The men's track time trial at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, was held on 31 August 1972. There were 31 participants from 31 nations, with each nation limited to one cyclist. One additional cyclist was entered but did not start. The event was won by Niels Fredborg of Denmark, the nation's first victory in the men's track time trial since Willy Hansen won in 1928. Denmark tied Italy and Australia for second-most gold medals in the event at 2 (behind Italy at 3). Fredborg was just the third man to win multiple medals in the event; he would become the only one to earn a third, in 1976. Daniel Clark's silver medal was Australia's first medal in the event since 1952. Jürgen Schütze's bronze was the first track time trial medal for East Germany as a separate nation.
Background
This was the 11th appearance of the event, which had previously been held in 1896 and every Games since 1928. It would be held every Games until being dropped from the programme after 2004. All three of the medalists from 1968 returned (gold medalist Pierre Trentin of France, silver medalist Niels Fredborg of Denmark, and bronze medalist Janusz Kierzkowski of Poland), along with seventh-place finisher Jocelyn Lovell of Canada. Fredborg had also won the 1967, 1968, and 1970 world championships; he was the favorite to win the Olympic competition this time. The 1971 world champion, Eduard Rapp of the Soviet Union, was also competing.
The Bahamas and Iran each made their debut in the men's track time trial. France and Great Britain each made their 11th appearance, having competed at every appearance of the event.
Competition format
The event was a time trial on the track, with each cyclist competing separately to attempt to achieve the fastest time. Each cyclist raced one kilometre from a standing start.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 214.
Records
The following were the world and Olympic records prior to the competition.
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.
Schedule
All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
Date Time Round Thursday, 31 August 1972 20:00 Final
Results
Rank Cyclist Nation 428 m 713 m Time Speed(km/h) Niels Fredborg 30.29 47.76 1:06.4454.184 Daniel Clark 30.00 47.95 1:06.8753.835 Jürgen Schütze 29.98 47.67 1:07.0253.715 4 Karl Köther 30.65 48.46 1:07.2153.563 5 Janusz Kierzkowski 29.82 47.82 1:07.2253.555 6 Dimo Angelov Tonchev 30.09 48.15 1:07.5553.293 7 Christian Brunner 29.30 47.38 1:07.7153.167 8 Eduard Rapp 29.74 47.75 1:07.7353.152 9 Ezio Cardi 30.32 48.31 1:07.8053.09710 Pierre Trentin 30.51 48.59 1:07.8553.05811 Peter van Doorn 30.45 48.24 1:08.0952.87112 Steven Woznick 30.20 48.72 1:08.5652.50813 Anton Tkáč 31.06 49.17 1:08.7852.34014 Robert Maveau 30.10 48.60 1:08.9452.21915 Jocelyn Lovell 30.81 49.33 1:09.0352.15116 Harry Kent 30.60 48.98 1:09.1052.09817 Michael Bennett 31.03 49.81 1:09.4551.83518 Harald Bundli 30.78 49.84 1:09.7251.63519 Leslie King 31.07 49.70 1:09.9651.45720 Takafumi Matsuda 30.56 49.04 1:10.0051.42821 Fernando Jiménez 30.61 49.24 1:10.3051.20922 Neville Hunte 31.49 50.04 1:10.4851.07823 Jairo Rodríguez 31.71 50.42 1:10.8650.80424 Arturo Cambroni 31.48 50.47 1:11.5450.32125 Suriya Chiarasapawong 32.00 51.38 1:12.5349.63426 Howard Fenton 30.85 50.54 1:12.6449.55927 Shue Ming-fa 31.77 51.67 1:14.0548.61528 Behrouz Rahbar 33.04 53.35 1:15.3947.75129 Daud Ibrahim 32.88 53.53 1:16.2747.20030 Laurence Burnside 33.53 55.39 1:20.3144.826 — Hector Edwards — — — Ahmed Abdussal Gariani — —
References
External links Official Report