Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres explained

Event:	Women's 200 metres
Games:	1972 Summer
Venue:	Olympic Stadium
Dates:	September 4 & 7
Competitors:	37
Nations:	27
Win Value:	22.40
Longnames:	yes
Gold:	Renate Stecher
Goldnoc:	GDR
Silver:	Raelene Boyle
Silvernoc:	AUS
Bronze:	Irena Szewińska
Bronzenoc:	POL
Prev:	1968
Next:	1976

The women's 200 metres sprint event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 4 & 7.^[1] The favorite would have been Republic of China's Chi Cheng, who set world records in the 200 meters and 220 yards distances in 1970. She suffered a career ending injury at the end of 1970. An attempted surgery in 1971 failed. The top three ranked women in the world in 1971, were the three women on the podium in Munich -- European Champion Renate Stecher (GDR) who won by 0.05 seconds, Commonwealth Champion Raelene Boyle (AUS), and the defending Champion Irena Szewinska of Poland.

Heats

Top five in each heat (blue) and the next two fastest (pink) advanced to quarterfinal round.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Time
1	6	23.15
2	5	23.38
3	1	23.56
4	3	23.76
5	2	24.20
6	7	24.68
-	4	DNS

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Time
1	2	22.96
2	4	23.58
3	3	23.62
4	5	25.28
5	1	25.30
6	6	28.29
-	7	DNS

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Time
1	4	23.37
2	6	23.86
3	2	23.97
4	3	24.38
5	1	24.46
6	7	25.09
7	5	25.86

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Time
1	1	23.54
2	7	23.96
3	6	23.99
4	3	24.16
5	5	25.37
6	4	26.32
-	2	DNS

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Time
1	3	23.37
2	7	23.51
3	6	23.67
4	1	24.42
5	5	28.02
-	2	DNS
-	4	DNS

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Time
1	5	23.46
2	4	23.51
3	6	23.90
4	2	24.04
5	7	24.06
6	1	25.11
7	3	25.27

Quarterfinals

Top four in each heat advanced to semifinal round (blue).

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Time
1	7	22.79
2	3	23.20
3	6	23.23
4	1	23.30
5	5	23.62
6	2	24.00
7	4	24.98
-	8	DNS

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Time
1	8	22.93
2	5	22.95
3	2	23.22
4	4	23.22
5	73	23.72
6	1	24.00
7	7	24.48
8	6	25.28

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Time
1	1	23.31
2	7	23.33
3	8	23.69
4	6	23.69
5	5	23.85
6	4	23.92
7	3	24.47
-	2	DNS

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Time
1	7	23.06
2	3	23.14
3	4	23.22
4	8	23.33
5	5	23.68
6	2	24.05
7	1	25.03
8	6	25.09

Semifinals

Top four in each heat advanced to the final round (blue).

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Time
1	7	22.90
2	3	22.92
3	6	22.92
4	1	23.14
5	2	23.17
6	4	23.18
7	8	23.40
-	5	DNS

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Time
1	8	22.83
2	5	23.05
3	6	23.28
4	4	23.30
5	1	23.31
6	3	23.34
7	2	23.39
8	7	24.03

Final

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
	6	22.40	WR
	4	22.45
	5	22.74
4	3	22.75
5	7	22.89
5	1	22.89
7	8	22.99
8	2	23.11

Key: WR = world record; DNS = did not start; T = Tie

External links

Official report

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Women's 200 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173939/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1972/ATH/womens-200-metres.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 13 July 2017 . Sports Reference.