Speed Skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics

Dates 4 – 12 February 1972
Medal Events 8

The 1954 World Championships had been held in Sapporo, but at Maryjama Park. For the 1972 Winter Olympics a new rink was constructed, the Makomanai Skating Centre. It was an outdoor rink with artificial ice, but despite its low altitude of only 71 m above sea level, it proved to be a very fast rink. The rink continues to exist and has hosted numerous international competitions, notably the 1986 and 1990 Asian Championships, the 1991 World Winter Universiade, and the 1994 Asian Single Distance Championships. One innovation in 1972 was that all times were taken electronically and timed to the hundredth of a second for the first time in speed skating at the Olympics. This also reduced the tendency for ties in the shorter distances.

The big story in 1972 was on the men’s side where Dutch skater Ard Schenk was attempting to win all four gold medals, to duplicate the feat of Lidiya Skoblikova on the women’s side in 1964, although the 500 was a long shot for him. Schenk was the best skater in the world, having won the 1970 and 1971 World Championships, winning the three longer distances en route in 1971, and setting nine world records in 1971. But his attempt would come to failure in the first race, the 500, when he fell. However, Schenk recovered to win the three longer distances, matching the feats of male skaters Clas Thunberg in 1924, Ivar Ballangrud in 1936, and Hjalmar Andersen in 1952.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
500 metres, Men Olympic 5 February 1972 38 16
1,500 metres, Men Olympic 6 February 1972 39 16
5,000 metres, Men Olympic 4 February 1972 28 14
10,000 metres, Men Olympic 7 February 1972 24 14
500 metres, Women Olympic 10 February 1972 29 12
1,000 metres, Women Olympic 11 February 1972 33 12
1,500 metres, Women Olympic 9 February 1972 31 12
3,000 metres, Women Olympic 12 February 1972 22 10
118 (67/51) 18 (16/12)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
500 metres, Men Erhard KellerFRG Hasse BörjesSWE Valery MuratovURS
1,500 metres, Men Ard SchenkNED Roar GrønvoldNOR Göran ClaesonSWE
5,000 metres, Men Ard SchenkNED Roar GrønvoldNOR Sten StensenNOR
10,000 metres, Men Ard SchenkNED Kees VerkerkNED Sten StensenNOR
500 metres, Women Anne HenningUSA Vera KrasnovaURS Lyudmila TitovaURS
1,000 metres, Women Monika PflugFRG Atje Keulen-DeelstraNED Anne HenningUSA
1,500 metres, Women Dianne HolumUSA Stien Baas-KaiserNED Atje Keulen-DeelstraNED
3,000 metres, Women Stien Baas-KaiserNED Dianne HolumUSA Atje Keulen-DeelstraNED

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Netherlands NED 4 3 2 9
United States USA 2 1 1 4
West Germany FRG 2 0 0 2
Norway NOR 0 2 2 4
Soviet Union URS 0 1 2 3
Sweden SWE 0 1 1 2