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.
Finland finished in 14th position in the final medal rankings, with three gold medals and eight medals overall.
Pekka Vasala — Athletics, Men's 1,500m
Lasse Virén — Athletics, Men's 5,000m
Lasse Virén — Athletics, Men's 10,000m
Reima Virtanen — Boxing, Men's Middleweight
Tapio Kantanen — Athletics, Men's 3,000m Steeplechase
Kyösti Laasonen — Archery, Men's Individual Competition
Risto Hurme, Veikko Salminen, and Martti Ketelä — Modern Pentathlon, Men's Team Competition
Risto Björlin — Wrestling, Men's Greco-Roman Bantamweight
In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, Finland entered three men. They won a bronze medal.
Men's Individual Competition:
Kyösti Laasonen — 2467 points (→ Bronze Medal)
Olavi Laurila — 2372 points (→ 20th place)
Jorma Sandelin — 2278 points (→ 40th place)
Men's 100 metres
Antti Rajamäki
First Heat — 10.52s (→ did not advance)
Raimo Vilen
First Heat — 11.00s (→ did not advance)
Men's 1500 metres
Pekka Vasala
Heat — 3:40.9
Semifinals — 3:37.9
Final — 3:36.3 (→ Gold Medal)
Pekka Päivärinta
Heat — 3:40.9
Semifinals — 3:45.1 (→ did not advance)
Men's 5000 metres
Tapio Kantanen
Heat — 13:42.0 (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 100 m Relay
Antti Rajamäki, Raimo Vilen, Erik Gustafsson, and Markku Juhola
Heat — 39.54s
Semifinals — 39.30s (NR) (→ did not advance)
Men's Light Middleweight (– 71 kg)
Mikko Saarinen
First Round — Bye
Second Round — Defeated David Attan (KEN), TKO-2
Third Round — Lost to Peter Tiepold (GDR), 0:5
Six cyclists represented Finland in 1972.
Individual road race
Harry Hannus — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Mauno Uusivirta — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Tapani Vuorenhela — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Ole Wackström — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Team time trial
Kalevi Eskelinen
Harry Hannus
Mauno Uusivirta
Ole Wackström
Team individual pursuit
Raimo Suikkanen
Men's 3m Springboard:
Pentti Koskinen — 336.99 points (15th place)
Women's 3m Springboard:
Laura Kivelä — 236.25 points (24th place)
Women's 10m Platform:
Laura Kivelä — 172.65 points (22nd place)
One fencer represented Finland in 1972.
Men's épée
Risto Hurme
Three male pentathletes represented Finland in 1972, with them winning bronze in the team event.
Men's Individual Competition:
Risto Hurme — 5094 points (→ 8th place)
Veikko Salminen — 4852 points (→ 17th place)
Martti Ketelä — 4849 points (→ 19th place)
Men's Team Competition:
Hurme, Salminen, and Ketelä — 14812 points (→ Bronze Medal)
Men's Coxed Pairs
Leo Ahonen, Leif Anderson and Antero Yli-lkkelä
Heat — 8:06.56
Repechage — 8:11.89 (→ did not advance)
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
