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| Event type

Middle-Heavyweight (≤90 kilograms), Men

Date 3 September 1972 — 13:00-19:00
StatusOlympic
LocationGewichtheberhalle, Messegelände (Halle 7), München
Participants23 from 19 countries
FormatTotal of best lifts in military press, snatch, and clean & jerk determined placement. Ties broken by lightest bodyweight.

Soviet David Rigert was probably the heaviest favorite in the 1972 Olympic weightlifting competition. He had won the 1971 World Championships and his world record of 562.5 kg was well ahead of his peers. Rigert took the lead with a press of 187.5 kg but then failed all three of his snatch attempts and was out. He responded by banging his head against a wall, and pulling his hair out, and had to be restrained by his coaches. With Rigert out the event was wide-open and Bulgarians took the gold and silver medals, with Andon Nikolov winning gold and Atanas Shopov silver. At the 1976 Olympics Rigert would return and win the gold medal, with Shopov winning bronze, but at the 1980 Olympics Rigert again failed on all of his snatch attempts.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCK
1Andon NikolovBUL525.0ORGold
2Atanas ShopovBUL517.5Silver
3Hans BettembourgSWE512.5Bronze
4Phil GrippaldiUSA505.0
5Rick HolbrookUSA505.0
6Nick CiancioAUS505.0
7Juan CurbeloCUB495.0
8Jaakko KailajärviFIN487.5
9Dietrich LehFRG487.5
10Pierre GourrierFRA472.5
11Nikos IliadisGRE470.0
12Aimo NieminenFIN460.0
13Guðmundur SigurðssonISL455.0
14Rudolf LitschAUT455.0
15Osman MertTUR455.0
15Peter ArthurGBR455.0
17Wayne WilsonCAN435.0
18César GaudínPUR425.0
ACDavid RigertURS187.5
DNFFrank RothwellIRL
DNFRyoichi GotoJPN
DNFRudolf HillAUT
DNFJohn BoltonNZL