| | Event type

Small-Bore Rifle, Three Positions, 50 metres, Open

Date	30 August 1972 — 9:00
Status	Olympic
Location	Schießanlage, Hochbrück, München
Participants	69 from 40 countries
Format	50 metres. 120 shots, 40 shots prone, 40 kneeling, and 40 standing. 400 possible at each distance, 1,200 posible overall.

The gold medal went to American John Writer, silver medalist in the event in 1968, who broke the world record with 1,166 to win easily. Writer’s victory was based on a record score of 381 in the standing phase. The silver medalist was also from the United States, Lanny Bassham, who got off to a very poor start in the prone position, but recovered well and had the highest score kneeling. Bassham would return in 1976 to win the gold medal. Bassham was disappointed by his silver medal in 1972 and began work on various methods of mind control. He would later use this as his career, teaching mental management to many clients – among them PGA Tour players, Miss America finalists, Fortune 500 companies, Secret Serviceagents, US Navy Seals, U.S. Army and Marines Marksmanship Units and the FBI.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Points	Prone Points	Kneeling Points	Standing Points
1	415	John Writer	USA	1,166	395	390	381	Gold	WR
2	404	Lanny Bassham	USA	1,157	390	392	375	Silver
3	146	Werner Lippoldt	GDR	1,153	393	388	372	Bronze
4	370	Petr Kovářík	TCH	1,153	397	388	368
5	388	Vladimir Agishev	URS	1,152	392	391	369
6	284	Andrzej Sieledcow	POL	1,151	395	387	369
7	157	Gottfried Kustermann	FRG	1,149	397	388	364
8	330	Nicolae Rotaru	ROU	1,148	397	390	361
9	297	Li Ho-Jun	PRK	1,147	396	384	367
10	419	Zdravko Milutinović	YUG	1,144	396	382	366
11	395	Vitaly Parkhimovich	URS	1,144	396	384	364
12	366	Karel Bulan	TCH	1,144	395	382	367
13	43	Emiliyan Vergov	BUL	1,143	393	388	362
14	149	Uto Wunderlich	GDR	1,142	391	377	374
15	351	Erwin Vogt	SUI	1,141	398	383	360
16	155	Bernd Klingner	FRG	1,141	395	387	359
17	175	László Hammerl	HUN	1,141	395	379	367
18	133	Malcolm Cooper	GBR	1,141	394	383	364
19	84	Miguel Valdés	CUB	1,139	393	387	359
20	331	Petre Șandor	ROU	1,139	387	383	369
21	202	Giuseppe De Chirico	ITA	1,138	395	381	362
22	356	Christer Jansson	SWE	1,138	395	378	365
23	181	Sándor Nagy	HUN	1,138	396	382	360
24	19	Gilbert Emptaz	FRA	1,138	395	381	362
25	17	Wolfram Waibel, Sr.	AUT	1,137	392	381	364
26	357	Sven Johansson	SWE	1,136	395	384	357
27	298	Li Yun-Hae	PRK	1,134	397	385	352
28	78	Raúl Llanos	CUB	1,134	393	382	359
29	107	Esa Kervinen	FIN	1,134	395	381	358
30	87	Henning Clausen	DEN	1,133	394	379	360
31	130	Bob Churchill	GBR	1,132	396	378	358
32	111	Jaakko Minkkinen	FIN	1,132	392	379	361
33	91	Per Weichel	DEN	1,130	391	381	358
34	42	Stefan Vasilev	BUL	1,130	397	379	354
35	254	Bjørn Bakken	NOR	1,129	390	375	364
36	281	Eugeniusz Pędzisz	POL	1,128	393	381	354
37	203	Piero Errani	ITA	1,128	392	375	361
38	117	Patrice de Mullenheim	FRA	1,126	393	384	349
39	14	Guido Loacker	AUT	1,126	396	375	355
40	246	Mendbayaryn Jantsankhorloo	MGL	1,125	397	378	350
41	211	Minoru Ito	JPN	1,124	390	380	354
42	48	Alf Mayer	CAN	1,123	394	382	347
43	242	Olegario Vázquez	MEX	1,122	392	376	354
44	253	Helge Anshushaug	NOR	1,121	398	375	348
45	349	Martin Truttmann	SUI	1,117	391	367	359
46	225	Henry Herscovici	ISR	1,114	394	375	345
47	291	Frans Lafortune	BEL	1,107	394	368	345
48	253	Jaime Callejas	COL	1,106	387	373	346
49	349	Arne Sorensen	CAN	1,105	391	372	342
50	236	Jesús Elizondo	MEX	1,105	390	374	341
51	322	Wu Tao-Yan	TPE	1,101	390	368	343
52	59	Jorge di Giandoménico	ARG	1,098	386	362	350
53	53	Chawalit Kamutchati	THA	1,090	388	364	338
54	245	Yondonjamtsyn Batsükh	MGL	1,088	390	367	331
55	322	Alfonso Rodríguez	COL	1,087	388	357	342
56	3	Hugo Chamberlain	CRC	1,086	388	361	337
57	374	Preeda Phengdisth	THA	1,079	387	363	329
58	245	Mehmet Dursun	TUR	1,078	388	357	333
59	67	Lodovico Espinosa	PHI	1,072	390	362	320
60	73	Dismus Onyiego	KEN	1,063	386	357	320
61	379	César Baptista	POR	1,057	393	359	305
62	223	Juan Antonio Valencia	ESA	1,053	388	348	317
63	338	Mário Ribeiro	POR	1,051	379	349	323
64	198	John Muhato	KEN	1,040	386	344	310
65	250	Italo Casali	SMR	1,026	374	347	305
66	339	Adelbert Nico	ISV	1,017	382	349	286
67	199	Francis Boisson	MON	1,004	375	326	303
68	337	Libero Casali	SMR	997	363	354	280
69	294	Salvador Sanpere	ISV	979	368	314	297
DNS	54	Daya Rajasinghe Nadarajasingham	SRI	–	–	–	–
DNS	170	Owen Phillips	BIZ	–	–	–	–
DNS	–	Alberto Santiago	PUR	–	–	–	–