Round One (1 September 1972 — 16:30)

Top three in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	207	Tapio Kantanen	FIN	8:24.8	QOR
2	576	Kip Keino	KEN	8:27.6	Q
3	559	Takaharu Koyama	JPN	8:29.8	Q
4	776	Gheorghe Cefan	ROU	8:33.8
5	290	Andy Holden	GBR	8:33.8
6	822	Toni Feldmann	SUI	8:35.8
7	1009	Steve Savage	USA	8:39.0
8	235	Gérard Buchheit	FRA	8:41.2
9	858	Filbert Bayi	TAN	8:41.4
10	912	Vitus Ashaba	UGA	8:45.0
11	750	Tadeusz Zieliński	POL	8:49.8
12	156	Wigmar Pedersen	DEN	9:03.0

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	574	Ben Jipcho	KEN	8:31.6	Q
2	200	Mikko Ala-Leppilampi	FIN	8:31.8	Q
3	76	Mihail Zhelev	BUL	8:35.8	Q
4	381	Willi Maier	FRG	8:37.6
5	565	Akira Takeuchi	JPN	8:40.4
6	958	Sergey Skripka	URS	8:41.4
7	686	Jan Voje	NOR	8:42.0
8	827	Hans Menet	SUI	8:45.4
9	484	Eddie Leddy	IRL	8:47.4
10	730	Kazimierz Maranda	POL	8:50.4
11	122	Esau Adenji	CMR	9:34.4
DNF	33	Kerry O'Brien	AUS	–

Heat Three

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	213	Pekka Päivärinta	FIN	8:28.95	Q
2	930	Romualdas Bitė	URS	8:30.2	Q
3	271	Jean-Paul Villain	FRA	8:30.4	Q
4	874	Josef Horčic	TCH	8:30.6
5	846	Anders Gärderud	SWE	8:30.8
6	405	Willi Wagner	FRG	8:34.0
7	64	Paul Thys	BEL	8:35.0
8	275	John Bicourt	GBR	8:38.8
9	974	Doug Brown	USA	8:41.2
10	431	Panagiotis Nakopoulos	GRE	8:48.4
11	188	Yohannes Mohamed	ETH	8:52.6
12	421	Robert Hackman	GHA	8:57.6

Heat Four

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	572	Amos Biwott	KEN	8:23.73	QOR
2	729	Bronisław Malinowski	POL	8:28.2	Q
3	879	Dušan Moravčík	TCH	8:33.4	Q
4	291	Steve Hollings	GBR	8:35.0
5	518	Franco Fava	ITA	8:35.0
6	399	Hans-Dieter Schulten	FRG	8:39.8
7	3	Boualem Rahoui	ALG	8:41.0
8	427	Spyridon Kontosoros	GRE	8:41.0
9	824	Georges Kaiser	SUI	8:45.4
10	997	Mike Manley	USA	8:50.4
11	685	Sverre Sørnes	NOR	8:54.8
12	198	Usaia Sotutu	FIJ	9:12.0
13	440	Julio Quevedo	GUA	9:28.4

Final (4 September 1972 — 16:40)

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	576	Kip Keino	KEN	8:23.64	OR
2	574	Ben Jipcho	KEN	8:24.62
3	207	Tapio Kantanen	FIN	8:24.66
4	729	Bronisław Malinowski	POL	8:27.92
5	879	Dušan Moravčík	TCH	8:29.06
6	572	Amos Biwott	KEN	8:33.48
7	930	Romualdas Bitė	URS	8:34.64
8	213	Pekka Päivärinta	FIN	8:37.17
9	559	Takaharu Koyama	JPN	8:37.66
10	200	Mikko Ala-Leppilampi	FIN	8:41.03
11	271	Jean-Paul Villain	FRA	8:46.72
12	76	Mihail Zhelev	BUL	9:02.59

Splits

1000m	2:54.4	Jean-Paul Villain
2000m	5:44.7	Bronisław Malinowski