Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres
Rank Name Nationality Time
1 Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa Madagascar 10.47
2 Brian Green Great Britain 10.58
3 Kouakou Komenan Ivory Coast 10.60
4 Stanisław Wagner Poland 10.61
5 Sandy Osei-Agyemang Ghana 10.66
6 Erik Gustafsson Finland 10.78
7 Su Wen-Ho Republic of China 10.82
- Rey Robinson United States DNS
Preliminaries -- Quarterfinals
The top three runners in each of the five heats and the next fastest one , advanced to the semifinal round . Heat one Hart failed to appear due to a scheduling change and coaching error . Rank Name Nationality Time 1 Jobst Hirscht West Germany 10.25 2 Jaroslav Matoušek Czechoslovakia 10.35 3 Bernd Borth East Germany 10.44 4 Philippe Clerc Switzerland 10.45 5 Ainsley Armstrong Trinidad and Tobago 10.47 6 Mike Sands Bahamas 10.50 7 Audun Garshol Norway 10.55 - Eddie Hart United States DNS Heat two Robinson failed to appear due to a scheduling change and coaching error .
The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany, was held at Olympiastadion on 31 August and 1 September. This event is notable for the absence of favorites and world record holders Eddie Hart and Rey Robinson from their quarterfinal heats due to a communication error, leading to American sprint coach Stan Wright being given the wrong starting time. The three qualified American athletes, Robinson, Hart and Robert Taylor, were at the ABC television headquarters watching what they believed were replays of their morning preliminary races before being informed they were watching live coverage of the races they were scheduled to run in. The athletes rushed to the stadium, but Hart and Robinson, scheduled in the first two races, missed their heats, while Robert Taylor hurried to take off his warm up uniform before running his heat. An appeal by American officials to have Robinson and Hart run in another heat was rejected.