The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1972 Summer OlympicsinMunich, West Germany. 371 competitors, 298 men and 73 women, took part in 180 events in 22 sports.[2]
| Soviet Union at the 1972 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
| |
| IOC code | URS |
| NOC | Soviet Olympic Committee |
| inMunich, West Germany 26 August 1972 (1972-08-26) – 10 September 1972 (1972-09-10) | |
| Competitors | 371 (298 men, 73 women)[1] in 22 sports |
| Flag bearer | Aleksandr Medved |
| Medals Ranked 1st |
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| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |
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| Other related appearances | |
 Russian Empire (1900–1912) Estonia (1920–1936, 1992–) Latvia (1924–1936, 1992–) Lithuania (1924–1928, 1992–) Unified Team (1992) Armenia (1994–) Belarus (1994–) Georgia (1994–) Kazakhstan (1994–) Kyrgyzstan (1994–) Moldova (1994–) Russia (1994–2016) Ukraine (1994–) Uzbekistan (1994–) Azerbaijan (1996–) Tajikistan (1996–) Turkmenistan (1996–) ROC (2020–2022) | |
The Soviet Union won 50 gold medal in the year, when the fiftieth anniversary of the USSR's founding was celebrated in the country. That fact pleased the Soviet authorities.[3]
The USSR finished first in the final medal rankings, with 50 gold and 99 total medals.
gold medal) gold medal)
Women's individual competition:
Bronze medal)Men's individual competition:
Men's 100 metres
Men's 800 metres
Silver medalMen's 1,500 metres
Men's 5000 metres
Men's 4 × 100 m relay
Silver medal)Men's high jump
Gold medal)Women's javelin throw
Gold medalMen's light middleweight (– 71 kg)
Men's heavyweight (+ 81 kg)
Fifteen cyclists represented the Soviet Union in 1972.
Gold medalMen's 3m springboard
Men's 10m platform
Women's 3m springboard
Women's 10m platform
20 fencers, 15 men and 5 women, represented the Soviet Union in 1972.
The Soviet team came away from the three-game opening round with no losses, but only one win. Ties with Denmark and Sweden and a win over Poland put the Soviet Union in a tie with Sweden at the top of the division. Since both teams moved on to the second round, the fact that Sweden won the tie-breaker mattered little. The Soviets' hopes were high after the first game of the second round, a win over East Germany that put the team on top of the division. However, their subsequent loss to Czechoslovakia dropped them to third in the group. This meant that they played in a game for fifth and sixth place against host nation West Germany. Their win was little consolation for being eliminated from medal contention.
Men's team competition:
Three male pentathletes represented the Soviet Union in 1972.
Men's individual competition
Silver medal) Bronze medal)Men's team competition
Gold medal)The Soviet Union had 26 male rowers participate in all seven rowing events in 1972.[4]
Men's single sculls
Gold medal)Fourteen male shooters represented the Soviet Union in 1972. Yakiv Zhelezniak won gold, Boris Melnik and Yevgeny Petrov won silvers and Viktor Torshin won a bronze medal.
Men's 100m freestyle
Bronze medal)Men's 200m freestyle
Men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay
Silver medal)Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay
Bronze medal) Bronze medalIn the following table for team events number of team representatives, who received medals are counted, not "one medal for all the team", as usual. Because there were people from different republics in one team.
| Rank | Republic | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Russian SFSR | 60 | 22 | 20 | 102 |
| 2 |  Ukrainian SSR | 20 | 7 | 9 | 36 |
| 3 |  Byelorussian SSR | 10 | 6 | 2 | 18 |
| 4 |  Georgian SSR | 6 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| 5 |  Uzbek SSR | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 |  Lithuanian SSR | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 |  Kazakh SSR | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 8 |  Armenian SSR | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 9 |  Azerbaijan SSR | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 |  Estonian SSR | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 |  Tajik SSR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 |  Latvian SSR | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Totals (12 entries) | 106 | 44 | 40 | 190 | |
In the following table for team events number of team representatives, who received medals are counted, not "one medal for all the team", as usual. Because there were people from different sports societies in one team.
| Pos | Sports society |
|
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Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Armed Forces | 33 | 18 | 18 | 69 |
| 2 | Dynamo | 28 | 10 | 16 | 54 |
| 3 | VSS Burevestnik | 11 | 6 | 5 | 22 |
| 4 | VSS Spartak | 9 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| 5 | VSS Trud | 7 | 1 | 1 | 9 |