Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay

Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay; at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Venue	Olympia Schwimmhalle
Date	28 August 1972 (heats & final)
Winning time	3:19.03 WR
Medalists
	← 1968 1984 →

The men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place August 28.^[1] The relay featured teams of four swimmers each swimming two lengths of the 50 m pool freestyle.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
United States David Edgar John Murphy Jerry Heidenreich Mark Spitz	Soviet Union Vladimir Bure Viktor Mazanov Viktor Aboimov Igor Grivennikov	East Germany Roland Matthes Wilfried Hartung Peter Bruch Lutz Unger

Results

Heats

Heat 1^[2]

Place	Swimmers	Time
1	Vladimir Bure, Viktor Mazanov, Viktor Aboimov, Georgijs Kuļikovs (URS)	3:32.72
2	Gilles Vigne, Alain Mosconi, Alain Hermitte, Michel Rousseau (FRA)	3:35.84
3	Gerhard Schiller, Rainer Jacob, Hans-Günther Vosseler, Kersten Meier (FRG)	3:37.59
4	Jorge Comas, Antonio Culebras, Enrique Melo, José Pujol (ESP)	3:38.77
5	Roberto Pangaro, Paolo Barelli, Marcello Guarducci, Alberto Castagnetti (ITA)	3:38.81
6	Peter Prijdekker, Bert Bergsma, Roger van Hamburg, Hans Elzerman (NED)	3:41.36
7	Jorge Urreta, José Joaquín Santibáñez, Guillermo García, Roberto Strauss (MEX)	3:43.46

Heat 2^[3]

Place	Swimmers	Time	Notes
1	Jerry Heidenreich, Mark Spitz, David Fairbank, Gary Conelly (USA)	3:28.84	WR
2	Wilfried Hartung, Peter Bruch, Udo Poser, Lutz Unger (GDR)	3:35.13
3	Bruce Robertson, Brian Phillips, Timothy Bach, Bob Kasting (CAN)	3:35.64
4	Ruy de Oliveira, Paulo Zanetti, Paulo Becskehazy, José Roberto Aranha (BRA)	3:35.84
5	Neil Rogers, Graham White, Bruce Featherston, Greg Rogers (AUS)	3:40.47
6	Luis Ayesa, Dae Imlani, Carlos Singson, Jairulla Jaitulla (PHI)	3:47.39
7	Salvador Vilanova, Reynaldo Patiño, Tomás Rengifo, Antonio Ferracuti (ESA)	3:49.14

Final

^[4]

Rank	Nation	Swimmers	Time	Notes
	United States	David Edgar (52.69) John Murphy (52.04) Jerry Heidenreich (50.78) Mark Spitz (50.90)	3:26.42	WR
	Soviet Union	Vladimir Bure (52.26) Viktor Mazanov (53.13) Viktor Aboimov (52.75) Igor Grivennikov (51.57)	3:29.72
	East Germany	Roland Matthes (52.89) Wilfried Hartung (53.31) Peter Bruch (53.20) Lutz Unger (53.01)	3:32.42
4	Brazil	Ruy de Oliveira (53.62) Paulo Zanetti (53.61) Paulo Becskehazy (53.73) José Aranha (52.17)	3:33.14
5	Canada	Bruce Robertson (53.52) Brian Phillips (52.56) Timothy Bach (54.41) Robert Kasting (52.70)	3:33.20
6	West Germany	Klaus Steinbach (53.45) Werner Lampe (52.81) Rainer Jacob (53.81) Hans Fassnacht (53.82)	3:33.90
7	France	Gilles Vigne (54.47) Alain Mosconi (54.57) Alain Hermitte (53.41) Michel Rousseau (51.66)	3:34.13
8	Spain	Jorge Comas (54.32) Antonio Culebras (55.02) Enrique Melo (54.77) José Pujol (54.09)	3:38.21