These are the official results of the Women's 400 metres event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The competition was held on 2 & 7 of September. The favorite coming into the Olympics was Monika Zehrt of East Germany who equaled the world record in the previous July. The other world record holder was Marilyn Neufville of Jamaica, who was also favored to win, but was injured and unable to compete. This left the field open to challenge the world record holder for the top prize.

Heats The top four runners in each heat (blue) and the next four fastest (pink), advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time Notes 1 Charlene Rendina 7 51.94 OR 2 Rita Wilden 4 51.97 3 Mable Fergerson 1 52.05 4 Judith Ayaa 2 52.85 5 Karoline Käfer 3 53.60 6 Asunción Acosta 5 54.52 7 Barbara Bishop 6 56.35

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time 1 Kathy Hammond 1 53.45 2 Jannette Roscoe 7 53.67 3 Marika Eklund 3 53.81 4 Natalya Pechonkina 2 53.81 5 Krystyna Kacperczyk 4 53.85 6 Junaidah Aman 5 57.36 - Christiane Casapicola 6 DNS

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time 1 Monika Zehrt 3 52.49 2 Mona-Lisa Strandvall 5 52.85 3 Trudy Ruth 2 53.16 4 Tekla Chemabwai 4 53.38 5 Debra Edwards 1 54.43 6 Maria Sykora 7 54.46 7 Josefa Vicent 6 55.33

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time 1 Nicole Duclos 4 52.69 2 Györgyi Balogh 7 52.75 3 Nadezhda Kolesnikova 2 53.20 4 Karin Wallgren 5 53.70 5 Bożena Zientarska 3 54.20 6 Ruth Williams 6 55.72 7 Aida Mantawel 1 57.91

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time 1 Yvonne Saunders 1 52.38 2 Helga Seidler 6 52.79 3 Colette Besson 5 53.41 4 Allison Ross-Edwards 4 53.48 5 Donata Govoni 2 53.98 6 Irén Orosz 3 54.83 7 Arda Kalpakian 7 1:05.18

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time 1 Christel Frese 5 52.89 2 Dagmar Käsling 6 52.99 3 Aurelia Pentón 2 53.25 4 Olga Syrovatskaya 7 53.62 5 Janet Simpson 8 54.13 6 Joyce Sadowick 3 54.59 7 Elsy Rivas 1 56.33 8 Kamaljit Sandhu 4 57.74

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time 1 Carmen Trustée 7 52.80 2 Penny Hunt 5 52.82 3 Danuta Piecyk 6 53.08 4 Verona Bernard 4 53.31 5 Anette Rückes 3 53.92 6 Vreni Leiser 1 54.65 7 Grace Muneene 2 57.71

Quarterfinals

The top four runners in each heat advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1 Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time 1 Charlene Rendina 5 51.96 2 Helga Seidler 3 51.97 3 Nadezhda Kolesnikova 1 52.30 4 Trudy Ruth 8 52.45 5 Karoline Käfer 6 52.82 6 Jannette Roscoe 7 53.01 7 Anette Rückes 2 53.22 - Carmen Trustée 4 DNS

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time 1 Yvonne Saunders 8 52.13 2 Monika Zehrt 2 52.33 3 Judith Ayaa 7 52.68 4 Christel Frese 1 53.01 5 Colette Besson 3 53.39 6 Marika Eklund 6 53.50 7 Tekla Chemabwai 5 53.54 8 Natalya Pechonkina 4 54.58

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time Notes 1 Györgyi Balogh 2 51.71 OR 2 Rita Wilden 8 51.91 3 Aurelia Pentón 6 52.02 4 Kathy Hammond 5 52.44 5 Danuta Piecyk 4 52.62 6 Penny Hunt 1 52.66 7 Olga Syrovatskaya 7 53.42 8 Donata Govoni 3 53.78

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time 1 Dagmar Käsling 1 52.33 2 Mona-Lisa Strandvall 3 52.53 3 Mable Fergerson 7 52.93 4 Nicole Duclos 8 52.96 5 Verona Bernard 2 53.29 6 Allison Ross-Edwards 5 53.60 7 Karin Wallgren 6 53.87 8 Krystyna Kacperczyk 4 54.39

Semifinals

Top four in each heat advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time Notes 1 Helga Seidler 4 51.68 OR 2 Dagmar Käsling 8 51.73 3 Györgyi Balogh 5 51.90 4 Kathy Hammond 1 51.92 5 Aurelia Pentón 6 52.15 6 Mona-Lisa Strandvall 7 52.23 7 Judith Ayaa 2 52.91 - Christel Frese 3 DNF

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time Notes 1 Monika Zehrt 5 51.47 OR 2 Rita Wilden 3 51.76 3 Charlene Rendina 8 51.90 4 Mable Fergerson 6 51.91 5 Yvonne Saunders 2 51.93 6 Nicole Duclos 4 52.18 7 Nadezhda Kolesnikova 7 52.29 8 Trudy Ruth 1 53.02

Final Rank Athlete Nation Lane Time Notes Monika Zehrt 7 51.08 OR Rita Wilden 4 51.21 Kathy Hammond 5 51.64 4 Helga Seidler 6 51.86 5 Mable Fergerson 3 51.96 6 Charlene Rendina 8 51.99 7 Dagmar Käsling 1 52.19 8 Györgyi Balogh 2 52.39

Key: OR = Olympic record; DNS = did not start; DNF = did not finish

References

External links Official report