Athletics At The 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's Discus Throw

Armenia Soviet Faina Melnik was the strong favorite to win the gold. She has broken the world record five times since 1971 as well as being the European Champion in the same year. But twice in 1972 she had been beaten by Romanian Argentina Menis. Menis took the lead in round one breaking the Olympic record throw of 64.28 m (210 ft 10+1⁄2 in). In the start of the fourth round Menis lead with Melnik in fifth. Menis then improved her distance to 65.06 m (213 ft 5+1⁄2 in). Melnike threw next and overtook Menis with a throw of 66.62 m (218 ft 7 in) which held on to win the gold. Thirteen days later, Menis broke Melnik's world record with a throw of 67.32 m (220 ft 10+1⁄2 in).

Women's discus throw at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	September 9 & September 10
Competitors	17 from 10 nations
Winning throw	66.62 OR
Medalists
Faina Melnik  Soviet Union Argentina Menis  Romania Vasilka Stoeva  Bulgaria
← 1968 1976 →

All throwers reaching 55.00 m (180 ft 5+1⁄2 in) and the top 12 including ties, advanced to the finals. All qualifiers are shown in blue. All distances are listed in metres.

Qualifying

Rank	Name	Nationality	Mark	1st throw	2nd throw	3rd throw
1	Argentina Menis	Romania	61.58 OR	61.58	p	p
2	Faina Melnik	Soviet Union	61.26	53.00	61.26	p
3	Tamara Danilova	Soviet Union	60.34	60.34	p	p
4	Gabriele Hinzmann	East Germany	59.80	59.80	p	p
5	Liesel Westermann	West Germany	58.26	58.26	p	p
6	Carmen Ionescu	Romania	57.82	x	57.82	p
7	Brigitte Berendonk	West Germany	56.90	54.74	56.90	p
8	Svetla Bozhkova	Bulgaria	56.42	54.52	56.42	p
9	Lia Manoliu	Romania	55.88	55.88	p	p
10	Rosemary Payne	Great Britain	55.56	x	53.56	55.56
11	Vasilka Stoeva	Bulgaria	55.26	x	55.26	p
12	Lyudmila Muravyova	Soviet Union	55.24	55.24	p	p
13	Josephine de la Viña	Philippines	53.29	51.08	x	53.29
14	Radostina Vasekova	Bulgaria	53.86	x	x	53.86
15	Krystyna Nadolna	Poland	52.52	x	47.42	52.52
16	Olga Connolly	United States	51.58	51.58	x	50.76
17	Maggy Wauters	Belgium	49.62	49.62	x	x
–	Ok-Ja Paik	South Korea	DNS
–	Jolán Kleiber-Kontsek	Hungary	DNS
–	Rosa Molina	Chile	DNS

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Mark	1st throw	2nd throw	3rd throw	4th throw	5th throw	6th throw
	Faina Melnik	Soviet Union	66.62 OR	60.56	61.32	57.96	66.62 OR	62.76	x
	Argentina Menis	Romania	65.06	64.28 OR	59.82	60.88	65.06 OR	63.78	64.90
	Vasilka Stoeva	Bulgaria	64.34	61.08	x	64.20	62.24	64.34	62.10
4	Tamara Danilova	Soviet Union	62.86	62.64 OR	58.14	62.86	61.14	x	x
5	Liesel Westermann	West Germany	62.18	x	57.04	62.18	61.66	x	x
6	Gabriele Hinzmann	East Germany	61.72	57.52	59.14	60.12	61.08	61.72	60.22
7	Carmen Ionescu	Romania	60.42	57.78	58.76	57.06	59.08	x	60.42
8	Lyudmila Muravyova	Soviet Union	59.00	57.52	57.92	59.00	x	58.86	57.20
9	Lia Manoliu	Romania	58.50	58.18	58.50	x
10	Svetla Bozhkova	Bulgaria	56.72	56.50	56.72	x
11	Brigitte Berendonk	West Germany	56.58	55.60	x	56.58
12	Rosemary Payne	Great Britain	56.50	56.50	x	52.26

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