Finland at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Finland competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 96 competitors, 89 men and 7 women, took part in 75 events in 16 sports.

Medalists
Finland finished in 14th position in the final medal rankings, with three gold medals and eight medals overall.

Gold

 * Pekka Vasala &mdash; Athletics, Men's 1,500m
 * Lasse Virén &mdash; Athletics, Men's 5,000m
 * Lasse Virén &mdash; Athletics, Men's 10,000m

Silver

 * Reima Virtanen &mdash; Boxing, Men's Middleweight

Bronze

 * Tapio Kantanen &mdash; Athletics, Men's 3,000m Steeplechase
 * Kyösti Laasonen &mdash; Archery, Men's Individual Competition
 * Risto Hurme, Veikko Salminen, and Martti Ketelä &mdash; Modern Pentathlon, Men's Team Competition
 * Risto Björlin &mdash; Wrestling, Men's Greco-Roman Bantamweight

Archery
In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, Finland entered three men. They won a bronze medal.

Men's Individual Competition:
 * Kyösti Laasonen &mdash; 2467 points (→ Bronze Medal)
 * Olavi Laurila &mdash; 2372 points (→ 20th place)
 * Jorma Sandelin &mdash; 2278 points (→ 40th place)

Athletics


Men's 100 metres
 * Antti Rajamäki
 * First Heat &mdash; 10.52s (→ did not advance)
 * Raimo Vilen
 * First Heat &mdash; 11.00s (→ did not advance)

Men's 1500 metres
 * Pekka Vasala
 * Heat &mdash; 3:40.9
 * Semifinals &mdash; 3:37.9
 * Final &mdash; 3:36.3 (→ [[Image:Med 1.png]] Gold Medal)
 * Pekka Päivärinta
 * Heat &mdash; 3:40.9
 * Semifinals &mdash; 3:45.1 (→ did not advance)

Men's 5000 metres
 * Tapio Kantanen
 * Heat &mdash; 13:42.0 (→ did not advance)

Men's 4 × 100 m Relay
 * Antti Rajamäki, Raimo Vilen, Erik Gustafsson, and Markku Juhola
 * Heat &mdash; 39.54s
 * Semifinals &mdash; 39.30s (NR) (→ did not advance)

Boxing
Men's Light Middleweight (– 71 kg)
 * Mikko Saarinen
 * First Round &mdash; Bye
 * Second Round &mdash; Defeated David Attan (KEN), TKO-2
 * Third Round &mdash; Lost to Peter Tiepold (GDR), 0:5

Cycling
Six cyclists represented Finland in 1972.


 * Individual road race
 * Harry Hannus &mdash; did not finish (→ no ranking)
 * Mauno Uusivirta &mdash; did not finish (→ no ranking)
 * Tapani Vuorenhela &mdash; did not finish (→ no ranking)
 * Ole Wackström &mdash; did not finish (→ no ranking)


 * Team time trial
 * Kalevi Eskelinen
 * Harry Hannus
 * Mauno Uusivirta
 * Ole Wackström


 * Team individual pursuit
 * Raimo Suikkanen

Diving
Men's 3m Springboard:
 * Pentti Koskinen &mdash; 336.99 points (15th place)

Women's 3m Springboard:
 * Laura Kivelä &mdash; 236.25 points (24th place)

Women's 10m Platform:
 * Laura Kivelä &mdash; 172.65 points (22nd place)

Fencing
One fencer represented Finland in 1972.


 * Men's épée
 * Risto Hurme

Modern pentathlon
Three male pentathletes represented Finland in 1972, with them winning bronze in the team event.

Men's Individual Competition:
 * Risto Hurme &mdash; 5094 points (→ 8th place)
 * Veikko Salminen &mdash; 4852 points (→ 17th place)
 * Martti Ketelä &mdash; 4849 points (→ 19th place)

Men's Team Competition:
 * Hurme, Salminen, and Ketelä &mdash; 14812 points (→ [[Image:Med 3.png]] Bronze Medal)

Rowing
Men's Coxed Pairs
 * Leo Ahonen, Leif Anderson and Antero Yli-lkkelä
 * Heat &mdash; 8:06.56
 * Repechage &mdash; 8:11.89 (→ did not advance)

Shooting
Ten male shooters represented Finland in 1972.


 * 25 m pistol
 * Immo Huhtinen
 * Seppo Mäkinen


 * 50 m pistol
 * Seppo Irjala
 * Immo Huhtinen


 * 300 m rifle, three positions
 * Jaakko Minkkinen
 * Osmo Ala-Honkola


 * 50 m rifle, three positions
 * Esa Kervinen
 * Jaakko Minkkinen


 * 50 m rifle, prone
 * Jaakko Asikainen
 * Esa Kervinen


 * 50 m running target
 * Pekka Suomela
 * Paavo Mikkonen


 * Skeet
 * Ari Westergård