The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 371 competitors, 298 men and 73 women, took part in 180 events in 22 sports.
The USSR finished first in the final medal rankings, with 50 gold and 99 total medals.
Mykola Avilov — men's decathlon
Anatoliy Bondarchuk — men's hammer throw
Valeriy Borzov — men's 100 metres
Valeriy Borzov — men's 200 metres
Lyudmila Bragina — women's 1500 metres
Nadezhda Chizhova — women's shot put
Faina Melnik — women's discus throw
Viktor Saneyev — men's triple jump
Jüri Tarmak — men's high jump
Alzhan Zharmukhamedov, Zurab Sakandelidze, Gennady Volnov, Ivan Yedeshko, Sergey Kovalenko, Modestas Paulauskas, Anatoly Polivoda, Ivan Dvornyi, Mikhail Korkiya, Aleksandr Belov, Sergey Belov and Aleksandr Boloshev — men's team competition.
Boris Kuznetsov — men's featherweight
Vyacheslav Lemeshev — men's 71–75 kg
Aleksandr Shaparenko — men's K1 1000m kayak singles
Yuliya Ryabchynskaya — women's K1 500m kayak singles
Nikolay Gorbachov and Viktor Kratasyuk — men's K2 1000m kayak pairs
Yekaterina Kuryshko and Lyudmila Pinayeva-Khvedosyuk — women's K2 500m kayak pairs
Vladas Česiūnas and Yury Lobanov — men's C2 1000m Canadian pairs
Yury Stetsenko, Valery Didenko, Yury Filatov and Vladimir Morozov — men's K4 1000m kayak fours
Valery Yardy, Gennady Komnatov, Valery Likhachov and Boris Shukov — men's team road race
Vladimir Semenets and Igor Tselovalnykov — men's 2000m tandem
Vladimir Vasin — men's springboard
Yelena Petushkova, Pepel, Ivan Kalita, Ikhor, Ivan Kizimov, Tarif — dressage team
Viktor Sidyak — men's sabre individual
Svetlana Tširkova, Alexandra Zabelina, Yelena Belova-Novikova, Galina Gorokhova and Tatyana Samusenko-Petrenko — women's foil team
Viktor Klimenko — men's pommel horse
Nikolay Andrianov — men's floor exercises
Lyudmila Turishcheva — women's all-around individual
Olga Korbut — women's balance beam
Olga Korbut — women's floor exercises
Tamara Lazakovich, Elvira Saadi, Lyudmila Turishcheva, Lyubov Burda, Olga Korbut and Antonina Koshel — women's team combined exercises
Shota Chochishvili — men's half-heavyweight (93 kg)
Pavel Lednev, Boris Onyshchenko and Vladimir Shmelyov — men's team competition
Yury Malyshev — men's single sculls
Gennady Korshikov and Aleksandr Timoshinin — men's double sculls
Vitaly Dyrdyra and Valentyn Mankin — men's tempest class
Yakov Zheleznyak — men's running game target
Nina Smoleyeva, Tatyana Tretyakova-Ponyaeva, Lyubov Tyurina, Inna Ryskal, Roza Salikhova, Tatyana Sarycheva, Tatyana Gonobobleva, Natalya Kudreva, Galina Leontyeva, Lyudmila Borozna, Lyudmila Buldakova and Vera Duyunova-Galushka — women's team competition
Vyatcheslav Sobchenko, Vladimir Zhmudsky, Nikolay Melnikov, Leonid Osipov, Aleksandr Shidlovsky, Aleksandr Dreval, Vadim Gulyaev, Aleksandr Kabanov, Anatoly Akimov, Aleksey Barkalov and Aleksandr Dolgushin — men's team competition
Mukharby Kirzhinov — men's lightweight
Jaan Talts — men's heavyweight
Vasily Alekseyev — men's super heavyweight
Rustem Kazakov — men's Greco-Roman bantamweight
Shamil Khisamutdinov — men's Greco-Roman lightweight
Valery Rezantsev — men's Greco-Roman light heavyweight
Anatoly Roshchin — men's Greco-Roman super heavyweight
Roman Dimitriyev — men's freestyle light flyweight
Zagalav Abdulbekov — men's freestyle featherweight
Levan Tediashvili — men's freestyle middleweight
Ivan Yarygin — men's freestyle heavyweight
Aleksandr Medved — men's freestyle super heavyweight
Yevgeny Arzhanov — men's 800 metres
Valeriy Borzov, Aleksandr Kornelyuk, Vladimir Lovetskiy and Juris Silovs — men's 4 × 100 m relay
Vladimir Golubnichy — men's 20 km walk
Leonid Lytvynenko — men's decathlon
Jānis Lūsis — men's javelin throw
Veniamin Soldatenko — men's 50 km walk
Nijole Sabaite — women's 800 metres
Yelena Petushkova, her horse Pepel — dressage individual
Leonid Romanov, Vasily Stankovich, Vladimir Denisov, Anatoly Koteshev and Viktor Putyatin — men's foil team
Viktor Sidyak, Eduard Vinokurov, Viktor Bazhenov, Vladimir Nazlymov and Mark Rakita — men's sabre team
Viktor Klimenko — men's long horse vault
Mikhail Voronin — men's rings
Eduard Mikaelyan, Vladimir Shchukin, Mikhail Voronin, Viktor Klimenko, Nikolay Andrianov and Aleksandr Maleyev — men's team combined exercises
Olga Korbut — women's asymmetrical bars
Tamara Lazakovich — women's balance beam
Lyudmila Turishcheva — women's floor exercises
Vitali Kuznetsov — men's open class
Boris Onyshchenko — men's individual competition
Yevgeni Petrov — men's skeet shooting
Boris Melnik — men's free rifle, three positions
Viktor Mazanov, Viktor Aboimov, Vladimir Bure and Igor Grivennikov — men's 4 × 100 m freestyle
Galina Stepanova-Prozumenshchykova — women's 100m breaststroke
Dito Shanidze — men's featherweight
Anatoly Nazarenko — men's Greco-Roman middleweight
Nikolay Yakovenko — men's Greco-Roman heavyweight
Arsen Alakhverdiyev — men's freestyle flyweight
Gennady Strakhov — men's freestyle light heavyweight
Emma Gaptchenko — women's individual competition
Vasily Khmelevski — men's hammer throw
Omar Pkhakadze — men's 1000m sprint (scratch)
Vladimir Nazlymov — men's sabre individual
Galina Gorokhova — women's foil individual
Igor Valetov, Georgi Zažitski, Grigory Kriss, Viktor Modzalevsky and Sergey Paramonov — men's épée team
Gennady Yevryuzhikhin, Oganes Zanazanyan, Vyacheslav Semyonov, Andrei Yakubik, Yury Yeliseyev, Vladimir Pilguy, Yevgeny Rudakov, Yozhef Sabo, Yevgeny Lovchev, Sergei Olshansky, Vladimir Onishchenko, Viktor Kolotov, Anatoly Kuksov, Yury Istomin, Vladimir Kaplichnyi, Murtaz Khurtsilava, Arkady Andriasyan, Oleg Blokhin and Revaz Dzodzuashvili — men's team competition
Nikolay Andrianov — men's long horse vault
Tamara Lazakovich — women's all-around individual
Lyudmila Turishcheva — women's side horse vault
Tamara Lazakovich — women's floor exercises
Anatoly Novikov — men's half middleweight (70 kg)
Givi Onashvili — men's heavyweight (>100 kg)
Pavel Lednev — men's individual competition
Viktor Potapov — men's Finn class
Viktor Torshin — men's rapid-fire pistol
Vladimir Bure — men's 100m freestyle
Viktor Mazanov, Vladimir Bure, Igor Grivennikov and Georgi Kulikov — men's 4 × 200 m freestyle
Galina Stepanova-Prozumenshchykova — women's 200m breaststroke
Aleksandr Saprykin, Yury Starunsky, Leonid Zayko, Vladimir Patkin, Yury Poyarkov, Vladimir Putyatov, Vladimir Kondra, Valery Kravchenko, Yevgeny Lapinsky, Viktor Borshch, Yefim Chulak and Vyatcheslav Domanyi — men's team competition
Gennady Chetin — men's bantamweight
Ruslan Ashuraliyev — men's freestyle lightweight
In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, the Soviet Union entered three men and three women. They took home a bronze medal as four of their archers, including all three women, finished in the top 8.
Women's individual competition:
Emma Gaptchenko — 2403 points (→ Bronze medal)
Keto Lossaberidze — 2402 points (→ 4th place)
Alla Peounova — 2364 points (→ 8th place)
Men's individual competition:
Victor Sidorouk — 2427 points (→ 7th place)
Mikhail Peounov 2397 points (→ 12th place)
Mati Vaikjärv — 2363 points (→ 24th place)
Men's 100 metres
Vladimir Atamas
First heat — 10.51s (→ did not advance)
Men's 800 metres
Yevgeny Arzhanov → Silver medal
Heat — 1:48.3
Semifinals — 1:46.3
Final — 1:45.9
Ivan Ivanov
Heat — 1:51.0
Semifinals — 1:49.6 (→ did not advance)
Yevgeni Volkov
Heat — 1:48.6
Semifinals — 1:50.1 (→ did not advance)
Men's 1,500 metres
Vladimir Panteley
Heat — 3:42.3
Semifinals — 3:41.6
Final — 3:40.2 (→ 8th place)
Yevgeny Arzhanov
Heat — DNS (→ did not advance)
Ivan Ivanov
Heat — 3:42.3 (→ did not advance)
Men's 5000 metres
Nikola Puklakov
Heat — 13:57.6 (→ did not advance)
Vladimir Afonin
Heat — 14:08.6 (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 100 m relay
Aleksandr Kornelyuk, Vladimir Lovetskiy, Juris Silovs and Valeriy Borzov
Heat — 39.15s
Semifinals — 39.00s
Final — 38.50s (→ Silver medal)
Men's high jump
Jüri Tarmak
Qualifying round — 2.15m
Final — 2.23m (→ Gold medal)
Rustam Akhmetov
Qualifying round — 2.15m
Final — 2.15m (→ 8th place)
Kestusis Shapka
Qualifying round — 2.15m
Final — 2.15m (→ 12th place)
Women's javelin throw
Svetlana Korolyova
Qualifying round — 55.90 m
Final — 56.36 m (→ 8th place)
Men's team competition
Preliminary round (group B)
Defeated Senegal (94-52)
Defeated West Germany (87-63)
Defeated Italy (79-66)
Defeated Poland (94-64)
Defeated Puerto Rico (100-87)
Defeated Philippines (111-80)
Defeated Yugoslavia (74-67)
Semifinals
Defeated Cuba (67-60)
Final
Defeated United States (51-50) → Gold medal
Men's light middleweight (– 71 kg)
Valeri Tregubov
First round — bye
Second round — defeated Reggie Jones (USA), 3:2
Third round — lost to Alan Minter (GBR), 0:5
Men's heavyweight (+ 81 kg)
Yuri Nesterov
First round — lost to Duane Bobick (USA), 0:5
Fifteen cyclists represented the Soviet Union in 1972.
Individual road race
Valery Likhachov — 34th place
Anatoly Starkov — 35th place
Valery Yardy — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Ivan Trifonov — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Team time trial
Boris Shukhov
Valery Yardy
Gennady Komnatov
Valery Likhachov
Sprint
Omar Pkhak'adze
Serhiy Kravtsov
1000m time trial
Eduard Rapp
Final — 1:07.73 (→ 8th place)
Tandem
Igor Tselovalnikov and Vladimir Semenets — Gold medal
Team pursuit
Viktor Bykov
Vladimir Kuznetsov
Anatoly Stepanenko
Aleksandr Yudin
Men's 3m springboard
Vladimir Vasin - 594.09 points (gold medal)
Viacheslav Strahov - 556.20 points (6th place)
Vladimir Kapirulin - 329.46 points (18th place)
Men's 10m platform
David Ambarzumian - 463.56 points (5th place)
Vladimir Kapirullin - 459.21 points (7th place)
Aleksander Gendrikson - 431.04 points (12th place)
Women's 3m springboard
Natalia Kusnecova - 258.45 points (14th place)
Tatjana Shtyreva - 252.42 points (16th place)
Tamara Safonova - 252.09 points (17th place)
Women's 10m platform
Alla Seiina - 314.76 points (10th place)
Natalia Kuznecova - 184.02 points (13th place)
Tatjana Shtyreva - 177.33 points (19th place)
20 fencers, 15 men and 5 women, represented the Soviet Union in 1972.
Men's foil
Vladimir Denisov
Anatoly Koteshev
Vasyl Stankovych
Men's team foil
Vasyl Stankovych, Viktor Putyatin, Anatoly Koteshev, Vladimir Denisov, Leonid Romanov
Men's épée
Igor Valetov
Sergey Paramonov
Grigory Kriss
Men's team épée
Grigory Kriss, Viktor Modzalevsky, Georgi Zažitski, Sergey Paramonov, Igor Valetov
Men's sabre
Viktor Sidyak
Vladimir Nazlymov
Mark Rakita
Men's team sabre
Mark Rakita, Viktor Sidyak, Vladimir Nazlymov, Eduard Vinokurov, Viktor Bazhenov
Women's foil
Galina Gorokhova
Yelena Novikova-Belova
Aleksandra Zabelina
Women's team foil
Yelena Novikova-Belova, Galina Gorokhova, Aleksandra Zabelina, Svetlana Tširkova, Tatyana Petrenko-Samusenko
Handball
Men's team competition
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:
Soviet Union - 5th place (3-1-2)
Team roster
Nikolai Semenov
Mikhail Ischenko
Aleksandr Panov
Vladimir Maksimov
Valentin Kulev
Vasili Ilyin
Anatoli Shevchenko
Yuri Klimov
Mikhail Luzenko
Alexander Resanov
Valeri Gassi
Albert Oganesov
Yan Vilson
Yuri Lagutin
Ivan Usaty
Three male pentathletes represented the Soviet Union in 1972.
Men's individual competition
Boris Onishenko — 5335 pts (→ Silver medal)
Pavel Lednev — 5328 pts (→ Bronze medal)
Vladimir Shmelev — 5302 pts (→ 5th place)
Men's team competition
Onishenko, Lednev and Shmelev — 15968 pts (→ Gold medal)
Men's single sculls
Yury Malyshev
Heat — 7:42.67
Semifinals — 8:13.49
Final — 7:10.12 (→ Gold medal)
Men's coxed pairs
Vladimir Eshinov, Nikolay Ivanov and Yuri Lorenson
Heat — 7:43.84
Semifinals — 8:07.34
Final — 7:24.44 (→ 5th place)
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.
25 m pistol
Viktor Torshin
Igor Bakalov
50 m pistol
Grigory Kosykh
Vladimir Stolypin
300 m rifle, three positions
Boris Melnik
Valentin Kornev
50 m rifle, three positions
Vladimir Agishev
Vitaly Parkhimovich
50 m rifle, prone
Vitaly Parkhimovich
Valentin Kornev
50 m running target
Yakiv Zhelezniak
Valery Postoyanov
Trap
Aleksandr Alipov
Aleksandr Androshkin
Skeet
Yevgeny Petrov
Yury Tsuranov
Men's 100m freestyle
Vladimir Bure
Heat — 52.87s
Semifinals — 52.60s
Final — 51.77s (→ Bronze medal)
Igor Grivennikov
Heat — 53.64s
Semifinals — 53.55s
Final — 52.44s (→ 6th place)
Georgi Kulikov
Heat — 53.78s
Semifinals — 53.68s (→ did not advance)
Men's 200m freestyle
Vladimir Bure
Heat — 1:56.15
Final — 1:57.24 (→ 7th place)
Viktor Mazanov
Heat — 1:57.92 (→ did not advance)
Georgi Kulikov
Heat — 1:57.04 (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay
Vladimir Bure, Viktor Mazanov, Viktor Aboimov and Georgy Kulikov
Heat — 3:32.72
Vladimir Bure, Viktor Mazanov, Viktor Aboimov and Igor Grivennikov
Final — 3:29.72 (→ Silver medal)
Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay
Viktor Aboimov, Alexsandr Samsonov, Viktor Mazanov and Georgi Kulikov
Heat — 7:51.44
Igor Grivennikov, Viktor Mazanov, Georgi Kulikov and Vladimir Bure
Final — 7:45.76 (→ Bronze medal)
Men's team competition
Preliminary round (group A)
Defeated Tunisia (3-0)
Defeated South Korea (3-0)
Defeated Bulgaria (3-1)
Defeated Czechoslovakia (3-0)
Defeated Poland (3-2)
Semifinals
Lost to East Germany (1-3)
Bronze medal match
Defeated Bulgaria (3-0) → Bronze medal
Team roster
Viktor Borsch
Vyacheslav Domany
Vladimir Patkyn
Leonid Zayko
Yuri Starunsky
Alex Saprikyne
Vladimir Kondra
Elim Chulak
Vladimir Poutyatov
Valery Kravchenko
Yevgeny Lapinsky
Yuri Poyarkov
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 republics in one team.
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.
