Athletes from East Germany (German Democratic Republic, called DDR in the opening ceremony) competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 297 competitors, 231 men and 66 women, took part in 161 events in 18 sports.
Peter Frenkel — Athletics, Men's 20 km Walk
Wolfgang Nordwig — Athletics, Men's Pole Vault
Renate Stecher — Athletics, Women's 100 metres
Renate Stecher — Athletics, Women's 200 metres
Monika Zehrt — Athletics, Women's 400 metres
Annelie Ehrhardt — Athletics, Women's 100m Hurdles
Monika Zehrt, Dagmar Käsling, Rita Kühne, and Helga Seidler — Athletics, Women's 4 × 400 m Relay
Ruth Fuchs — Athletics, Women's Javelin Throw
Siegbert Horn — Canoeing, Men's K1 Kayak Slalom Singles
Reinhard Eiben — Canoeing, Men's C1 Canadian Slalom Singles
Rolf-Dieter Amend and Walter Hofmann — Canoeing, Men's C2 Canadian Slalom Pairs
Angelika Bahmann — Canoeing, Women's K1 Kayak Slalom Singles
Klaus Köste — Gymnastics, Men's Long Horse Vault
Karin Janz — Gymnastics, Women's Side Horse Vault
Karin Janz — Gymnastics, Women's Asymmetrical Bars
Siegfried Brietzke and Wolfgang Mager — Rowing, Men's Coxless Pairs
Wolfgang Gunkel, Jörg Lucke, and Klaus-Dieter Neubert — Rowing, Men's Coxed Pairs
Dieter Schubert, Frank Forberger, Dieter Grahn and Frank Rühle — Rowing, Men's Coxless Fours
Roland Matthes — Swimming, Men's 100m Backstroke
Roland Matthes — Swimming, Men's 200m Backstroke
Stefan Junge — Athletics, Men's High Jump
Jörg Drehmel — Athletics, Men's Triple Jump
Jochen Sachse — Athletics, Men's Hammer Throw
Gunhild Hoffmeister — Athletics, Women's 1500 metres
Bärbel Struppert, Christina Heinich, Evelyn Kaufer, and Renate Stecher — Athletics, Women's 4 × 100 m Relay
Margitta Gummel-Helmboldt — Athletics, Women's Shot Put
Jacqueline Todten — Athletics, Women's Javelin Throw
Petra Grabowski and Ilse Kaschube — Canoeing, Women's K2 500m Kayak Pairs
Uwe Unterwalder, Thomas Huschke, Heinz Richter, and Herbert Richter — Cycling, Men's 4000m Team Pursuit
Jürgen Geschke and Werner Otto — Cycling, Men's 2000m Tandem
Karin Janz — Gymnastics, Women's All-Around Individual
Erika Zuchold — Gymnastics, Women's Side Horse Vault
Erika Zuchold — Gymnastics, Women's Asymmetrical Bars
Erika Zuchold, Richarda Schmeißer, Christine Schmitt, Irene Abel, Angelika Hellmann, and Karin Janz — Gymnastics, Women's Team Combined Exercises
Eckhard Martens, Dietrich Zander, Reinhard Gust, Rolf Jobst, and Klaus-Dieter Ludwig — Rowing, Men's Coxed Fours
Roland Matthes, Klaus Katzur, Hartmut Flöckner, and Lutz Unger — Swimming, Men's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay
Roswitha Beier — Swimming, Women's 100m Butterfly
Kornelia Ender — Swimming, Women's 200m Individual Medley
Gabriele Wetzko, Andrea Eife, Kornelia Ender, and Elke Sehmisch — Swimming, Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay
Christine Herbst, Renate Vogel, Roswitha Beier, and Kornelia Ender — Swimming, Women's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay
Rainer Tscharke, Wolfgang Webner, Wolfgang Weise, Siegfried Schneider, Arnold Schulz, Rudi Schumann, Jürgen Maune, Horst Peter, Eckehard Pietzsch, Horst Hagen, Wolfgang Löwe, and Wolfgang Maibohm — Volleyball, Men's Team Competition
Heinz-Helmut Wehling — Wrestling, Men's Greco-Roman Featherweight
Paul Borowski, Karl-Heinz Thun and Konrad Weichert — Sailing, Men's Dragon Class
Hans-Georg Reimann — Athletics, Men's 20 km Walk
Hartmut Briesenick — Athletics, Men's Shot Put
Gunhild Hoffmeister — Athletics, Women's 800 metres
Karin Balzer — Athletics, Women's 100m Hurdles
Burglinde Pollak — Athletics, Women's Pentathlon
Peter Tiepold — Boxing, Men's Light Middleweight
Marina Janicke — Diving, Women's 3m Springboard
Marina Janicke — Diving, Women's 10m Platform
Harald Gimpel — Canoeing, Men's K1 Kayak Slalom Singles
Jürgen Schütze — Cycling, Men's 1000m Time Trial
Jürgen Paeke, Reinhard Rychly, Wolfgang Thüne, Matthias Brehme, Wolfgang Klotz, and Klaus Köste — Gymnastics, Men's Team Combined Exercises 559.70
Karin Janz — Gymnastics, Women's Balance Beam
Dietmar Hötger — Judo, Men's Half Middleweight (70 kg)
Wolfgang Güldenpfennig — Rowing, Men's Single Sculls
Joachim Böhmer and Hans-Ullrich Schmied — Rowing, Men's Double Sculls
Manfred Schneider, Hartmut Schreiber, Dietmar Schwarz, Jörg Landvoigt, Heinrich Mederow, Manfred Schmorde, Hans-Joachim Borzym, Harold Dimke, and Bernd Landvoigt — Rowing, Men's Rowing Eights
Werner Lippoldt — Shooting, Men's Small-bore Rifle, Three Positions
Michael Buchheim — Shooting, Men's Skeet Shooting
Konrad Weise, Manfred Zapf, Joachim Streich, Eberhard Vogel, Siegmar Wätzlich, Ralf Schulenberg, Wolfgang Seguin, Jürgen Sparwasser, Hans-Jürgen Kreische, Lothar Kurbjuweit, Jürgen Pommerenke, Frank Ganzera, Reinhard Häfner, Harald Irmscher, Bernd Bransch, Jürgen Croy, and Peter Ducke — Football (soccer), Men's Team Competition
Lutz Unger, Peter Bruch, Wilfried Hartung, and Roland Matthes — Swimming, Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay
Gudrun Wegner — Swimming, Women's 400m Freestyle
Stefan Grützner — Weightlifting, Men's Heavyweight
Gerd Bonk — Weightlifting, Men's Super Heavyweight
Men's 800 metres
Dieter Fromm
Heat — 1:46.9
Semifinals — 1:48.1
Final — 1:48.0 (→ 8th place)
Men's 1500 metres
Klaus-Peter Justus
Heat — 3:40.4
Semifinals — 3:44.6 (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 100 m Relay
Manfred Kokot, Bernd Borth, Hans-Jörgen Bombach, and Siegfried Schenke
Heat — 39.17s
Semifinals — 39.06s
Final — 38.90s (→ 5th place)
Men's High Jump
Stefan Junge
Qualifying Round — 2.15m
Final — 2.21m (→ Silver Medal)
Men's Light Middleweight (– 71 kg)
Peter Tiepold → Bronze Medal
First Round — Bye
Second Round — Defeated Ion Györfi (ROM), 4:1
Third Round — Defeated Mikko Saarinen (FIN), 5:0
Quarterfinals — Defeated Emeterio Villanueva (MEX), 5:0
Semifinals — Lost to Wiesław Rudkowski (POL), 1:4
Men's Heavyweight (+ 81 kg)
Jürgen Fanghänel
First Round — Defeated Atanas Suvandzhiev (BUL), KO-1
Quarterfinals — Lost to Ion Alexe (ROM), 0:5
Eleven cyclists represented East Germany in 1972.
Individual road race
Karl-Heinz Oberfranz — 30th place
Wolfgang Wesemann — 33rd place
Dieter Gonschorek — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Wolfram Kühn — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Sprint
Hans-Jürgen Geschke
Werner Otto
1000m time trial
Jürgen Schütze
Final — 1:07.02 (→ Bronze Medal)
Tandem
Jürgen Geschke and Werner Otto — Silver Medal
Individual pursuit
Thomas Huschke
Team pursuit
Thomas Huschke
Heinz Richter
Herbert Richter
Uwe Unterwalder
Men's 3m Springboard:
Falk Hoffmann — 544.95 points (→ 7th place)
Helge Ziethen — 511.02 points (→ 12th place)
Men's 10m Platform:
Lothar Matthes — 465.75 points (→ 4th place)
Falk Hoffmann — 436.71 points (→ 10th place)
Wolfram Ristau — 268.59 points (→ 23rd place)
Women's 3m Springboard:
Marina Janicke — 430.92 points (→ Bronze Medal)
Heidi Becker — 405.78 points (→ 9th place)
Christa Köhler — 394.20 points (→ 11th place)
Women's 10m Platform:
Marina Janicke — 360.54 points (→ Bronze Medal)
Sylvia Fiedler — 341.67 points (→ 6th place)
Five fencers, all men, represented East Germany in 1972.
Men's épée
Horst Melzig
Bernd Uhlig
Hans-Peter Schulze
Men's team épée
Harry Fiedler, Eckhard Mannischeff, Horst Melzig, Hans-Peter Schulze, Bernd Uhlig
Handball
Men's Team Competition
As expected, the East Germans dominated the first round, defeating Iceland, Tunisia, and Czechoslovakia in turn to win their division. The second round began with a loss to the Soviet Union. Czechoslovakia's wins over the Soviet Union and Sweden meant that the East Germans had to defeat Sweden as well just to tie the Czechoslovakian team in the standings, which they did. However, the tie-breaker went against the East Germans and they placed second in the division. They played the other division's second place team, Romania in the bronze medal game and lost, receiving fourth place.
Preliminary Round (Group B)
East Germany – Iceland 16-11 (7-6)
East Germany – Tunisia 21-9 (11-2)
East Germany – Czechoslovakia 14-12 (5-4)
Second Round (Group A)
East Germany – Soviet Union 8-11 (4-4)
East Germany – Sweden 14-11 (8-6)
Bronze Medal Game
East Germany – Romania 16-19 (8-11) → 4th place
Team Roster
Harry Zörnack
Horst Jankhöfer
Josef Rose
Jürgen Hildebrand
Klaus Langhoff
Klaus Weiß
Peter Larisch
Peter Randt
Rainer Würdig
Rainer Zimmermann
Reiner Frieske
Reiner Ganschow
Siegfried Voigt
Udo Röhrig
Wolfgang Böhme
Wolfgang Lakenmacher
Men's Single Sculls
Wolfgang Güldenpfennig
Heat — 7:46.31
Repechage — 8:05.19
Semi Finals — 8:16.35
Final — 7:14.45 (→ Bronze Medal)
Men's Coxed Pairs
Wolfgang Günkel, Jörg Lücke and Klaus-Dieter Neubert
Heat — 7:54.11
Semi Finals — 8:13.87
Final — 7:17.25 (→ Gold Medal)
Nine male shooters represented East Germany in 1972. Werner Lippoldt won bronze in the 50 m rifle, three positions and Michael Buchheim won bronze in the skeet.
25 m pistol
Christian Düring
50 m pistol
Harald Vollmar
300 m rifle, three positions
Uto Wunderlich
Werner Lippoldt
50 m rifle, three positions
Werner Lippoldt
Uto Wunderlich
50 m rifle, prone
Werner Lippoldt
Peter Gorewski
Trap
Burckhardt Hoppe
Manfred Geisler
Skeet
Michael Buchheim
Klaus Reschke
Men's 100m Freestyle
Peter Bruch
Heat — 54.25s
Semifinals — 53.97s (→ did not advance)
Wilfried Härtung
Heat — 54.37s (→ did not advance)
Hartmut Flöckner
Heat — 54.36s (→ did not advance)
Men's 200m Freestyle
Wilfried Härtung
Heat — 1:56.95 (→ did not advance)
Udo Poser
Heat — 1:57.23 (→ did not advance)
Peter Bruch
Heat — 1:58.49 (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay
Wilfried Härtung, Peter Bruch, Udo Poser and Lutz Unger
Heat — 3:35.13
Roland Matthes, Wilfried Härtung, Peter Bruch, and Lutz Unger
Final — 3:32.42 (→ Bronze Medal)
Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay
Wilfried Härtung, Udo Poser, Roger Pyttel and Lutz Unger
Heat — 7:51.11
Wilfried Härtung, Peter Bruch, Udo Poser, and Lutz Unger
Final — 7:49.11 (→ 6th place)
Men's Team Competition
Preliminary Round (Group B)
Defeated Cuba (3-0)
Defeated Brazil (3-1)
Lost to Japan (0-3)
Defeated West Germany (3-0)
Defeated Romania (3-0)
Semifinals
Defeated Soviet Union (3-1)
Final
Lost to Japan (1-3) → Silver Medal
Team Roster
Siggi Schneider
Arnold Schulz
Wolfgang Webner
Eckhardt Pietzsch
Rudi Schumann
Wolfgang Weise
Horst Hagen
Horst Peter
Wolfgang Löwe
Rainer Tscharke
Wolf Maibohn
Jürgen Maune
