| | Event type

400 metres Hurdles, Men

Date	31 August – 2 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympiastadion, Olympiapark, München
Participants	37 from 25 countries

Defending champion Dave Hemery was back and was co-favorite with American Ralph Mann, who had been US Champion from 1969-71 and won the US Olympic Trials. Hemery led the final with a very quick pace, but was surprised when he was caught at the eighth hurdle by Uganda’s John Akii-Bua. Akii-Bua’s strength showed in the last 100 metres as he won in world record time by 0.69 over the fast-closing Mann, with Hemery getting the bronze medal.

Pos	Nr	Athlete	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	911	John Akii-Bua	UGA	50.35 (1 h4)	49.25 (1 h1)	47.82 (1)	Gold	WR
2	998	Ralph Mann	USA	50.18 (2 h3)	49.53 (2 h1)	48.51 (2)	Silver
3	288	Dave Hemery	GBR	49.72 (1 h2)	49.66 (3 h1)	48.52 (3)	Bronze
4	1013	Jim Seymour	USA	49.81 (2 h5)	49.33 (1 h2)	48.64 (4)
5	398	Rainer Schubert	FRG	50.23 (3 h3)	49.80 (4 h1)	49.65 (5)
=6	436	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	50.54 (2 h4)	50.06 (4 h2)	49.66 (=6)
=6	934	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.73 (1 h5)	49.34 (2 h2)	49.66 (=6)
8	967	Yury Zorin	URS	50.35 (3 h2)	49.60 (3 h2)	50.25 (8)
5 h1 r2/3	414	Rolf Ziegler	FRG	50.17 (3 h5)	49.88 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	726	Tadeusz Kulczycki	POL	50.19 (4 h1)	50.80 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	871	Ivan Daniš	TCH	50.62 (3 h4)	50.01 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	31	Gary Knoke	AUS	50.10 (2 h2)	52.79 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	953	Viktor Savchenko	URS	49.90 (2 h1)	50.28 (7 h1)	–
8 h1 r2/3	240	Jean-Pierre Corval	FRA	50.15 (3 h1)	50.75 (8 h1)	–
AC h2 r2/3	362	Dieter Büttner	FRG	49.78 (1 h1)	– (DNF h2)	–
AC h2 r2/3	341	Christian Rudolph	GDR	50.00 (1 h3)	– (DNF h2)	–
4 h2 r1/3	578	Bill Koskei	KEN	50.58 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h3 r1/3	220	Ari Salin	FIN	50.45 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h4 r1/3	29	Bruce Field	AUS	51.46 (4 h4)	–	–
4 h5 r1/3	690	Roger Johnson	NZL	50.48 (4 h5)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	173	Manuel Soriano	ESP	50.88 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	501	Giorgio Ballati	ITA	50.90 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	258	Jean-Pierre Perrinelle	FRA	51.81 (5 h3)	–	–
5 h4 r1/3	835	Hansjörg Wirz	SUI	52.34 (5 h4)	–	–
5 h5 r1/3	581	Mike Murei	KEN	51.63 (5 h5)	–	–
6 h1 r1/3	577	Fatwell Kimaiyo	KEN	51.23 (6 h1)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	1038	José Jacinto Hidalgo	VEN	54.00 (6 h2)	–	–
6 h3 r1/3	752	José Carvalho	POR	52.64 (6 h3)	–	–
6 h4 r1/3	975	Dick Bruggeman	USA	54.36 (6 h4)	–	–
6 h5 r1/3	772	Lee Chung-Ping	TPE	52.61 (6 h5)	–	–
7 h1 r1/3	521	Roberto Frinolli	ITA	51.69 (7 h1)	–	–
7 h2 r1/3	701	Norman Brinkworth	PAK	54.67 (7 h2)	–	–
7 h3 r1/3	903	Hassan Bergaoui	TUN	53.70 (7 h3)	–	–
7 h4 r1/3	764	Julio Ferrer	PUR	54.83 (7 h4)	–	–
7 h5 r1/3	660	Gladstone Agbamu	NGR	53.68 (7 h5)	–	–
8 h1 r1/3	611	Jean-Aimé Randrianalijaona	MAD	52.75 (8 h1)	–	–
AC h5 r1/3	307	John Sherwood	GBR	– (DNF h5)	–	–
DNS	1072	Francisco Rojas	PAR	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One (31 August 1972 — 10:00)

Top three in each heat and next fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	1	Dieter Büttner	FRG	49.78	Q
2	7	Viktor Savchenko	URS	49.90	Q
3	6	Jean-Pierre Corval	FRA	50.15	Q
4	5	Tadeusz Kulczycki	POL	50.19	q
5	8	Manuel Soriano	ESP	50.88
6	3	Fatwell Kimaiyo	KEN	51.23
7	4	Roberto Frinolli	ITA	51.69
8	2	Jean-Aimé Randrianalijaona	MAD	52.75

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	5	Dave Hemery	GBR	49.72	Q
2	1	Gary Knoke	AUS	50.10	Q
3	6	Yury Zorin	URS	50.35	Q
4	4	Bill Koskei	KEN	50.58
5	7	Giorgio Ballati	ITA	50.90
6	2	José Jacinto Hidalgo	VEN	54.00
7	3	Norman Brinkworth	PAK	54.67

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	3	Christian Rudolph	GDR	50.00	Q
2	5	Ralph Mann	USA	50.18	Q
3	2	Rainer Schubert	FRG	50.23	Q
4	1	Ari Salin	FIN	50.45
5	7	Jean-Pierre Perrinelle	FRA	51.81
6	4	José Carvalho	POR	52.64
7	6	Hassan Bergaoui	TUN	53.70

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	2	John Akii-Bua	UGA	50.35	Q
2	4	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	50.54	Q
3	8	Ivan Daniš	TCH	50.62	Q
4	6	Bruce Field	AUS	51.46
5	5	Hansjörg Wirz	SUI	52.34
6	1	Dick Bruggeman	USA	54.36
7	3	Julio Ferrer	PUR	54.83
DNS	7	Francisco Rojas	PAR	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	8	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.73	Q
2	1	Jim Seymour	USA	49.81	Q
3	7	Rolf Ziegler	FRG	50.17	Q
4	3	Roger Johnson	NZL	50.48
5	6	Mike Murei	KEN	51.63
6	2	Lee Chung-Ping	TPE	52.61
7	5	Gladstone Agbamu	NGR	53.68
DNF	4	John Sherwood	GBR	–

Semi-Finals (1 September 1972 — 14:30)

Top four in each heat advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	2	John Akii-Bua	UGA	49.25	Q
2	1	Ralph Mann	USA	49.53	Q
3	5	Dave Hemery	GBR	49.66	Q
4	7	Rainer Schubert	FRG	49.80	Q
5	3	Rolf Ziegler	FRG	49.88
6	8	Ivan Daniš	TCH	50.01
7	6	Viktor Savchenko	URS	50.28
8	4	Jean-Pierre Corval	FRA	50.75

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	7	Jim Seymour	USA	49.33	Q
2	6	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.34	Q
3	3	Yury Zorin	URS	49.60	Q
4	5	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	50.06	Q
5	4	Tadeusz Kulczycki	POL	50.80
6	8	Gary Knoke	AUS	52.79
DNF	1	Christian Rudolph	GDR	–
DNF	2	Dieter Büttner	FRG	–

Final (2 September 1972 — 16:15)

Pos	Lane	Athlete	NOC	Time (A)
1	1	John Akii-Bua	UGA	47.82	WR
2	6	Ralph Mann	USA	48.51
3	5	Dave Hemery	GBR	48.52
4	4	Jim Seymour	USA	48.64
5	7	Rainer Schubert	FRG	49.65
=6	2	Yevgeny Gavrilenko	URS	49.66
=6	8	Stavros Tziortzis	GRE	49.66
8	3	Yury Zorin	URS	50.25