The men's 400 metres was an event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The competition was held on 3, 4 and 7 September. Sixty-four athletes from 49 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.14 seconds by Vince Matthews of the United States, the nation's fifth consecutive and 12th overall victory in the event (all by different men). The Americans' hopes to repeat their podium sweep of four years earlier were dashed by injury in the final. Bronze medalist Julius Sang became the first black African to win a sprint Olympic medal, earning Kenya's first medal in the event.

On the victory podium, Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett talked to each other and failed to stand at attention during the medal ceremony. On the advice of Avery Brundage, the International Olympic Committee banned them from further competition. Since the third American competitor, John Smith, had pulled a hamstring while leading 80 metres into the final and had been ruled unfit to run, the United States were left unable to field a 4 x 400 relay team, and were thus forced to scratch from the event.

Background

This was the seventeenth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Three finalists, but no medalists, from 1968 returned: fourth-place finisher Amadou Gakou of Senegal, sixth-place Tegegne Bezabeh of Ethiopia, and seventh-place Andrzej Badeński of Poland (who had won bronze in 1964). Despite the complete turnover from their 1968 podium sweep, the United States team was again favored—this time led by John Smith, the 440-yard world record holder and AAU champion.

Dahomey, Cambodia, the Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Kuwait, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malawi, Paraguay, Peru, Saudi Arabia, and Zambia appeared in this event for the first time. The United States made its seventeenth appearance in the event, the only nation to compete in it at every Olympic Games to that point.

Competition format

The competition retained the basic four-round format from 1920. The "fastest loser" system, introduced in 1964, was applied in the first round and quarterfinals. There were 9, each scheduled to have 7 or 8 athletes but some with only 6 starters. The top four runners in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals along with the next four fastest overall. The 5 quarterfinals each had 8 runners; the top three athletes in each quarterfinal heat advanced to the semifinals, with one spot for the next fastest finisher. The semifinals featured 2 heats of 8 runners each. The top four runners in each semifinal heat advanced, making an eight-man final.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 50.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

No world or Olympic records were set during this event.

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round Sunday, 3 September 1972 16:00 Round 1 Monday, 4 September 1972 11:3517:45 QuarterfinalsSemifinals Thursday, 7 September 1972 17:30 Final

Results

Round 1

The top four runners in each of the nine heats (darker green) and the next four fastest (lighter green), advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Andrzej Badeński 46.21 2 3 Charles Joseph 46.38 3 5 Mulugetta Tadesse 46.38 4 7 Wickremasinghe Wimaladasa 46.62 5 2 Bjarni Sefánsson 46.76 6 6 Jozo Alebić 47.01 7 8 Silver Ayoo 47.04 8 1 Nusrat Iqbal Sahi 49.57

Heat 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 David Jenkins 46.15 2 7 Anders Faager 46.29 3 8 Munyoro Nyamau 46.33 4 5 Omar Ghizlat 46.37 5 3 Bruce Ijirighwo 46.59 6 6 Samuela Yavala 47.76 7 1 Théophile Nkounkou 47.86 8 4 Francisco Menocal 50.96

Heat 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 8 Georg Nückles 46.64 2 6 Yoshiharu Tomonaga 47.01 3 3 Francis Kerbiriou 47.01 4 1 Sam Bugri 47.83 5 2 Thomas N'Ma 49.73 6 5 Jean-Max Faustin 52.33 — — Marcello Fiasconaro — Michael Frederiksson

Heat 4 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Alberto Juantorena 45.94 2 1 Wayne Collett 46.00 3 3 Claver Kamanya 46.18 4 4 Gilles Bertould 46.36 5 2 Eric Phillips 46.74 6 7 Pedro Ferrer 47.90 7 7 Nicodemus Maipampe 48.84

Heat 5 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Tegegne Bezabeh 45.88 2 1 Vince Matthews 45.94 3 7 Angelo Hussein 47.01 4 3 Robert Ojo 47.03 5 5 Fanahan McSweeney 47.07 6 6 Fernando Silva 47.67 7 4 Kassem Hamzé 49.20

Heat 6 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 8 Charles Asati 45.16 2 5 Leighton Priestley 45.75 3 2 Fernando Acevedo 45.80 4 6 Jan Werner 45.93 5 4 Gary Armstrong 46.48 6 3 Francisco Rojas 47.46 7 1 Brian MacLaren 47.65 — — Caspar Springer

Heat 7 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 5 Julius Sang 45.24 2 1 Martin Reynolds 46.46 3 2 Daniel Velasques 46.70 4 3 Karl Honz 46.77 5 7 Franklin Rahming 48.30 6 6 Ibrahima Idrissou 48.50 7 4 William Msiska 48.81

Heat 8 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske 45.27 2 7 John Smith 46.00 3 1 Kyriakos Onisiforou 46.94 4 5 Reza Entezari 47.89 5 6 Mohamed Saad 49.61 6 4 Mohamed Jaman Al-Dosari 49.67 — — Lucijano Sušanj

Heat 9 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 6 Markku Kukkoaho 46.05 2 3 Zbigniew Jaremski 46.20 3 7 Arthur Cooper 47.15 4 8 Amadou Gakou 47.68 5 4 Tambusamy Krishnan 48.31 6 1 Frédérique Andrianaivo 48.72 7 5 Savin Chem 48.82 — — Jimmy Sierra

Quarterfinals

The top three runners in each of the five heats, and the next fastest, advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Wayne Collett 45.80 2 6 Alberto Juantorena 45.96 3 7 Jan Werner 46.02 4 5 Martin Reynolds 46.11 5 1 Charles Joseph 46.14 6 8 Robert Ojo 46.73 7 4 Omar Ghizlat 46.84 8 3 Sam Bugri 47.34

Quarterfinal 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske 45.41 2 3 Vince Matthews 45.62 3 6 Tegegne Bezabeh 45.97 4 1 Gilles Bertould 46.14 5 5 Wickremasinghe Wimaladasa 46.50 6 7 Leighton Priestley 47.76 7 4 Arthur Cooper 48.29 8 8 Reza Entezari 48.69

Quarterfinal 3 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 7 David Jenkins 45.99 2 8 John Smith 46.04 3 4 Markku Kukkoaho 46.11 4 3 Munyoro Nyamau 46.80 5 2 Bruce Ijirighwo 46.81 6 6 Daniel Velasques 46.91 7 5 Amadou Gakou 46.96 8 1 Angelo Hussein 47.33

Quarterfinal 4 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Karl Honz 45.87 2 7 Julius Sang 45.92 3 5 Zbigniew Jaremski 46.52 4 1 Anders Faager 46.54 5 4 Francis Kerbiriou 46.63 6 2 Yoshiharu Tomonaga 46.92 7 6 Gary Armstrong 47.10 8 8 Kyriakos Onisiforou 47.22

Quarterfinal 5 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1 Charles Asati 46.04 2 5 Andrzej Badeński 46.19 3 4 Georg Nückles 46.30 4 8 Claver Kamanya 46.55 5 6 Mulugetta Tadesse 46.85 6 7 Bjarni Stefánsson 46.92 7 2 Eric Phillips 46.97 — 3 Fernando Acevedo

Semifinals

Top four in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 4 Vince Matthews 44.94 2 3 Karl Honz 45.32 3 1 John Smith 45.46 4 2 Charles Asati 45.47 5 8 David Jenkins 45.91 6 6 Tegegne Bezabeh 45.98 7 5 Georg Nückles 46.28 8 7 Andrzej Badeński 46.38

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 1 Julius Sang 45.30 2 3 Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske 45.62 3 2 Wayne Collett 45.77 4 4 Markku Kukkoaho 46.02 5 5 Alberto Juantorena 46.07 6 8 Jan Werner 46.26 7 7 Martin Reynolds 46.71 — 6 Zbigniew Jaremski

Final

Smith was leading at 80 metres when he pulled his hamstring and could not finish.

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time 2 Vince Matthews 44.66 3 Wayne Collett 44.80 5 Julius Sang 44.92 4 8 Charles Asati 45.13 5 7 Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske 45.31 6 4 Markku Kukkoaho 45.49 7 1 Karl Honz 45.68 — 6 John Smith

References

External links Official report