| | Event type

1,500 metres, Women

Date	4 – 9 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympiastadion, Olympiapark, München
Participants	36 from 21 countries

At the Olympics, women had not been allowed to compete over any distance past 200 metres from 1928 until the 800 was restored in 1960. Thus adding the 1,500 was another step forward for women. Women had competed over 1,500 metres in the 1969 and 1971 European Championships, with Jaroslava Jehličková (TCH) and Karin Burneleit (GDR) winning those titles, respectively. They had both set world records in winning those races, but Soviet Lyudmila Bragina had bettered the world record in July 1972 at the USSR Championships. In München she broke her own world record in the first round (4:06.47) and then bettered that in the semi-final (4:05.07). In the final Berny Boxem-Lenferink (NED) led the first lap, but Bragina then took over, and increased the pace dramatically. She had a 10-metre gap at the bell and held it throughout the final circuit, finishing in a world record 4:01.38. The first five finishers also broke Bragina’s world record from the semi-final and in all there were 12 marks ahead of the pre-München world record.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	335	Lyudmila Bragina	URS	4:06.47 (1 h1)	4:05.07 (1 h2)	4:01.38 (1)	Gold	WR
2	132	Gunhild Hoffmeister	GDR	4:12.80 (2 h4)	4:07.94 (3 h1)	4:02.83 (2)	Silver
3	218	Paola Cacchi	ITA	4:09.53 (1 h2)	4:07.83 (2 h1)	4:02.85 (3)	Bronze
4	124	Karin Burneleit	GDR	4:10.83 (2 h3)	4:05.78 (2 h2)	4:04.11 (4)
5	96	Sheila Carey	GBR	4:13.01 (3 h4)	4:07.41 (4 h2)	4:04.81 (5)
6	189	Ilja Laman	NED	4:08.00 (3 h1)	4:08.25 (4 h1)	4:05.13 (6)
7	355	Tamara Pangelova	URS	4:10.75 (1 h3)	4:07.66 (1 h1)	4:06.45 (7)
8	7	Jenny Orr	AUS	4:08.06 (4 h1)	4:08.86 (6 h2)	4:12.15 (8)
9	188	Berny Boxem-Lenferink	NED	4:13.83 (3 h2)	4:08.81 (5 h2)	4:13.10 (9)
5 h1 r2/3	30	Vasilena Amzina	BUL	4:12.85 (2 h2)	4:09.12 (5 h1)	–
6 h1 r2/3	115	Joyce Smith	GBR	4:11.27 (4 h3)	4:09.37 (6 h1)	–
7 h1 r2/3	54	Glenda Reiser	CAN	4:06.71 (2 h1)	4:09.51 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	256	Wenche Sørum	NOR	4:14.10 (4 h4)	4:09.70 (7 h2)	–
8 h1 r2/3	384	Francie Kraker	USA	4:14.73 (4 h2)	4:12.76 (8 h1)	–
8 h2 r2/3	385	Francie Larrieu	USA	4:11.18 (3 h3)	4:15.26 (8 h2)	–
9 h1 r2/3	313	Inger Knutsson	SWE	4:11.32 (5 h3)	4:14.97 (9 h1)	–
9 h2 r2/3	326	Jaroslava Jehličková	TCH	4:08.39 (5 h1)	4:18.16 (9 h2)	–
1 h4 r1/3	178	Ellen Tittel	FRG	4:12.12 (1 h4)	4:06.65 (3 h2)	– (DNS)
5 h2 r1/3	57	Thelma Wright	CAN	4:15.43 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	38	Tonka Petrova	BUL	4:14.95 (5 h4)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	167	Christa Merten	FRG	4:12.60 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	254	Grete Andersen	NOR	4:16.00 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	208	Mary Tracey	IRL	4:16.43 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	318	Anne-Marie Nenzell	SWE	4:16.67 (6 h4)	–	–
7 h1 r1/3	94	Joan Allison	GBR	4:14.89 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r1/3	199	Sára Szenteleki-Ligetkuti	HUN	4:16.08 (7 h2)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	82	Sinikka Tyynelä	FIN	4:21.40 (7 h3)	–	–
7 h4 r1/3	306	Margrit Hess	SUI	4:19.67 (7 h4)	–	–
8 h1 r1/3	309	Marijke Moser	SUI	4:24.94 (8 h1)	–	–
8 h2 r1/3	171	Gerda Ranz	FRG	4:18.60 (8 h2)	–	–
8 h3 r1/3	243	Emesia Chizunga	MAW	4:41.47 (8 h3)	–	–
8 h4 r1/3	346	Tamara Kazachkova	URS	4:20.15 (8 h4)	–	–
9 h1 r1/3	288	Lee Chiu-Hsia	TPE	4:37.15 (9 h1)	–	–
9 h2 r1/3	404	Vera Nikolić	YUG	4:23.36 (9 h2)	–	–
9 h4 r1/3	236	Chereno Maiyo	KEN	4:20.9 (9 h4)	–	–
AC h3 r1/3	198	Magdolna Kulcsár	HUN	– (DNF h3)	–	–
DNS	238	Arda Kalpakian	LBN	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	366	Doris Brown	USA	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One (4 September 1972 — 15:45)

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

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	335	Lyudmila Bragina	URS	4:06.47	QWR
2	54	Glenda Reiser	CAN	4:06.71	Q
3	189	Ilja Laman	NED	4:08.00	Q
4	7	Jenny Orr	AUS	4:08.06	Q
5	326	Jaroslava Jehličková	TCH	4:08.39	q
6	167	Christa Merten	FRG	4:12.60
7	94	Joan Allison	GBR	4:14.89
8	309	Marijke Moser	SUI	4:24.94
9	288	Lee Chiu-Hsia	TPE	4:37.15

Splits

400 m	1:03.1	–
800 m	2:09.6	–
1000 m	2:43.6	–
1200 m	3:16.9	–

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	218	Paola Cacchi	ITA	4:09.53	Q
2	30	Vasilena Amzina	BUL	4:12.85	Q
3	188	Berny Boxem-Lenferink	NED	4:13.83	Q
4	384	Francie Kraker	USA	4:14.73	Q
5	57	Thelma Wright	CAN	4:15.43
6	254	Grete Andersen	NOR	4:16.00
7	199	Sára Szenteleki-Ligetkuti	HUN	4:16.08
8	171	Gerda Ranz	FRG	4:18.60
9	404	Vera Nikolić	YUG	4:23.36
DNS	238	Arda Kalpakian	LBN	–

Splits

400 m	1:06.4	–
800 m	2:15.6	–

Heat Three

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	355	Tamara Pangelova	URS	4:10.75	Q
2	124	Karin Burneleit	GDR	4:10.83	Q
3	385	Francie Larrieu	USA	4:11.18	Q
4	115	Joyce Smith	GBR	4:11.27	Q
5	313	Inger Knutsson	SWE	4:11.32	q
6	208	Mary Tracey	IRL	4:16.43
7	82	Sinikka Tyynelä	FIN	4:21.40
8	243	Emesia Chizunga	MAW	4:41.47
DNF	198	Magdolna Kulcsár	HUN	–

Splits

400 m	1:06.0	–
800 m	2:14.7	–

Heat Four

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	178	Ellen Tittel	FRG	4:12.12	Q
2	132	Gunhild Hoffmeister	GDR	4:12.80	Q
3	96	Sheila Carey	GBR	4:13.01	Q
4	256	Wenche Sørum	NOR	4:14.10	Q
5	38	Tonka Petrova	BUL	4:14.95
6	318	Anne-Marie Nenzell	SWE	4:16.67
7	306	Margrit Hess	SUI	4:19.67
8	346	Tamara Kazachkova	URS	4:20.15
9	236	Chereno Maiyo	KEN	4:20.9
DNS	366	Doris Brown	USA	–

Splits

400 m	1:05.4	–
800 m	2:15.7	–

Semi-Finals (7 September 1972 — 15:40)

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

Heat One

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	355	Tamara Pangelova	URS	4:07.66	Q
2	218	Paola Cacchi	ITA	4:07.83	Q
3	132	Gunhild Hoffmeister	GDR	4:07.94	Q
4	189	Ilja Laman	NED	4:08.25	Q
5	30	Vasilena Amzina	BUL	4:09.12
6	115	Joyce Smith	GBR	4:09.37
7	54	Glenda Reiser	CAN	4:09.51
8	384	Francie Kraker	USA	4:12.76
9	313	Inger Knutsson	SWE	4:14.97

Splits

400 m	1:07.4	–
800 m	2:17.4	–

Heat Two

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	335	Lyudmila Bragina	URS	4:05.07	QWR
2	124	Karin Burneleit	GDR	4:05.78	Q
3	178	Ellen Tittel	FRG	4:06.65	Q
4	96	Sheila Carey	GBR	4:07.41	Q
5	188	Berny Boxem-Lenferink	NED	4:08.81	q
6	7	Jenny Orr	AUS	4:08.86	q
7	256	Wenche Sørum	NOR	4:09.70
8	385	Francie Larrieu	USA	4:15.26
9	326	Jaroslava Jehličková	TCH	4:18.16

Splits

400 m	1:03.1	–
800 m	2:09.1	–
1200 m	3:16.6	–

Final (9 September 1972 — 15:35)

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	335	Lyudmila Bragina	URS	4:01.38	WR
2	132	Gunhild Hoffmeister	GDR	4:02.83
3	218	Paola Cacchi	ITA	4:02.85
4	124	Karin Burneleit	GDR	4:04.11
5	96	Sheila Carey	GBR	4:04.81
6	189	Ilja Laman	NED	4:05.13
7	355	Tamara Pangelova	URS	4:06.45
8	7	Jenny Orr	AUS	4:12.15
9	188	Berny Boxem-Lenferink	NED	4:13.10
DNS	178	Ellen Tittel	FRG	–

Splits

400 m	1:02.5	–
800 m	2:10.0	–
1000 m	2:42.5	–
1200 m	3:14.6	–