Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's discus throw explained

Event:	Women's discus throw
Games:	1972 Summer
Venue:	Olympic Stadium
Dates:	September 9 & September 10
Competitors:	17
Nations:	10
Win Value:	66.62
Win Label:	Winning throw
Longnames:	yes
Gold:	Faina Melnik
Goldnoc:	URS
Silver:	Argentina Menis
Silvernoc:	ROU
Bronze:	Vasilka Stoeva
Bronzenoc:	BUL
Prev:	1968
Next:	1976

The women's discus throw field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 9 & September 10.^[1] Armenia Soviet Faina Melnik was the strong favorite to win the gold. She has broken the world record five times since 1971 as well as being the European Champion in the same year. But twice in 1972 she had been beaten by Romanian Argentina Menis. Menis took the lead in round one breaking the Olympic record throw of . In the start of the fourth round Menis lead with Melnik in fifth. Menis then improved her distance to . Melnike threw next and overtook Menis with a throw of which held on to win the gold. Thirteen days later, Menis broke Melnik's world record with a throw of .^[2]

Records

Standing records prior to the 1972 Summer Olympics
	66.76 m	July 4, 1972	Moscow, Soviet Union
	58.28 m	October 18, 1968	Mexico City, Mexico
Broken records during the 1972 Summer Olympics
	66.62 m	September 10, 1972	Munich, West Germany

Results

All throwers reaching and the top 12 including ties, advanced to the finals. All qualifiers are shown in blue. All distances are listed in metres.

Qualifying

Rank	Mark	1st throw	2nd throw	3rd throw
1	61.58 OR	61.58	p	p
2	61.26	53.00	61.26	p
3	60.34	60.34	p	p
4	59.80	59.80	p	p
5	58.26	58.26	p	p
6	57.82	x	57.82	p
7	56.90	54.74	56.90	p
8	56.42	54.52	56.42	p
9	55.88	55.88	p	p
10	55.56	x	53.56	55.56
11	55.26	x	55.26	p
12	55.24	55.24	p	p
13	53.29	51.08	x	53.29
14	53.86	x	x	53.86
15	52.52	x	47.42	52.52
16	51.58	51.58	x	50.76
17	49.62	49.62	x	x
–	DNS
–	DNS
–	DNS

Final

Rank	Mark	1st throw	2nd throw	3rd throw	4th throw	5th throw	6th throw
	66.62 OR	60.56	61.32	57.96	66.62 OR	62.76	x
	65.06	64.28 OR	59.82	60.88	65.06 OR	63.78	64.90
	64.34	61.08	x	64.20	62.24	64.34	62.10
4	62.86	62.64 OR	58.14	62.86	61.14	x	x
5	62.18	x	57.04	62.18	61.66	x	x
6	61.72	57.52	59.14	60.12	61.08	61.72	60.22
7	60.42	57.78	58.76	57.06	59.08	x	60.42
8	59.00	57.52	57.92	59.00	x	58.86	57.20
9	58.50	58.18	58.50	x
10	56.72	56.50	56.72	x
11	56.58	55.60	x	56.58
12	56.50	56.50	x	52.26

Key: OR = Olympic record; p = pass; x = fault; NM = no mark

External links

Official report

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 1972 Munich City Summer Games: Women's Discus Throw . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417174228/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1972/ATH/womens-discus-throw.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 13 January 2018 . sports-reference.com.
Web site: Athletics at the 1972 München Summer Games: Women's Discus Throw . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417174228/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1972/ATH/womens-discus-throw.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 4 January 2012 . Sports Reference.