Rowing at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Dates 27 August – 2 September 1972
Medal Events 7

Rowing at the 1972 Summer Olympics was held in the Munich district of Oberschleißheim, where an artificial course was installed for the Games. The 1972 program remained that same as it had been since 1924 and was the last one held before events for women and the men’s quadruple sculls were included. East Germany dominated the medal table, winning one in every event, three of which were gold. This was the first time a nation had accomplished such a feat since unified Germany had done it in 1936. No other nation won more than two medals and only East Germany and the Soviet Union took home more than one title, thanks to victories in both sculling events for the latter.

Bermuda sent its first, and as of 2012 only, rower to the Olympics in the person of Jim Butterfield in the single sculls. North Korea also took part in rowing at the Games (and the Summer Olympics) for the first time, by entering a crew into the coxless fours event. Ireland, meanwhile, sent Seán Drea to compete in the single sculls, their first rowing entry since 1948. All this meant that a record 35 nations took part in Olympic rowing in 1972, up from the previous high of 33. Meanwhile, by taking bronze in the coxed pairs, Romania won its first Olympic rowing medal since its inaugural appearance in 1952. Czechoslovakia’s Vladimír Petříček won two medals in Munich, silver and bronze in the coxed pairs and fours respectively, becoming the first multiple medalist in one edition since several members of the Swiss delegation did so in 1936.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Single Sculls, Men Olympic 27 August – 2 September 1972 18 18
Double Sculls, Men Olympic 27 August – 2 September 1972 38 19
Coxless Pairs, Men Olympic 27 August – 2 September 1972 38 19
Coxed Pairs, Men Olympic 27 August – 2 September 1972 63 21
Coxless Fours, Men Olympic 27 August – 2 September 1972 80 20
Coxed Fours, Men Olympic 27 August – 2 September 1972 70 14
Eights, Men Olympic 27 August – 2 September 1972 135 15
440 (440/0) 35 (35/0)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Single Sculls, Men Yury MalyshevURS Alberto DemiddiARG Wolfgang GüldenpfennigGDR
Double Sculls, Men Soviet UnionURS NorwayNOR East GermanyGDR
Coxless Pairs, Men East GermanyGDR SwitzerlandSUI NetherlandsNED
Coxed Pairs, Men East GermanyGDR CzechoslovakiaTCH RomaniaROU
Coxless Fours, Men East GermanyGDR New ZealandNZL West GermanyFRG
Coxed Fours, Men West GermanyFRG East GermanyGDR CzechoslovakiaTCH
Eights, Men New ZealandNZL United StatesUSA East GermanyGDR

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
East Germany GDR 3 1 3 7
Soviet Union URS 2 0 0 2
New Zealand NZL 1 1 0 2
West Germany FRG 1 0 1 2
Czechoslovakia TCH 0 1 1 2
Argentina ARG 0 1 0 1
Norway NOR 0 1 0 1
Switzerland SUI 0 1 0 1
United States USA 0 1 0 1
Netherlands NED 0 0 1 1
Romania ROU 0 0 1 1