United States at the 1972 Summer Olympics

The United States competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 400 competitors, 316 men and 84 women, took part in 185 events in 21 sports.

Medalists
The United States finished in second position in the final medal rankings, with 33 gold and 94 total medals.

The following U.S. competitors won medals at the games. In the discipline sections below, the medalists' names are bolded.


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Athletes who participated in the heats only.

Archery
In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, the United States entered three men and three women. They took home both of the gold medals as well as a pair of 5th-place finishes.

Athletics
On the victory podium after the conclusion of the men's 400 meters final, gold medalist Vince Matthews and silver medalist 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, world record holder John Smith, had pulled a hamstring while leading 80 meters 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 where they would have been heavily favored.


 * Key
 * Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
 * Q = Qualified for the next round
 * q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target


 * Men
 * Road and track events


 * Field events


 * Combined event – Decathlon


 * Women
 * Track events


 * Field events


 * Combined event – Pentathlon

Basketball

 * Summary

Boxing
Reggie Jones was controversially eliminated in the second round of the light middleweight division (– 71 kg) by Valeri Tregubov of the Soviet Union, nine years his senior, in a fight he was generally accepted to have won.

Slalom

 * Men


 * Women

Sprint

 * Men and Women

Key: QF - Qualified to medal final; SF - Qualified to semifinal; R - Qualified to repechage

Cycling
Fifteen cyclists represented the United States in 1972.

Track

 * Pursuit


 * Sprint


 * Time trial

Diving

 * Men


 * Women

Equestrian

 * Dressage


 * Eventing


 * Jumping

Fencing
19 fencers represented the United States in 1972.


 * Individual
 * Men


 * Women


 * Team

Football

 * Summary


 * Team Roster
 * Mike Ivanow (GK)
 * Casey Bahr
 * John Bocwinski
 * Horst Stemke
 * Neil Stam
 * Archie Roboostoff
 * Mike Seerey
 * John Carenza
 * Buzz Demling
 * Manuel Hernandez
 * Hugo Salcedo
 * Al Trost
 * Joe Hamm
 * Steve Gay
 * Shep Messing (GK)
 * Wally Ziaja
 * Mike Flater
 * Mike Margulis
 * Jim Zylker


 * Coach: Bob Guelker

Gymnastics

 * Men
 * Team


 * Individual final


 * Women
 * Team


 * Individual finals

Handball
The United States, which had lost all three of its games in the first Olympic handball tournament, fared no better in the first round of the second tournament. The Americans lost to Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Japan to finish last place in the division, sending them to the thirteenth- to sixteenth-place consolation round. There, they finally got their first handball win over Spain before being defeated by Denmark.

Summary

Men's Team Competition:
 * United States - 14th place (1-4-0)
 * Roster - Richard Abrahamson, Fletcher Abram Jr., Roger Baker, Dennis Berkholtz, Larry Caton, Vincent DiCalogero, Elmer Edes, Thomas Hardiman, Rudolph Matthews, Sandor Rivnyak, James Rogers, Richard Schlesinger, Kevin Serrapede, Robert Sparks, Joel Voelkert, and Harry WinklerThomas Jandris)]

Modern pentathlon
Three pentathletes represented the United States in 1972.

Rowing
Qualification legend: FA = Final A (medal); FB = Final B (non-medal); SF = Semifinal; R = Repechage

Shooting
Fourteen shooters represented the United States in 1972. Lones Wigger and John Writer won golds and Lanny Bassham and Vic Auer won silver medals.

Swimming
Key
 * Note-Ranks for first round are against the entire field, ranks for semifinals and finals are within the swimmer's heat only
 * Q = Qualified for the next round on rank
 * q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser
 * = Swimmer competed in preliminary round(s) but not the final

Men

Women

Water polo
Summary

Team Roster
 * Peter Asch
 * Steven Barnett
 * Bruce Bradley
 * Stanley Cole
 * James Ferguson
 * Eric Lindroth
 * John Parker
 * Gary Sheerer
 * James Slatton
 * Russell Webb
 * Barry Weitzenberg

Wrestling
Key:
 * TO – Victory by fall.
 * SP - Win by technical superiority
 * PP - Win by technical points
 * D2 - Both wrestlers disqualified for passivity

Water skiing (demonstration sport)
Men's slalom:
 * Wayne Grimditch - 38.5 points, silver medal
 * Ricky McCormick - 27.5 points, 9th place

Men's Figure skiing:
 * Ricky McCormick - 5340 points, gold medal
 * Wayne Grimditch - 4510 points, silver medal

Men's Jump:
 * Ricky McCormick - 43.75 points, gold medal
 * Wayne Grimditch - 30.15 points, 14th place

Women's slalom:
 * Liz Allen-Shetter - 35.0 points, gold medal

Women's Figure skiing:
 * Liz Allen-Shetter - 1550 points, 5th place

Women's Jump:
 * Liz Allen-Shetter - 25.70 points, bronze medal