Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle explained

The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place between September 3 and 4.^[1] This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of 30 lengths of the pool.

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1			16:34.63
2			16:58.26
3			17:06.09
4			17:16.01
5			17:19.45
6			17:32.47
7			18:12.17

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1			15:59.63
2			16:29.48
3			16:33.27
4			16:52.50
5			17:10.33
6			17:23.53

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1			16:09.56
2			16:19.63
3			16:54.39
4			17:05.68
5			17:35.84
6			17:49.80

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1			16:15.30
2			16:23.86
3			16:44.59
4			17:13.42
5			17:16.38
6			17:20.34
7			17:36.36
8			17:37.65

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1			16:11.41
2			16:26.67
3			16:55.30
4			17:29.23
5			17:32.88
6			17:40.37
7			17:42.83
8			18:09.28

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1			16:34.77
2			16:37.19
3			17:18.66
4			17:23.47
5			17:27.67
6			17:43.97
AC			16:17.61	DQ
AC			18:15.90	DQ

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
			15:52.58	WR
			15:58.48
			16:09.25
4			16:16.01
5			16:17.22
6			16:18.84
7			16:30.49
8			16:36.03

Key: WR = World record

Notes and References

1. Web site: Swimming at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's 1,500 metres Freestyle . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417055114/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1972/SWI/mens-1500-metres-freestyle.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 21 November 2016 . Sports Reference.