| Event: | Men's javelin throw |
| Games: | 1972 Summer |
| Venue: | Olympic Stadium |
| Dates: | September 2 (qualifications) September 3 (final) |
| Competitors: | 23 |
| Nations: | 15 |
| Win Value: | 90.48 |
| Win Label: | Winning distance |
| Longnames: | yes |
| Gold: | Klaus Wolfermann |
| Goldnoc: | FRG |
| Silver: | Jānis Lūsis |
| Silvernoc: | URS |
| Bronze: | William Schmidt |
| Bronzenoc: | USA |
| Prev: | 1968 |
| Next: | 1976 |
The Men's Javelin Throw event at the 1972 Summer Olympics took place on September 2–3 at the Olympic Stadium, Munich.[1] The qualifying standard was .[2]
The winning margin was 2 cm which as of June 2024 remains the only time the men's javelin throw was won by less than 10 cm at the Olympics. Also as of June 2024, it is the narrowest winning margin for any javelin competition, women included, at the Olympics, the World Athletics Championships, the European Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games.
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:[3]
| Rank | Series | Athlete | Nationality |
|
|
| Result | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 86.22 | 86.22 | Q | |||||
| 2 | B | 82.92 | 82.92 | Q | |||||
| 3 | A | 81.80 | 81.80 | Q | |||||
| 4 | B | 70.90 | 81.78 | 81.78 | Q | ||||
| 5 | A | 81.34 | 81.34 | Q | |||||
| 6 | B | 80.78 | 80.78 | Q | |||||
| 7 | A | 80.10 | 80.10 | Q | |||||
| 8 | B | 79.96 | 78.78 | 74.24 | 79.96 | q | |||
| 9 | B | 79.08 | 79.08 | q | |||||
| 10 | A | 75.28 | 75.90 | 78.96 | 78.96 | q | |||
| 11 | A | 75.36 | 78.78 | 77.34 | 78.78 | q | |||
| 12 | A | 77.54 | 77.54 | q | |||||
| 13 | B | 66.54 | 72.52 | 77.42 | 77.42 | ||||
| 14 | A | 77.24 | 77.24 | ||||||
| 15 | B | 76.36 | 76.20 | 76.36 | |||||
| 16 | A | 75.56 | 75.56 | ||||||
| 17 | B | 74.68 | 70.10 | 74.30 | 74.68 | ||||
| 18 | B | 73.12 | 73.12 | ||||||
| 19 | B | 72.20 | 72.20 | ||||||
| 20 | A | 71.12 | 71.12 | ||||||
| 21 | B | 63.74 | 64.74 | ||||||
| 22 | A | 53.06 | 53.06 | ||||||
| B | NM | ||||||||
| A | DNS |
The eight highest-ranked competitors after three rounds qualified for the final three throws to decide the medals.
| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86.68 | 85.14 | 88.40 | 90.48 | 84.70 | 90.48 OR | |||||
| 88.88 | 89.54 | 81.66 | 90.46 | 90.46 | ||||||
| 75.96 | 84.42 | 79.92 | 84.12 | 84.42 | ||||||
| 84.32 | 84.32 | |||||||||
| 71.86 | 82.38 | 83.08 | 83.08 | |||||||
| 82.08 | 75.76 | 77.60 | 82.08 | |||||||
| 80.80 | 81.98 | 78.58 | 81.88 | 81.40 | 81.98 | |||||
| 66.64 | 80.06 | 79.70 | 71.46 | 80.06 | ||||||
| 79.32 | 79.32 | |||||||||
| 77.62 | 77.94 | 72.38 | 77.94 | |||||||
| 76.34 | 69.38 | 76.34 | ||||||||
| 75.52 | 76.14 | 76.14 |