| | Event type

800 metres, Women

Date	31 August – 3 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympiastadion, Olympiapark, München
Participants	38 from 26 countries

In 1971 at the West German Championships, Hildegard Falck ran 1:58.5 to break the world record and become the first woman to officially better two minutes. (North Korea’s Dan Shin-Geum had run under two minutes twice in 1963-64, but since North Korea was not a member of the IAAF, the records were never ratified.) The 1971 European Champion had been Vera Nikolić, who had inexplicably stepped off the track in her 1968 Olympic semi-final. In round one, Bulgaria’s Svetla Zlateva ran 1:58.93 to break the Olympic record. In the final, Zlateva led for the first 600 metres, when Falck saw a small opening and went thru as the runners entered the turn. She moved into third place and overtook Zlateva and Nikolić on the curve. But Falck barely hung on, as Soviet Lithuanian Nijolė Sabaitė had the fastest finish and was less a metre down at the line.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	159	Hildegard Falck	FRG	2:01.52 (1 h1)	2:01.41 (1 h2)	1:58.55 (1)	Gold	OR
2	358	Nijolė Sabaitė	URS	2:01.50 (1 h3)	2:00.90 (1 h1)	1:58.65 (2)	Silver
3	132	Gunhild Hoffmeister	GDR	2:03.15 (2 h5)	2:01.21 (2 h1)	1:59.19 (3)	Bronze
4	48	Svetla Zlateva	BUL	1:58.93 (1 h2)	2:01.66 (2 h2)	1:59.72 (4)
5	404	Vera Nikolić	YUG	1:59.62 (2 h2)	2:01.49 (4 h1)	1:59.98 (5)
6	298	Ileana Silai	ROU	2:01.42 (1 h4)	2:01.85 (3 h2)	2:00.04 (6)
7	116	Rosemary Stirling	GBR	2:03.64 (3 h5)	2:02.36 (4 h2)	2:00.15 (7)
8	52	Abby Hoffman	CAN	2:01.57 (2 h3)	2:01.37 (3 h1)	2:00.17 (8)
5 h1 r2/3	175	Sylvia Schenk	FRG	2:02.22 (3 h2)	2:01.50 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	386	Madeline Manning	USA	2:02.63 (2 h1)	2:02.39 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	76	Annelise Damm Olesen	DEN	2:01.77 (2 h4)	2:04.19 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	21	Maria Sykora	AUT	2:01.82 (3 h3)	2:02.44 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	8	Cheryl Peasley	AUS	2:03.11 (3 h1)	2:04.56 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	157	Gisela Ellenberger	FRG	2:01.92 (4 h3)	2:02.97 (7 h2)	–
8 h2 r2/3	353	Nina Morgunova	URS	2:02.64 (1 h5)	2:04.93 (8 h2)	–
3 h4 r1/3	198	Magdolna Kulcsár	HUN	2:02.35 (3 h4)	– (DNS h1)	–
4 h1 r1/3	208	Mary Tracey	IRL	2:04.18 (4 h1)	–	–
4 h2 r1/3	283	Elżbieta Skowrońska	POL	2:03.26 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	100	Pat Cropper	GBR	2:03.55 (4 h4)	–	–
4 h5 r1/3	257	Sue Haden	NZL	2:04.86 (4 h5)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	90	Martine Duvivier	FRA	2:04.87 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	7	Jenny Orr	AUS	2:04.46 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	142	Maritta Politz	GDR	2:02.40 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	30	Vasilena Amzina	BUL	2:05.95 (5 h4)	–	–
5 h5 r1/3	236	Chereno Maiyo	KEN	2:04.86 (5 h5)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	213	Donata Govoni	ITA	2:05.24 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	395	Cheryl Toussaint	USA	2:08.90 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	98	Margaret Coomber	GBR	2:02.99 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	28	Marleen Verheuen	BEL	2:09.13 (6 h4)	–	–
6 h5 r1/3	383	Wendy Koenig	USA	2:08.71 (6 h5)	–	–
7 h1 r1/3	310	Elisabeth Neuenschwander	SUI	2:06.89 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r1/3	209	Claire Walsh	IRL	2:08.98 (7 h2)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	243	Emesia Chizunga	MAW	2:19.22 (7 h3)	–	–
7 h4 r1/3	357	Raissa Ruus	URS	2:11.18 (7 h4)	–	–
7 h5 r1/3	242	Malika Hadky	MAR	2:12.46 (7 h5)	–	–
8 h2 r1/3	25	Heather Gooding	BAR	2:19.69 (8 h2)	–	–
8 h4 r1/3	288	Lee Chiu-Hsia	TPE	2:11.81 (8 h4)	–	–
AC h3 r1/3	322	Malak El-Nasser	SYR	– (DNF h3)	–	–
DNS	238	Arda Kalpakian	LBN	– (DNS h1)	–	–

Round One (31 August 1972 — 16:45)

Top three in each heat and next fastest advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Hildegard Falck	FRG	2:01.52	Q
2	7	Madeline Manning	USA	2:02.63	Q
3	8	Cheryl Peasley	AUS	2:03.11	Q
4	3	Mary Tracey	IRL	2:04.18
5	2	Martine Duvivier	FRA	2:04.87
6	1	Donata Govoni	ITA	2:05.24
7	4	Elisabeth Neuenschwander	SUI	2:06.89
DNS	5	Arda Kalpakian	LBN	–

Splits

400 m	59.2	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	7	Svetla Zlateva	BUL	1:58.93	QOR
2	6	Vera Nikolić	YUG	1:59.62	Q
3	1	Sylvia Schenk	FRG	2:02.22	Q
4	2	Elżbieta Skowrońska	POL	2:03.26
5	8	Jenny Orr	AUS	2:04.46
6	4	Cheryl Toussaint	USA	2:08.90
7	3	Claire Walsh	IRL	2:08.98
8	5	Heather Gooding	BAR	2:19.69

Splits

400 m	56.6	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	4	Nijolė Sabaitė	URS	2:01.50	Q
2	5	Abby Hoffman	CAN	2:01.57	Q
3	7	Maria Sykora	AUT	2:01.82	Q
4	1	Gisela Ellenberger	FRG	2:01.92	q
5	3	Maritta Politz	GDR	2:02.40
6	2	Margaret Coomber	GBR	2:02.99
7	6	Emesia Chizunga	MAW	2:19.22
DNF	8	Malak El-Nasser	SYR	–

Splits

400 m	58.8	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	5	Ileana Silai	ROU	2:01.42	Q
2	3	Annelise Damm Olesen	DEN	2:01.77	Q
3	4	Magdolna Kulcsár	HUN	2:02.35	Q
4	8	Pat Cropper	GBR	2:03.55
5	2	Vasilena Amzina	BUL	2:05.95
6	7	Marleen Verheuen	BEL	2:09.13
7	1	Raissa Ruus	URS	2:11.18
8	6	Lee Chiu-Hsia	TPE	2:11.81

Splits

400 m	59.3	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	6	Nina Morgunova	URS	2:02.64	Q
2	7	Gunhild Hoffmeister	GDR	2:03.15	Q
3	1	Rosemary Stirling	GBR	2:03.64	Q
4	4	Sue Haden	NZL	2:04.86
5	5	Chereno Maiyo	KEN	2:04.86
6	3	Wendy Koenig	USA	2:08.71
7	2	Malika Hadky	MAR	2:12.46

Splits

400 m	58.4	–

Semi-Finals (1 September 1972 — 17:40)

Top four in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	3	Nijolė Sabaitė	URS	2:00.90	Q
2	7	Gunhild Hoffmeister	GDR	2:01.21	Q
3	4	Abby Hoffman	CAN	2:01.37	Q
4	1	Vera Nikolić	YUG	2:01.49	Q
5	2	Sylvia Schenk	FRG	2:01.50
6	5	Annelise Damm Olesen	DEN	2:04.19
7	8	Cheryl Peasley	AUS	2:04.56
DNS	6	Magdolna Kulcsár	HUN	–

Splits

400 m	59.2	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	3	Hildegard Falck	FRG	2:01.41	Q
2	2	Svetla Zlateva	BUL	2:01.66	Q
3	5	Ileana Silai	ROU	2:01.85	Q
4	8	Rosemary Stirling	GBR	2:02.36	Q
5	4	Madeline Manning	USA	2:02.39
6	1	Maria Sykora	AUT	2:02.44
7	6	Gisela Ellenberger	FRG	2:02.97
8	7	Nina Morgunova	URS	2:04.93

Splits

400 m	59.6	–

Final (3 September 1972 — 18:00)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	1	Hildegard Falck	FRG	1:58.55	OR
2	5	Nijolė Sabaitė	URS	1:58.65
3	6	Gunhild Hoffmeister	GDR	1:59.19
4	2	Svetla Zlateva	BUL	1:59.72
5	8	Vera Nikolić	YUG	1:59.98
6	3	Ileana Silai	ROU	2:00.04
7	4	Rosemary Stirling	GBR	2:00.15
8	7	Abby Hoffman	CAN	2:00.17

Splits

400 m	58.3	–