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| Event type

100 metres Freestyle, Men

Date2 – 3 September 1972
StatusOlympic
LocationSchwimmhalle, Olympiapark, München
Participants48 from 29 countries

Mark Spitz had already won five gold medals in Munich, in his attempt to win seven golds in seven events. The day after the 100 freestyle final he would swim the medley relay final for the United States, which was pretty much a given for another gold medal. So his quest to win 7 in 7 came down to this race, the one race in which he was considered slightly vulnerable, as his teammate Jerry Heidenreich was a formidable challenger. The day before the final, in the heats and semis, he had held back and had not won either race. He considered dropping out of the final, to preserve his perfect record in Munich, but elected to race and go for seven.

Spitz started the final out fast, which surprised Heidenreich. He reached the turn well ahead and then hung on, as Heidenreich closed fast, but it was not enough to prevent Spitz from winning his sixth gold medal in Munich. Soviet Russian Vladimir Bure won the bronze medal. His son, Pavel Bure, later played for the Soviet and Russian national teams in ice hockey, and played for 12 years in the NHL.

PosSwimmerNOCR1SFFinal
1Mark SpitzUSA52.46 (2 h7)52.43 (2 h2)51.22 (1)Gold
2Jerry HeidenreichUSA52.38 (1 h6)52.31 (1 h1)51.65 (2)Silver
3Vladimir BureURS52.87 (1 h3)52.60 (3 h1)51.77 (3)Bronze
4John MurphyUSA53.07 (1 h5)53.17 (4 h2)52.08 (4)
5Mike WendenAUS52.34 (1 h7)52.32 (1 h2)52.41 (5)
6Igor GrivennikovURS53.64 (1 h2)52.55 (2 h1)52.44 (6)
7Michel RousseauFRA52.93 (1 h4)52.82 (4 h1)52.90 (7)
8Klaus SteinbachFRG52.91 (3 h7)52.87 (3 h2)52.92 (8)
9José Roberto AranhaBRA54.06 (3 h3)53.47 (5 h1)
10Bob KastingCAN54.07 (3 h6)53.62 (5 h2)
11Georgijs KuļikovsURS53.78 (2 h5)53.68 (6 h2)
12Brian PhillipsCAN53.75 (2 h6)53.73 (6 h1)
13Jorge ComasESP53.70 (2 h3)53.92 (7 h2)
14Peter BruchGDR54.25 (3 h5)53.97 (7 h1)
15Greg RogersAUS53.98 (3 h4)54.26 (8 h2)
16Kersten MeierFRG53.96 (2 h4)54.35 (8 h1)
17Ruy OliveiraBRA54.26 (1 h1)
18Gerhard SchillerFRG54.28 (4 h6)
19Gilles VigneFRA54.34 (2 h1)
20Hartmut FlöcknerGDR54.36 (4 h4)
21Wilfried HartungGDR54.37 (3 h1)
=22Fritz WarnckeNOR54.41 (4 h7)
=22Colin HerringNZL54.41 (2 h2)
24Alain HermitteFRA54.57 (3 h2)
25Malcolm WindeattGBR54.70 (4 h1)
26István SzentirmayHUN54.71 (4 h2)
27Roberto PangaroITA54.74 (5 h7)
28Bruce RobertsonCAN54.76 (5 h4)
29Paulo ZanettiBRA54.97 (4 h5)
30Brian BrinkleyGBR55.06 (5 h5)
31Hanspeter WürmliSUI55.08 (4 h3)
32Neil RogersAUS55.32 (5 h3)
33Marian SlavicROU55.35 (6 h7)
34Attila CsászáriHUN55.37 (5 h6)
35Finnur GarðarssonISL55.53 (6 h6)
36Zbigniew PaceltPOL55.97 (6 h5)
37Andrew HunterIRL56.09 (7 h5)
38Geoffrey FerreiraTTO56.27 (5 h1)
39Salvador VilanovaESA56.57 (7 h6)
40Antonio FerracutiESA56.69 (5 h2)
41Roberto StraussMEX56.78 (6 h1)
42Sandro RudanYUG56.91 (6 h2)
43Jorge van BalenVEN57.20 (7 h7)
44Ronnie WongHKG57.53 (8 h6)
45Samnang PrakCAM59.18 (6 h3)
46Feridun AybarsTUR59.32 (6 h4)
47Bruno BassoulLBN1:00.08 (7 h2)
48Abdullah AbdulrahmanKUW1:03.94 (8 h5)
DNSYuliyan RusevBUL– (DNS h4)
DNSFernando GonzálezECU
DNSJuan Carlos BelloPER– (DNS h7)
DNSDaniel PinargoteECU
DNSLuis AyesaPHI– (DNS h3)
DNSAnders BellbringSWE– (DNS h1)

Round One (2 September 1972 — 10:00)

Fastest 16 advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Ruy OliveiraBRA54.26
2Gilles VigneFRA54.34
3Wilfried HartungGDR54.37
4Malcolm WindeattGBR54.70
5Geoffrey FerreiraTTO56.27
6Roberto StraussMEX56.78
DNSAnders BellbringSWE

Heat Two

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Igor GrivennikovURS53.64Q
2Colin HerringNZL54.41
3Alain HermitteFRA54.57
4István SzentirmayHUN54.71
5Antonio FerracutiESA56.69
6Sandro RudanYUG56.91
7Bruno BassoulLBN1:00.08

Heat Three

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Vladimir BureURS52.87Q
2Jorge ComasESP53.70Q
3José Roberto AranhaBRA54.06Q
4Hanspeter WürmliSUI55.08
5Neil RogersAUS55.32
6Samnang PrakCAM59.18
DNSLuis AyesaPHI

Heat Four

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Michel RousseauFRA52.93Q
2Kersten MeierFRG53.96Q
3Greg RogersAUS53.98Q
4Hartmut FlöcknerGDR54.36
5Bruce RobertsonCAN54.76
6Feridun AybarsTUR59.32
DNSYuliyan RusevBUL

Heat Five

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1John MurphyUSA53.07Q
2Georgijs KuļikovsURS53.78Q
3Peter BruchGDR54.25Q
4Paulo ZanettiBRA54.97
5Brian BrinkleyGBR55.06
6Zbigniew PaceltPOL55.97
7Andrew HunterIRL56.09
8Abdullah AbdulrahmanKUW1:03.94

Heat Six

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Jerry HeidenreichUSA52.38Q
2Brian PhillipsCAN53.75Q
3Bob KastingCAN54.07Q
4Gerhard SchillerFRG54.28
5Attila CsászáriHUN55.37
6Finnur GarðarssonISL55.53
7Salvador VilanovaESA56.57
8Ronnie WongHKG57.53

Heat Seven

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Mike WendenAUS52.34Q
2Mark SpitzUSA52.46Q
3Klaus SteinbachFRG52.91Q
4Fritz WarnckeNOR54.41
5Roberto PangaroITA54.74
6Marian SlavicROU55.35
7Jorge van BalenVEN57.20
DNSJuan Carlos BelloPER

Semi-Finals (2 September 1972 — 18:00)

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

Heat One

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Jerry HeidenreichUSA52.31Q
2Igor GrivennikovURS52.55Q
3Vladimir BureURS52.60Q
4Michel RousseauFRA52.82Q
5José Roberto AranhaBRA53.47
6Brian PhillipsCAN53.73
7Peter BruchGDR53.97
8Kersten MeierFRG54.35

Heat Two

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
1Mike WendenAUS52.32Q
2Mark SpitzUSA52.43Q
3Klaus SteinbachFRG52.87Q
4John MurphyUSA53.17Q
5Bob KastingCAN53.62
6Georgijs KuļikovsURS53.68
7Jorge ComasESP53.92
8Greg RogersAUS54.26

Final (3 September 1972 — 18:45)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTime
13Mark SpitzUSA51.22WR
24Jerry HeidenreichUSA51.65
32Vladimir BureURS51.77
48John MurphyUSA52.08
55Mike WendenAUS52.41
66Igor GrivennikovURS52.44
77Michel RousseauFRA52.90
81Klaus SteinbachFRG52.92