Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's javelin throw


The women's javelin throw field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on August 31 & September 1. On 11 June 1972 Ewa Gryziecka from Poland broke the javelin throw world record with a throw of 62.70m only to have Ruth Fuchs break that record on the same day with a throw of 65.06m. In 1972 Fuchs was the strong favorite heading in the Olympics. Kate Schmidt took the early lead on the first throw, but this was soon passed by the favorite on the second throw. She ended up topping her own mark two more time in rounds four and five. Fuchs would go one and set the new javelin world record in 1973, 1974 and 1976.

Results

All throwers reaching and the top 12 including ties, advanced to the finals. Throwers in blue qualified by reaching the qualifying distance. Throwers listed in green qualified by being in the top 12. All distances are listed in metres.

Qualifying

Final

RankNameNationalityMark1st throw2nd throw3rd throw4th throw5th throw6th throw
Ruth Fuchs63.88
OR		57.4460.2050.2061.1663.8859.16
Jacqueline Todten62.54x55.4457.1859.7056.9262.54
Kate Schmidt59.9459.9458.3259.84x48.8056.10
4Lyutviyan Mollova59.3656.4659.3655.10x56.0058.44
5Nataša Urbančič59.06xx56.4856.3859.06x
6Eva Janko58.56x58.50xx58.5652.06
7Ewa Gryziecka57.0044.4047.3457.0055.8854.86x
8Svetlana Korolyova56.3656.3055.08xx56.36x
9Anneliese Gerhards55.8454.8455.8454.72---
10Mária Kucserka54.40xx54.40---
11Magda Paulányi52.36xx52.36 ---
–Éva ZörgőNMx xx---

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