Speed skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres explained

Event:	Women's 500 metres
Games:	1972 Winter
Venue:	Makomanai Open Stadium
Dates:	February 10
Competitors:	29
Nations:	12
Win Value:	43.33
Gold:	Anne Henning
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Vera Krasnova
Silvernoc:	URS
Bronze:	Lyudmila Titova
Bronzenoc:	URS
Prev:	1968
Next:	1976

The women's 500 metres in speed skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics took place on 10 February, at the Makomanai Open Stadium.^[1] ^[2]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:^[3] ^[4]

The following new Olympic and World records was set during the competition.

Date	Time	OR
10 February	44.75	OR
10 February	44.45	OR
10 February	43.33	OR

Results

^[1]

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
			43.33
			44.01
			44.45
4			44.53
5			44.75
6			44.89
7			44.95
8			45.17
9			45.35
10			45.62
11			45.70
12			45.77
13			45.78
14			45.79
15			45.83
16			46.12
17			46.18
18			46.24
19			46.33
20			46.60
21			46.70
22			46.74
23			46.78
24			46.85
25			47.30
26			47.45
27			48.15
28			55.80
-			DQ

During her run, Henning had to stop to avoid a collision with Sylvia Burka at the crossover point. She won the race and the gold medal with a time of 43.70. Officials allowed her another run after the competition, where she broke the Olympic record.^[5]

Notes and References

Web site: The XI Olympic Winter Games Sapporo 1972. LA84 Foundation. Organizing Committee for the XIth Olympic Winter Games. 1972. January 29, 2014.
Web site: Speed Skating at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games: Women's 500 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200418124110/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/1972/SSK/womens-500-metres.html . dead . 18 April 2020 . 31 January 2018 . sports-reference.com.
Web site: ISU - Speed Skating - Records - World Records. International Skating Union. January 29, 2014.
Web site: ISU - Speed Skating - Records - Olympic Records. International Skating Union. January 29, 2014.
Book: Wallechinsky . David . The Complete Book of the Olympics . 1984 . Penguin Books . England . 0140066322 . 598 .