The 1972 Olympics were held in Munich, Germany. Despite the tragic terrorist attacks against the Israeli athletes for which the 1972 Olympics are most remembered, the Olympics continued. That year, perhaps the most spectacular athletic events were in swimming. Mark Spitz of the United States had a spectacular run, lining up for seven events, winning seven Olympic titles and setting seven world records. According to the official Olympic website, "He took part in the 4x200m one hour after his final in the 100m butterfly. As for the 200m freestyle gold, it was his third medal in three days" [1].

On the women's side of the competition, Shane Gould of Australia won 5 medals. She won the 200m and 400m freestyle as well as the 200m individual medley, each with a new world record time. In addition, she won the silver and the bronze in the 800m and 100m freestyle, respectively.

Medal summary

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Mark Spitz United States (USA)	51.22	Jerry Heidenreich United States (USA)	51.65	Vladimir Bure Soviet Union (URS)	51.77
200 m freestyle	Mark Spitz United States (USA)	1:52.78	Steve Genter United States (USA)	1:53.73	Werner Lampe West Germany (FRG)	1:53.99
400 m freestyle	Brad Cooper Australia (AUS)	4:00.27	Steve Genter United States (USA)	4:01.94	Tom McBreen United States (USA)	4:02.64
1500 m freestyle	Mike Burton United States (USA)	15:52.58	Graham Windeatt Australia (AUS)	15:58.48	Douglas Northway United States (USA)	16:09.25
100 m backstroke	Roland Matthes East Germany (GDR)	56.58	Mike Stamm United States (USA)	57.70	John Murphy United States (USA)	58.35
200 m backstroke	Roland Matthes East Germany (GDR)	2:02.62	Mike Stamm United States (USA)	2:04.09	Mitchell Ivey United States (USA)	2:04.33
100 m breaststroke	Nobutaka Taguchi Japan (JPN)	1:04.94	Tom Bruce United States (USA)	1:05.43	John Hencken United States (USA)	1:05.61
200 m breaststroke	John Hencken United States (USA)	2:21.55	David Wilkie Great Britain (GBR)	2:23.67	Nobutaka Taguchi Japan (JPN)	2:23.88
100 m butterfly	Mark Spitz United States (USA)	54.27	Bruce Robertson Canada (CAN)	55.56	Jerry Heidenreich United States (USA)	55.74
200 m butterfly	Mark Spitz United States (USA)	2:00.70	Gary Hall United States (USA)	2:02.86	Robin Backhaus United States (USA)	2:03.23
200 m individual medley	Gunnar Larsson Sweden (SWE)	2:07.17	Tim McKee United States (USA)	2:08.37	Steve Furniss United States (USA)	2:08.45
400 m individual medley	Gunnar Larsson Sweden (SWE)	4:31.98	Tim McKee United States (USA)	4:31.98	Andras Hargitay Hungary (HUN)	4:32.70
4×100 m freestyle relay	United States (USA) David Edgar John Murphy Jerry Heidenreich Mark Spitz	3:26.42	Soviet Union (URS) Vladimir Bure Viktor Mazanov Viktor Aboimov Igor Grivennikov	3:29.72	East Germany (GDR) Roland Matthes Wilfried Hartung Peter Bruch Lutz Unger	3:32.42
4×200 m freestyle relay	United States (USA) John Kinsella Fred Tyler Steve Genter Mark Spitz	7:35.78	West Germany (FRG) Klaus Steinbach Werner Lampe Hans Vosseler Hans Fassnacht	7:41.69	Soviet Union (URS) Igor Grivennikov Viktor Mazanov Georgi Kulikov Vladimir Bure	7:45.76
4×100 m medley relay	United States (USA) Mike Stamm Tom Bruce Mark Spitz Jerry Heidenreich	3:48.16	East Germany (GDR) Roland Matthes Klaus Katzur Hartmut Flöckner Lutz Unger	3:52.26	Canada (CAN) Erik Fish William Mahony Bruce Robertson Robert Kasting	3:53.26

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Sandra Neilson United States (USA)	58.59	Shirley Babashoff United States (USA)	59.02	Shane Gould Australia (AUS)	59.06
200 m freestyle	Shane Gould Australia (AUS)	2:03.56	Shirley Babashoff United States (USA)	2:04.33	Keena Rothhammer United States (USA)	2:04.92
400 m freestyle	Shane Gould Australia (AUS)	4:19.04	Novella Calligaris Italy (ITA)	4:22.44	Gudrun Wegner East Germany (GDR)	4:23.11
800 m freestyle	Keena Rothhammer United States (USA)	8:53.68	Shane Gould Australia (AUS)	8:56.39	Novella Calligaris Italy (ITA)	8:57.46
100 m backstroke	Melissa Belote United States (USA)	1:05.78	Andrea Gyarmati Hungary (HUN)	1:06.26	Susan Atwood United States (USA)	1:06.34
200 m backstroke	Melissa Belote United States (USA)	2:19.19	Susan Atwood United States (USA)	2:20.38	Donna Gurr Canada (CAN)	2:23.22
100 m breaststroke	Catherine Carr United States (USA)	1:13.58	Galina Stepanova Soviet Union (URS)	1:14.99	Beverley Whitfield Australia (AUS)	1:15.73
200 m breaststroke	Beverley Whitfield Australia (AUS)	2:41.05	Dana Schoenfield United States (USA)	2:42.05	Galina Stepanova Soviet Union (URS)	2:42.36
100 m butterfly	Mayumi Aoki Japan (JPN)	1:03.34	Roswitha Beier East Germany (GDR)	1:03.61	Andrea Gyarmati Hungary (HUN)	1:03.73
200 m butterfly	Karen Moe United States (USA)	2:15.57	Lynn Colella United States (USA)	2:16.34	Ellie Daniel United States (USA)	2:16.74
200 m individual medley	Shane Gould Australia (AUS)	2:23.07	Kornelia Ender East Germany (GDR)	2:23.59	Lynn Vidali United States (USA)	2:24.06
400 m individual medley	Gail Neall Australia (AUS)	5:02.97	Leslie Cliff Canada (CAN)	5:03.57	Novella Calligaris Italy (ITA)	5:03.99
4×100 m freestyle relay	United States (USA) Shirley Babashoff Jane Barkman Jennifer Kemp Sandra Neilson	3:55.19	East Germany (GDR) Andrea Eife Kornelia Ender Elke Sehmisch Gabriele Wetzko	3:55.55	West Germany (FRG) Gudrun Beckmann Heidemarie Reineck Angela Steinbach Jutta Weber	3:57.93
4×100 m medley relay	United States (USA) Melissa Belote Catherine Carr Deena Deardurff Sandra Neilson	4:30.35	East Germany (GDR) Christine Herbst Renate Vogel Roswitha Beier Kornelia Ender	4:31.88	West Germany (FRG) Gudrun Beckmann Vreni Eberle Silke Pielen Heidemarie Reineck	4:32.20

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	17	14	12	43
2	Australia (AUS)	6	2	2	10
3	East Germany (GDR)	2	5	2	9
4	Japan (JPN)	2	0	1	3
5	Sweden (SWE)	2	0	0	2
6	Soviet Union (URS)	0	2	3	5
7	Canada (CAN)	0	2	2	4
8	West Germany (FRG)	0	1	3	4
9	Italy (ITA)	0	1	2	3
	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	2	3
10	Great Britain (GBR)	0	1	0	1

Source

• Official 1972 Olympiad Website

•  • [ e] at the 1972 Summer Olympics (Munich)
Archery • Athletics • Basketball • Badminton (demonstration) • Boxing • Canoeing • Cycling • Diving • Equestrian • Fencing • Football • Gymnastics • Handball • Hockey • Judo • Modern pentathlon • Rowing • Sailing • Shooting • Swimming • Volleyball • Water polo • Water skiing (demonstration) • Weightlifting • Wrestling

•  • [ e] Swimming at the Summer Olympics
1896 • 1900 • 1904 • 1908 • 1912 • 1920 • 1924 • 1928 • 1932 • 1936 • 1948 • 1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 See also: List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men) and List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)