| | Event type

Discus Throw, Men

Date	1 – 2 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympiastadion, Olympiapark, München
Participants	29 from 18 countries

The discus throwers had to be looking forward to an Oerter-less Olympics as Al Oerter had hung up his disc. The favorites in 1972 were two-time medalist and 1971 European Champion Ludvík Daněk (CZE), Jay Silvester, who had not performed well at two previous Olympics, and Sweden’s Ricky Bruch, who had broken the world record in July 1972. It was hard to choose between the three, but they did come through for the medals. Silvester led from round three until the last round, when Daněk got off his winning toss of 64.40 (211-3½). Bruch was second after five rounds but was pushed back to bronze by Daněk’s final throw.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Qualifying	Final
1	870	Ludvík Daněk	TCH	64.32 (1)	64.40 (1)	Gold
2	1015	Jay Silvester	USA	61.20 (6)	63.50 (2)	Silver
3	839	Ricky Bruch	SWE	61.24 (5)	63.40 (3)	Bronze
4	1004	John Powell	USA	59.30 (13)	62.82 (4)
5	456	Géza Fejér	HUN	61.58 (3)	62.62 (5)
6	352	Detlef Thorith	GDR	59.36 (12)	62.42 (6)
7	467	Ferenc Tégla	HUN	60.60 (7)	60.60 (7)
8	1026	Tim Vollmer	USA	59.60 (10)	60.24 (8)
9	205	Pentti Kahma	FIN	61.24 (4)	59.66 (9)
10	535	Silvano Simeon	ITA	59.78 (9)	59.34 (10)
11	219	Jorma Rinne	FIN	62.02 (2)	59.22 (11)
12	463	János Murányi	HUN	60.34 (8)	57.92 (12)
13	650	Namakoro Niaré	MLI	59.38 (11)	56.48 (13)
14	693	Les Mills	NZL	59.22 (14)	55.86 (14)
15 QR	367	Klaus-Peter Hennig	FRG	58.64 (15)	–
16 QR	411	Dirk Wippermann	FRG	58.10 (16)	–
17 QR	385	Hein-Direck Neu	FRG	58.10 (17)	–
18 QR	1054	Zdravko Pečar	YUG	57.84 (18)	–
19 QR	311	Bill Tancred	GBR	57.24 (19)	–
20 QR	697	Robin Tait	NZL	56.60 (20)	–
21 QR	104	Ain Roost	CAN	56.58 (21)	–
22 QR	337	Hartmut Losch	GDR	56.54 (22)	–
23 QR	495	Erlendur Valdimarsson	ISL	55.38 (23)	–
24 QR	316	John Watts	GBR	53.86 (24)	–
25 QR	148	Kaj Andersen	DEN	53.52 (25)	–
26 QR	474	Praveen Kumar	IND	53.12 (26)	–
27 QR	40	Heimo Reinitzer	AUT	52.56 (27)	–
28 QR	24	Said Farouk Al-Turki	KSA	33.78 (28)	–
AC QR	514	Armando De Vincentis	ITA	– (NM)	–
DNS	82	Stoyan Slavkov	BUL	– (DNS)	–
DNS	134	Julio Bequer	CUB	– (DNS)	–
DNS	159	Nagui Assaad	EGY	– (DNS)	–
DNS	1065	Noel Matuba	CGO	– (DNS)	–

Qualifying Round

Date	1 September 1972 — 10:00
Format	Top 12 and ties and all those reaching 59.00 metres advanced to the final.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Distance	2nd-Best Mark Distance
1	870	Ludvík Daněk	TCH	64.32	–	Q
2	219	Jorma Rinne	FIN	62.02	–	Q
3	456	Géza Fejér	HUN	61.58	–	Q
4	205	Pentti Kahma	FIN	61.24	58.50	Q
5	839	Ricky Bruch	SWE	61.24	-	Q
6	1015	Jay Silvester	USA	61.20	–	Q
7	467	Ferenc Tégla	HUN	60.60	–	Q
8	463	János Murányi	HUN	60.34	–	Q
9	535	Silvano Simeon	ITA	59.78	–	Q
10	1026	Tim Vollmer	USA	59.60	–	Q
11	650	Namakoro Niaré	MLI	59.38	–	Q
12	352	Detlef Thorith	GDR	59.36	–	Q
13	1004	John Powell	USA	59.30	–	Q
14	693	Les Mills	NZL	59.22	–	Q
15	367	Klaus-Peter Hennig	FRG	58.64	–
16	411	Dirk Wippermann	FRG	58.10	57.96
17	385	Hein-Direck Neu	FRG	58.10	56.36
18	1054	Zdravko Pečar	YUG	57.84	–
19	311	Bill Tancred	GBR	57.24	–
20	697	Robin Tait	NZL	56.60	–
21	104	Ain Roost	CAN	56.58	–
22	337	Hartmut Losch	GDR	56.54	–
23	495	Erlendur Valdimarsson	ISL	55.38	–
24	316	John Watts	GBR	53.86	–
25	148	Kaj Andersen	DEN	53.52	–
26	474	Praveen Kumar	IND	53.12	–
27	40	Heimo Reinitzer	AUT	52.56	–
28	24	Said Farouk Al-Turki	KSA	33.78	–
NM	514	Armando De Vincentis	ITA	–	–
DNS	82	Stoyan Slavkov	BUL	–	–
DNS	134	Julio Bequer	CUB	–	–
DNS	159	Nagui Assaad	EGY	–	–
DNS	1065	Noel Matuba	CGO	–	–

Group A

Date	1 September 1972

Pos	Start Order	Competitor	NOC	Distance	2nd-Best Mark Distance	Round #1 Distance	Round #2 Distance	Round #3 Distance
1	6	Pentti Kahma	FIN	61.24	58.50	58.50	61.24	p
2	9	Ricky Bruch	SWE	61.24	-	61.24	-	-
3	14	Jay Silvester	USA	61.20	–	58.98	61.20	p
4	5	Ferenc Tégla	HUN	60.60	–	60.60	p	p
5	16	Tim Vollmer	USA	59.60	–	59.60	p	p
6	4	Namakoro Niaré	MLI	59.38	–	59.38	p	p
7	15	Detlef Thorith	GDR	59.36	–	59.36	p	p
8	10	Les Mills	NZL	59.22	–	59.22	p	p
9	12	Klaus-Peter Hennig	FRG	58.64	–	55.32	x	58.64
10	8	Hein-Direck Neu	FRG	58.10	–	56.36	58.10	x
11	3	Ain Roost	CAN	56.58	–	56.58	55.48	x
12	13	John Watts	GBR	53.86	–	53.48	x	53.86
13	1	Kaj Andersen	DEN	53.52	–	x	51.60	53.52
14	11	Said Farouk Al-Turki	KSA	33.78	–	x	33.78	x
NM	2	Armando De Vincentis	ITA	–	–	x	x	x
DNS	7	Stoyan Slavkov	BUL	–	–	–	–	–

Group B

Date	1 September 1972

Pos	Start Order	Competitor	NOC	Distance	Round #1 Distance	Round #2 Distance	Round #3 Distance
1	10	Ludvík Daněk	TCH	64.32	64.32	p	p
2	5	Jorma Rinne	FIN	62.02	62.02	p	p
3	2	Géza Fejér	HUN	61.58	61.58	p	p
4	6	János Murányi	HUN	60.34	54.42	60.34	p
5	4	Silvano Simeon	ITA	59.78	58.38	59.78	p
6	13	John Powell	USA	59.30	54.94	59.30	p
7	15	Dirk Wippermann	FRG	58.10	56.42	58.10	57.96
8	8	Zdravko Pečar	YUG	57.84	x	57.84	53.52
9	9	Bill Tancred	GBR	57.24	x	55.86	57.24
10	11	Robin Tait	NZL	56.60	56.60	55.88	x
11	17	Hartmut Losch	GDR	56.54	56.54	x	56.28
12	12	Erlendur Valdimarsson	ISL	55.38	55.38	55.16	53.26
13	7	Praveen Kumar	IND	53.12	52.58	53.12	51.58
14	14	Heimo Reinitzer	AUT	52.56	x	52.32	52.56
DNS	1	Julio Bequer	CUB	–	–	–	–
DNS	3	Nagui Assaad	EGY	–	–	–	–
DNS	16	Noel Matuba	CGO	–	–	–	–

Final Round

Date	2 September 1972 — 15:00

Pos	Start Order	Competitor	NOC	Distance	Round #1 Distance	Round #2 Distance	Round #3 Distance	Round #4 Distance	Round #5 Distance	Round #6 Distance
1	2	Ludvík Daněk	TCH	64.40	58.12	60.38	62.38	62.54	61.70	64.40
2	9	Jay Silvester	USA	63.50	62.12	x	63.50	x	x	62.86
3	8	Ricky Bruch	SWE	63.40	59.12	x	61.52	62.76	63.40	62.60
4	12	John Powell	USA	62.82	61.92	62.82	60.44	x	61.38	x
5	4	Géza Fejér	HUN	62.62	62.50	62.56	x	x	61.50	62.62
6	1	Detlef Thorith	GDR	62.42	61.74	62.42	61.06	x	59.88	x
7	11	Ferenc Tégla	HUN	60.60	58.38	59.66	57.40	x	58.16	60.60
8	5	Tim Vollmer	USA	60.24	59.26	60.24	x	x	x	58.54
9	13	Pentti Kahma	FIN	59.66	57.20	58.92	59.66	x	58.92	x
10	6	Silvano Simeon	ITA	59.34	58.80	59.34	58.36	–	–	–
11	14	Jorma Rinne	FIN	59.22	57.30	56.88	59.22	–	–	–
12	10	János Murányi	HUN	57.92	57.92	57.16	x	–	–	–
13	7	Namakoro Niaré	MLI	56.48	56.48	55.10	x	–	–	–
14	3	Les Mills	NZL	55.86	x	54.48	55.86	–	–	–