Men's javelin throw at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	September 2 (qualifications) September 3 (final)
Competitors	23 from 15 nations
Winning distance	90.48 OR
Medalists
Klaus Wolfermann  West Germany Jānis Lūsis  Soviet Union William Schmidt  United States
← 1968 1976 →

Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men
3000 m steeplechase	men
4 × 100 m relay	men	women
4 × 400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men
20 km walk	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Pentathlon		women
Decathlon	men
v t e

The Men's Javelin Throw event at the 1972 Summer Olympics took place on September 2–3 at the Olympic Stadium, Munich.^[1] The qualifying standard was 80 m (262 ft 5+1⁄2 in).^[2]

The winning margin was 2 cm which as of June 2024 remains the only time the men's javelin throw was won by less than 10 cm at the Olympics. Also as of June 2024, it is the narrowest winning margin for any javelin competition, women included, at the Olympics, the World Athletics Championships, the European Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:^[3]

World record	Jānis Lūsis	93.80 m	Stockholm, Sweden	July 6, 1972
Olympic record	Jānis Lūsis (URS)	90.10 m	Mexico City, Mexico	October 16, 1968

Rank	Series	Athlete	Nationality	#1	#2	#3	Result	Notes
1	A	Klaus Wolfermann	West Germany	86.22			86.22	Q
2	B	Jānis Lūsis	Soviet Union	82.92			82.92	Q
3	A	Hannu Siitonen	Finland	81.80			81.80	Q
4	B	Miklós Németh	Hungary	70.90	81.78		81.78	Q
5	A	Fred Luke	United States	81.34			81.34	Q
6	B	Manfred Stolle	East Germany	80.78			80.78	Q
7	A	Jorma Kinnunen	Finland	80.10			80.10	Q
8	B	Milt Sonsky	United States	79.96	78.78	74.24	79.96	q
9	B	József Csík	Hungary	79.08	x	x	79.08	q
10	A	William Schmidt	United States	75.28	75.90	78.96	78.96	q
11	A	Lolesio Tuita	France	75.36	78.78	77.34	78.78	q
12	A	Bjørn Grimnes	Norway	x	77.54	x	77.54	q
13	B	Rick Dowswell	Canada	66.54	72.52	77.42	77.42
14	A	Gergely Kulcsár	Hungary	x	x	77.24	77.24
15	B	Urs von Wartburg	Switzerland	76.36	x	76.20	76.36
16	A	André Claude	Canada	75.56	x	x	75.56
17	B	Dave Travis	Great Britain	74.68	70.10	74.30	74.68
18	B	Günther Glassauer	West Germany	x	x	73.12	73.12
19	B	Jacques Abehi	Ivory Coast	72.20	x	x	72.20
20	A	Renzo Cramerotti	Italy	71.12	x	x	71.12
21	B	Donald Velez	Nicaragua	x	63.74	x	64.74
22	A	Abdul Atif Al-Qahtani	Saudi Arabia	x	x	53.06	53.06
	B	Leo Pusa	Finland	x	x	x	NM
	A	Edmund Jaworski	Poland				DNS

The eight highest-ranked competitors after three rounds qualified for the final three throws to decide the medals.

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	1	2	3	4	5	6	Result
	Klaus Wolfermann	West Germany	86.68	85.14	x	88.40	90.48	84.70	90.48 OR
	Jānis Lūsis	Soviet Union	88.88	x	89.54	x	81.66	90.46	90.46
	William Schmidt	United States	75.96	84.42	x	79.92	84.12	x	84.42
4	Hannu Siitonen	Finland	84.32	x	x	x	x	x	84.32
5	Bjørn Grimnes	Norway	71.86	82.38	83.08	x	x	x	83.08
6	Jorma Kinnunen	Finland	x	82.08	75.76	x	x	77.60	82.08
7	Miklós Németh	Hungary	80.80	81.98	78.58	81.88	x	81.40	81.98
8	Fred Luke	United States	66.64	x	80.06	79.70	71.46	x	80.06
9	Manfred Stolle	East Germany	x	x	79.32				79.32
10	Milt Sonsky	United States	77.62	77.94	72.38				77.94
11	Lolesio Tuita	France	76.34	x	69.38				76.34
12	József Csík	Hungary	75.52	76.14	x				76.14