Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 800 metres
The men's 800 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany took place on September 2, 1972.
Summary
The race went out very quickly for the first 200 m, with the two Kenyans, Boit and Ouko, pushing the pace. Wottle lagged far behind the rest of the field for the first 300 m, only catching up to the pack around the end of the first lap; the leaders went through the first 400 m in 52.3 seconds. Yevgeniy Arzhanov, the pre-race favorite, made a strong move on the final backstretch, and with only 18 m remaining seemed to have clinched the victory; Wottle's final burst of speed, however, brought him across the line nine inches ahead of Arzhanov, who fell in desperation in the final step of the race.Much has been written about Wottle's technique in winning this race with virtually even 26 second splits. What looked like blazing speed at the end was relative to the other runners who were losing speed after running the first part of the race so fast.
Wottle had equaled the world record winning the US trials. Still, few had expected Wottle, who had suffered tendinitis in his knees earlier that summer, to defeat Arzhanov, as the Soviet had not lost an 800 m final in four years; Wottle himself was so surprised at winning the race that he forgot to remove his golf cap when the U.S. national anthem was played at the medal ceremony. When reporters later asked him if his failure to remove the cap, a good luck charm which he always wore while racing, was a protest against the Vietnam War, Wottle replied that he had merely forgotten and formally apologized to the American people.
Results
Heats
Qualification rule: First 3 of each heat advance directly to the semifinals.| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Alain Sans | 1:49.2 | Q | |
| 2 | 1 | Mansour Guettaya | 1:49.4 | Q | |
| 3 | 1 | Azzedine Azzouzi | 1:49.4 | Q | |
| 4 | 1 | Rick Wohlhuter | 1:49.4 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Reza Entezari | 1:50.5 | ||
| 6 | 1 | Édouard Rasoanaivo | 1:50.8 | ||
| 7 | 1 | Alphonse Mandonda | 1:51.2 | ||
| 1 | Mohamed Aboker | ||||
| 1 | 2 | Robert Ouko | 1:47.4 | Q | |
| 2 | 2 | Jože Međimurec | 1:48.1 | Q | |
| 3 | 2 | Yevhen Volkov | 1:48.6 | Q | |
| 4 | 2 | Fernando Mamede | 1:48.6 | ||
| 5 | 2 | Mohamed Sid Ali Djouadi | 1:50.4 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Colin Campbell | 1:54.8 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Francisco Menocal | 1:58.6 | ||
| 8 | 2 | Thomas Howe | 2:00.7 | ||
| 1 | 3 | Franz-Josef Kemper | 1:47.3 | Q | |
| 2 | 3 | Dave Cropper | 1:47.5 | Q | |
| 3 | 3 | Rolf Gysin | 1:47.5 | Q | |
| 4 | 3 | Roqui Sanchez | 1:47.9 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Thomas Saisi | 1:48.5 | ||
| 6 | 3 | András Zsinka | 1:49.0 | ||
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Andrade | 1:53.9 | ||
| 3 | Saad Maaz Abdulrazak | ||||
| 1 | 4 | Mulugetta Tadesse | 1:47.1 | Q | |
| 2 | 4 | Dave Wottle | 1:47.6 | Q | |
| 3 | 4 | Josef Schmid | 1:47.8 | Q | |
| 4 | 4 | Graeme Rootham | 1:48.2 | ||
| 5 | 4 | Lennox Stewart | 1:48.7 | ||
| 6 | 4 | Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson | 1:50.8 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Roger Kangni | 1:52.1 | ||
| 4 | M'Hamad Amakdouf | ||||
| 1 | 5 | Yevgeniy Arzhanov | 1:48.3 | Q | |
| 2 | 5 | Andrzej Kupczyk | 1:48.5 | Q | |
| 3 | 5 | Nimir Hussein Angelo Koko | 1:48.9 | Q | |
| 4 | 5 | Gheorghe Ghipu | 1:50.1 | ||
| 5 | 5 | Carlos Dalurzo | 1:50.6 | ||
| 6 | 5 | Héctor López | 1:50.8 | ||
| 5 | Walter Adams | ||||
| 5 | Antonio Fernández | ||||
| 1 | 6 | Dieter Fromm | 1:46.9 | Q | |
| 2 | 6 | Jozef Plachý | 1:47.1 | Q | |
| 3 | 6 | Manuel Gayoso | 1:47.5 | Q | |
| 4 | 6 | Sriram Singh | 1:47.7 | ||
| 5 | 6 | Francis Gonzalez | 1:48.8 | ||
| 6 | 6 | Mehmet Tümkan | 1:49.5 | ||
| 7 | 6 | Hamze Kassem | 1:52.5 | ||
| 8 | 6 | Harry Nkopeka | 1:57.7 | ||
| 1 | 7 | Mike Boit | 1:47.3 | Q | |
| 2 | 7 | Herman Mignon | 1:47.5 | Q | |
| 3 | 7 | Andy Carter | 1:47.6 | Q | |
| 4 | 7 | Byron Dyce | 1:48.0 | ||
| 5 | 7 | Benson Mulomba | 1:53.4 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Jimmy Crampton | 1:54.2 | ||
| 7 | 7 | Fritz Pierre | 2:01.5 | ||
| 7 | Franco Arese | ||||
| 1 | 8 | Ivan Ivanov | 1:51.0 | Q | |
| 2 | 8 | Ken Swenson | 1:51.1 | Q | |
| 3 | 8 | Francis Murphy | 1:51.1 | Q | |
| 4 | 8 | Sjef Hensgens | 1:51.2 | ||
| 5 | 8 | Donaldo Arza | 1:51.2 | ||
| 6 | 8 | Jaiye Abidoye | 1:52.0 | ||
| 7 | 8 | Muhammad Siddique | 1:52.6 | ||
| 8 | 8 | Shibrou Regassa | 1:53.3 |
Semifinals
Qualification rule: First 2 of each semifinal and the next 2 fastest advance to the final.| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Robert Ouko | 1:47.6 | Q | |
| 2 | 1 | Dieter Fromm | 1:48.1 | Q | |
| 3 | 1 | Dave Cropper | 1:48.4 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Josef Schmid | 1:48.8 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Francis Murphy | 1:49.2 | ||
| 6 | 1 | Azzedine Azzouzi | 1:49.4 | ||
| 7 | 1 | Alain Sans | 1:49.6 | ||
| 8 | 1 | Yevgeniy Volkov | 1:50.1 | ||
| 1 | 2 | Dave Wottle | 1:48.7 | Q | |
| 2 | 2 | Franz-Josef Kemper | 1:48.8 | Q | |
| 3 | 2 | Jozef Plachý | 1:48.9 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Jože Međimurec | 1:49.0 | ||
| 5 | 2 | Ivan Ivanov | 1:49.6 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Herman Mignon | 1:49.7 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Mansour Guettaya | 1:49.8 | ||
| 8 | 2 | Nimir Hussein Angelo Koko | 1:51.1 | ||
| 1 | 3 | Mike Boit | 1:45.9 | Q | |
| 2 | 3 | Yevgeniy Arzhanov | 1:46.3 | Q | |
| 3 | 3 | Andy Carter | 1:46.5 | q | |
| 4 | 3 | Andrzej Kupczyk | 1:46.7 | q | |
| 5 | 3 | Manuel Gayoso | 1:47.7 | ||
| 6 | 3 | Rolf Gysin | 1:48.2 | ||
| 7 | 3 | Mulugetta Tadesse | 1:48.9 | ||
| 3 | Ken Swenson |
Final
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| Dave Wottle | 1:45.86 | |||
| Yevgeniy Arzhanov | 1:45.89 | |||
| Mike Boit | 1:46.01 | |||
| 4 | Franz-Josef Kemper | 1:46.50 | ||
| 5 | Robert Ouko | 1:46.53 | ||
| 6 | Andy Carter | 1:46.55 | ||
| 7 | Andrzej Kupczyk | 1:47.10 | ||
| 8 | Dieter Fromm | 1:47.96 |