West Germany at the 1972 Summer Olympics West Germany at the 1972 Summer Olympics West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) was the host nation of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. 423 competitors, 340 men and 83 women, took part in 183 events in 23 sports. West Germany finished in fourth position in the final medal rankings, with 13 gold medals and 40 medals overall. x In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, West Germany entered two men and two women. Their highest placing competitor was Siegfried Ortmann, at 14th place in the men's competition. Women's Individual Competition: Men's Individual Competition: Men's 800 metres Men's
Mark Spitz medals: Larisa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, and Carl Lewis also have nine; only Phelps has won more with 23. Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics was not surpassed until Phelps broke the record at the 2008 Summer Olympics. During the Munich Massacre by Palestinian terrorists in the 1972 Olympics, Israeli racewalker Shaul Ladany awakened and alerted American track coach Bill Bowerman, who called for the U.S. Marines to come and protect American Jewish Olympians swimmer Spitz and javelin thrower Bill Schmidt. Following the Munich Olympics, Spitz retired from competition even though he was still only 22 years