Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre individual medley
The men's 400 metre individual medley event at the 1972 Summer Olympics took place August 30.[1] This swimming event used medley swimming. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of eight lengths of the pool. The first two lengths were swum using the butterfly stroke, the second pair with the backstroke, the third pair of lengths in breaststroke, and the final two were freestyle. Unlike other events using freestyle, swimmers could not use butterfly, backstroke, or breaststroke for the freestyle leg; most swimmers use the front crawl in freestyle events.
| Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Freestyle | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | women | |
| 1500 m | men | |
| Backstroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Breaststroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Butterfly | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Individual medley | ||
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| Freestyle relay | ||
| 4×100 m | men | women |
| 4×200 m | men | |
| Medley relay | ||
| 4×100 m | men | women |
Final with controversial margin
The final was won by Gunnar Larsson, who succeeded over second-placed Tim McKee by two thousandths of a second.[2] This margin in effect brought about a change in the competition, so that no swimming competition henceforward would have to be decided by a margin less than a hundredth of a second.[3]
Medalists
| Gold | Gunnar Larsson |
| Silver | Tim McKee |
| Bronze | András Hargitay |
Results
Heats
Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | András Hargitay | | 4:37.51 | |
| 2 | Christian Lietzmann |  | 4:44.47 | |
| 3 | Roger van Hamburg |  | 4:50.70 | |
| 4 | José Luis Prado |  | 4:54.49 | |
| 5 | Barry Prime |  | 4:57.77 | |
| 6 | Jairulla Jaitulla | .svg.png){kind=small} | 5:05.48 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gunnar Larsson | | 4:34.99 | |
| 2 | John McConnochie |  | 4:49.89 | |
| 3 | Valentyn Partyka | .svg.png){kind=small} | 4:50.03 | |
| 4 | David Brumwell |  | 4:52.41 | |
| 5 | Jiro Sasaki | .svg.png){kind=small} | 4:53.65 | |
| 6 | Antônio Azevedo | .svg.png){kind=small} | 4:57.27 | |
| 7 | Hsu Tung-hsiung |  | 5:09.56 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Furniss | | 4:39.33 | |
| 2 | Ricardo Marmolejo | | 4:45.20 | |
| 3 | Bertram Türpe | | 4:46.55 | |
| 4 | Neil Martin |  | 4:49.85 | |
| 5 | Csaba Sós | | 4:52.89 | |
| 6 | Sverre Kile |  | 4:59.72 | |
| 7 | Gudmunður Gíslason |  | 5:03.54 |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tim McKee | | 4:40.78 | |
| 2 | Graham Windeatt | | 4:42.16 | |
| 3 | Mikhail Sukharev | | 4:43.13 | |
| 4 | Hans-Joachim Geisler |  | 4:48.57 | |
| 5 | Mauro Calligaris |  | 4:52.02 | |
| 6 | Mike Holthaus | | 4:58.19 |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bengt Gingsjö | | 4:38.05 | |
| 2 | Gary Hall | | 4:38.95 | |
| 3 | Wolfram Sperling | | 4:42.75 | |
| 4 | Jorge Delgado Jr. | .svg.png){kind=small} | 4:45.25 | |
| 5 | Bruce Featherston | | 4:47.33 | |
| 6 | Zbigniew Pacelt | .svg.png){kind=small} | 4:55.38 |
Final
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Gunnar Larsson | | 4:31.98(1) | OR |
 | Tim McKee | | 4:31.98(3) | OR |
 | András Hargitay | | 4:32.70 | |
| 4 | Steve Furniss | | 4:35.44 | |
| 5 | Gary Hall, Sr. | | 4:37.38 | |
| 6 | Bengt Gingsjö | | 4:37.96 | |
| 7 | Graham Windeatt | | 4:40.39 | |
| 8 | Wolfram Sperling | | 4:40.66 |
Key: OR = Olympic record
References
- "Swimming at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's 400 metres Individual Medley". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
- "August 9, 2008." SwimmersWorld.com. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
- "Munich 1972." Swedish Olympic Committee, 2008. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
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