Springboard, Men

The favorite was Italian Franco Cagnotto, who had won the springboard title at the 1970 European Championships, followed by his teammate, Klaus Dibiasi, far better known for his platform work. At the 1968 Olympics Soviet diver Vladimir Vasin dislocated his shoulder in the platform event, which ended his career on the tower. He had been third to the Italians at the 1970 Europeans. In München, Cagnotto led the qualifying with Vasin in third. But on the next-to-last dive Cagnotto had a poor entry on his back 2½ and scored only 48.72 to fall behind Vasin. Vasin held on in the final dive to win the gold medal, breaking the American streak of 11 consecutive victories in the event. Craig Lincoln did continue the American streak of medaling in the event with a bronze medal.

This was Cagnotto’s third of five Olympics, but this was his first medal. He would add a bronze on the platform in München, and add further springboard medals in 1976 (silver) and 1980 (bronze) to end his Olympic career with four Olympic diving medals.