Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump

This was the 17th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1968 Games were eighth-place finisher Lawrie Peckham of Australia (also a 1964 finalist), ninth-place finisher Ingomar Sieghart of West Germany, and twelfth-place finisher Ahmed Senoussi of Chad. The top jumper of the previous year, world record holder and winner of the Pan American Games, was Pat Matzdorf from the United States. But in a surprise, he failed to make the US team, leaving the field wide open.[2]

Cambodia, Cameroon, Iran, South Korea, Malawi, and Somalia each made their debut in the event; East Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States appeared for the 17th time, having competed at each edition of the Olympic men's high jump to that point.

The competition used the two-round format introduced in 1912. There were two distinct rounds of jumping with results cleared between rounds. The qualifying round had the bar set at 1.80 metres, 1.90 metres, 2.00 metres, 2.06 metres, 2.09 metres, 2.12 metres, and 2.15 metres. All jumpers clearing 2.15 metres in the qualifying round advanced to the final. If fewer than 12 jumpers could achieve it, the top 12 (including ties) would advance to the final.

The final had jumps at 1.90 metres, 2.00 metres, 2.05 metres, 2.10 metres, 2.15 metres, 2.18 metres, 2.21 metres, and 2.23 metres.[2][3]

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Pat Matzdorf (USA)	2.29	Berkeley, United States	3 July 1971
Olympic record	Dick Fosbury (USA)	2.24	Mexico City, Mexico	20 October 1968

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Key

Top 12 and ties and all jumpers clearing 2.15 m (7 ft ¹⁄₂ in) advanced to the finals. All heights are listed in metres.

Qualifying

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Group	1.80	1.90	2.00	2.06	2.09	2.12	2.15	Height	Notes
1	Henry Elliott	France	A	—	—	—	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
	Dwight Stones	United States	A	—	—	—	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
3	Vasilios Papadimitriou	Greece	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
	István Major	Hungary	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
	Ádám Szepesi	Hungary	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
	Enzo Del Forno	Italy	B	—	—	o	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
	Șerban Ioan	Romania	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
	Jan Dahlgren	Sweden	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
	Rustam Akhmetov	Soviet Union	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
	Kęstutis Šapka	Soviet Union	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
	Jüri Tarmak	Soviet Union	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	o	2.15	Q
12	Hermann Magerl	West Germany	A	—	—	—	o	—	xo	o	2.15	Q
13	John Beers	Canada	B	—	—	xo	o	o	xo	o	2.15	Q
14	John Hawkins	Canada	B	—	—	o	o	o	o	xo	2.15	Q
	Bernard Gauthier	France	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	xo	2.15	Q
16	Stefan Junge	East Germany	A	—	—	o	o	—	xxo	xo	2.15	Q
17	Lawrie Peckham	Australia	A	—	—	o	o	xxo	o	xo	2.15	Q
18	Hidehiko Tomizawa	Japan	A	—	—	xo	o	o	xxo	xxo	2.15	Q
19	Gian Marco Schivo	Italy	A	—	o	o	xo	o	xxo	xxo	2.15	Q
20	Chris Dunn	United States	A	—	—	—	o	—	o	xxx	2.12
21	Roman Moravec	Czechoslovakia	A	—	—	o	o	o	o	xxx	2.12
22	Ron Jourdan	United States	A	—	o	o	o	o	o	xxx	2.12
23	Petar Bogdanov	Bulgaria	A	—	—	o	o	o	xo	xxx	2.12
24	Ingomar Sieghart	West Germany	B	—	o	o	o	xo	xo	xxx	2.12
25	Teymour Ghiassi	Iran	B	—	—	o	o	o	xxo	xxx	2.12
26	Ioannis Kousoulas	Greece	B	—	o	o	o	xxo	xxo	xxx	2.12
27	József Tihanyi	Hungary	A	—	—	o	o	o	xxx	N/A	2.09
28	Rick Cuttell	Canada	B	—	—	xo	xo	o	xxx	N/A	2.09
29	Jaroslav Alexa	Czechoslovakia	A	—	—	o	o	xo	xxx	N/A	2.09
30	Michel Patry	Switzerland	B	—	o	xo	o	xo	—	xxx	2.09
31	Kuniyoshi Sugioka	Japan	B	—	—	o	o	xxx	N/A		2.06
32	Park Sang-su	South Korea	B	—	o	o	xxx	N/A			2.00
33	Noor Azhar Hamid	Singapore	B	o	o	o	xxx	N/A			2.00
	Abdullah Noor Wasughe	Somalia	B	o	o	o	xxx	N/A			2.00
35	Ahmed Senoussi	Chad	B	—	—	xo	xxx	N/A			2.00
36	Luis Barrionuevo	Argentina	B	—	o	xxx	N/A				1.90
	Sitha Sin	Cambodia	B	—	o	xxx	N/A				1.90
	Daniel Mkandawire	Malawi	B	—	o	xxx	N/A				1.90
39	Hamadou Evelé	Cameroon	B	—	xo	xxx	N/A				1.90
40	Suresh Babu	India	B	—	xxo	xxx	N/A				1.90
—	Leif Falkum	Norway	B	DNS
	Irolan Hechavarria	Cuba	B	DNS
	Bogusław Białek	Poland	B	DNS

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	2.00	2.05	2.10	2.15	2.18	2.21	2.23	2.26	Height
	Jüri Tarmak	Soviet Union	—	—	o	o	o	xo	xo	xxx	2.23
	Stefan Junge	East Germany	—	xo	o	o	o	xo	xxx	N/A	2.21
	Dwight Stones	United States	—	—	o	o	o	xxo	xxx	N/A	2.21
4	Hermann Magerl	West Germany	—	o	o	xo	o	xxx	N/A		2.18
5	Ádám Szepesi	Hungary	o	o	o	o	xxo	xxx	N/A		2.18
6	John Beers	Canada	—	o	o	o	xxx	N/A			2.15
	István Major	Hungary	—	o	o	o	xxx	N/A			2.15
8	Rustam Akhmetov	Soviet Union	o	o	o	o	xxx	N/A			2.15
9	John Hawkins	Canada	—	o	xo	o	xxx	N/A			2.15
10	Enzo Del Forno	Italy	o	o	o	xo	xxx	N/A			2.15
11	Jan Dahlgren	Sweden	—	o	xo	xo	xxx	N/A			2.15
12	Vasilios Papadimitriou	Greece	—	o	o	xxo	xxx	N/A			2.15
	Kęstutis Šapka	Soviet Union	—	o	o	xxo	xxx	N/A			2.15
14	Bernard Gauthier	France	o	o	xo	xxo	xxx	N/A			2.15
15	Henry Elliott	France	—	—	o	—	xxx	N/A			2.10
16	Șerban Ioan	Romania	o	—	o	xxx	N/A				2.10
17	Gian Marco Schivo	Italy	—	o	xo	xxx	N/A				2.10
18	Lawrie Peckham	Australia	o	o	xo	xxx	N/A				2.10
19	Hidehiko Tomizawa	Japan	xo	o	xxx	N/A					2.05

• Official report