Soviet Union at the
1972 Winter Olympics
Flag of the Soviet Union
IOC codeURS
NOCSoviet Olympic Committee
in Sapporo
Competitors78 (58 men, 20 women)[1] in 9 sports
Flag bearerVyacheslav Vedenin (cross-country skiing)
Medals
Ranked 1st
Gold
8
Silver
5
Bronze
3
Total
16
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
 Latvia (1924–1936, 1992–)
 Estonia (1928–1936, 1992–)
 Lithuania (1928, 1992–)
 Unified Team (1992)
 Armenia (1994–)
 Belarus (1994–)
 Georgia (1994–)
 Kazakhstan (1994–)
 Kyrgyzstan (1994–)
 Moldova (1994–)
 Russia (1994–2014)
 Ukraine (1994–)
 Uzbekistan (1994–)
 Azerbaijan (1998–)
 Tajikistan (2002–)
 Olympic Athletes from Russia (2018)
 ROC (2022)

The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

Medalists

Medal Name Sport Event
 Gold Aleksandr Tikhonov
Rinnat Safin
Ivan Biakov
Viktor Mamatov		 Biathlon Men's 4 x 7.5 km relay
 Gold Vyacheslav Vedenin Cross-country skiing Men's 30 km
 Gold Vladimir Voronkov
Yury Skobov
Fyodor Simashov
Vyacheslav Vedenin		 Cross-country skiing Men's 4 × 10 km relay
 Gold Galina Kulakova Cross-country skiing Women's 5 km
 Gold Galina Kulakova Cross-country skiing Women's 10 km
 Gold Lyubov Mukhachova
Alevtina Olyunina-Smirnova
Galina Kulakova		 Cross-country skiing Women's 3 × 5 km relay
 Gold Irina Rodnina
Alexei Ulanov		 Figure skating Pairs
 Gold Soviet Union men's national ice hockey team
 Ice hockey Men's competition
 Silver Fyodor Smishov Cross-country skiing Men's 15 km
 Silver Alevtina Olyunina-Smirnova Cross-country skiing Women's 10 km
 Silver Sergei Chetverukhin Figure skating Men's singles
 Silver Liudmila Smirnova
Andrei Suraikin		 Figure skating Pairs
 Silver Vera Krasnova Speed skating Women's 500m
 Bronze Vyacheslav Vedenin Cross-country skiing Men's 50 km
 Bronze Valery Muratov Speed skating Men's 500m
 Bronze Lyudmila Titova Speed skating Women's 500m

Alpine skiing

Main article: Alpine skiing at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Men
Athlete Event Race 1 Race 2 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Sergey Grishchenko Downhill 2:03.19 46
Sergey Grishchenko Giant Slalom ? 39 DNF – DNF –
Men's slalom
Athlete Classification Final
Time Rank Time 1 Rank Time 2 Rank Total Rank
Sergey Grishchenko 1:49.64 5 1:02.97 32 59.70 21 2:02.67 22
Women
Athlete Event Race 1 Race 2 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Svetlana Isakova Downhill 1:44.83 39
Nina Merkulova 1:44.48 37
Galina Shikhova 1:43.88 34
Galina Shikhova Giant Slalom 1:43.74 34
Nina Merkulova 1:41.18 33
Svetlana Isakova 1:40.20 31
Nina Merkulova Slalom DSQ – – – DSQ –
Svetlana Isakova DNF – – – DNF –
Galina Shikhova 52.07 23 53.74 18 1:45.81 19

Biathlon

Main article: Biathlon at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Men
Event Athlete Time Penalties Adjusted time 1 Rank
20 km Rinnat Safin 1'15:22.59 7 1'22:22.59 19
Ivan Biakov 1'17:42.78 3 1'20:42.78 12
Viktor Mamatov 1'16:16.26 2 1'18:16.26 7
Aleksandr Tikhonov 1'12:48.65 4 1'16:48.65 4
Men's 4 x 7.5 km relay
Athletes Race
Misses 2 Time Rank
Aleksandr Tikhonov
Rinnat Safin
Ivan Biakov
Viktor Mamatov 		3 1'51:44.92 1st place, gold medalist(s)

Cross-country skiing

Main article: Cross-country skiing at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Men
Event Athlete Race
Time Rank
15 km Valery Tarakanov 46:48.32 16
Vladimir Voronkov 46:33.43 12
Yury Skobov 46:04.59 5
Fyodor Smishov 46:00.84 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
30 km Vladimir Dolganov 1'40:48.85 16
Yury Skobov 1'40:18.70 15
Fyodor Simashov 1'38:22.50 6
Vyacheslav Vedenin 1'36:31.15 1st place, gold medalist(s)
50 km Ivan Garanin 2'50:00.78 17
Ivan Pronin 2'49:45.59 15
Fyodor Simashov 2'45:08.93 8
Vyacheslav Vedenin 2'44:00.19 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Men's 4 × 10 km relay
Athletes Race
Time Rank
Vladimir Voronkov
Yury Skobov
Fyodor Simashov
Vyacheslav Vedenin 		2'04:47.94 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Women
Event Athlete Race
Time Rank
5 km Nina Baldycheva-Fyodorova 17:25.62 10
Lyubov Mukhachova 17:12.08 6
Alevtina Olyunina-Smirnova 17:07.40 4
Galina Kulakova 17:00.50 1st place, gold medalist(s)
10 km Nina Shebalina 35:54.59 10
Lyubov Mukhachova 34:58.56 4
Alevtina Olyunina-Smirnova 34:54.11 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Galina Kulakova 34:17.82 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Women's 3 × 5 km relay
Athletes Race
Time Rank
Lyubov Mukhachova
Alevtina Olyunina-Smirnova
Galina Kulakova 		48:16.15 1st place, gold medalist(s)

Figure skating

Main article: Figure skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Men
Athlete CF FS Points Places Rank
Yuri Ovchinnikov 15 6 2477.5 104.5 12
Vladimir Kovalev 7 11 2521.6 80 8
Sergei Chetverukhin 3 1 2672.4 20 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Women
Athlete CF FS Points Places Rank
Marina Sanaya 19 18 2198.6 160 18
Pairs
Athletes SP FS Points Places Rank
Irina Cherniaeva
Vasili Blagov 		6 5 399.1 52 6
Liudmila Smirnova
Andrei Suraikin 		2 2 419.4 15 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Irina Rodnina
Alexei Ulanov 		1 1 420.4 12 1st place, gold medalist(s)

Ice hockey

Main article: Ice hockey at the 1972 Winter Olympics

Medal round

Rank Team Pld W L T GF GA Pts
1  Soviet Union 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5 4 0 1 33 13 9
2  United States 5 3 2 0 18 15 6
3  Czechoslovakia 5 3 2 0 26 13 6
4  Sweden 5 2 2 1 17 13 5
5  Finland 5 2 3 0 14 24 4
6  Poland 5 0 5 0 9 39 0
Gold:
Vladislav Tretiak
Alexander Pashkov
Vitaly Davidov
Viktor Kuskin
Alexander Ragulin
Gennadi Tsygankov
Vladimir Lutchenko
Vladimir Vasiliev
Igor Romishevsky
Yevgeny Mishakov
Alexander Maltsev
Alexander Yakushev
Vladimir Vikulov
Anatoly Firsov
Valeri Kharlamov
Yury Blinov
Boris Mikhailov
Vladimir Petrov
Vladimir Shadrin
Yevgeny Zimin

Luge

Main article: Luge at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Men
Athlete Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Yury Svetikov 1:00.82 44 55.01 29 54.08 30 53.78 31 3:43.69 41
Viktor Ilyin 56.12 39 55.50 37 55.21 41 55.25 39 3:42.08 37
Sergey Osipov 55.48 35 55.27 36 54.06 29 54.18 34 3:38.99 33
Yury Yegorov 55.08 28 54.58 26 54.64 35 53.70 28 3:38.00 29

(Men's) Doubles

Athletes Run 1 Run 2 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Yury Svetikov
Sergey Osipov 		45.64 12 45.48 12 1:31.12 12
Yury Yegorov
Viktor Ilyin 		45.66 13 45.53 13 1:31.19 13
Women
Athlete Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Total
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Nataliya Omsheva 47.18 18 47.39 20 46.85 20 46.85 20 3:08.27 20
Nina Ignatyeva 46.82 15 46.84 17 46.70 17 46.09 16 3:06.45 17
Nina Shashkova 46.18 13 46.38 12 46.36 16 45.46 11 3:04.38 12

Nordic combined

Main article: Nordic combined at the 1972 Winter Olympics

Events:

Athlete Event Ski Jumping Cross-country Total
Distance 1 Distance 2 Points Rank Time Points Rank Points Rank
Mikhail Artyukhov Individual 73.5 74.0 183.0 14 50:57.0 197.185 12 380.185 11
Vyacheslav Dryagin 66.0 70.0 146.2 35 50:29.4 201.325 9 347.525 29
Anatoly Zaytsev 66.5 68.0 158.3 26 50:10.4 204.175 8 362.475 22
Aleksandr Nosov 77.5 79.5 201.3 3 52:08.7 186.430 27 387.730 7

Ski jumping

Main article: Ski jumping at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Athlete Event Jump 1 Jump 2 Total
Distance Points Distance Points Points Rank
Anatoly Zheglanov Normal hill 73.5 102.3 75.0 107.7 210.0 21
K'oba Ts'akadze 77.5 109.7 77.5 110.2 219.9 9
Yury Kalinin 78.5 111.8 73.5 99.8 211.6 20
Gary Napalkov 79.5 112.4 76.0 107.8 220.2 7
K'oba Ts'akadze Large hill 93.0 69.7 90.0 95.5 165.2 35
Anatoly Zheglanov 80.5 73.7 90.0 97.0 170.7 32
Sergey Yanin 89.0 93.1 87.0 88.3 181.4 21
Gary Napalkov 99.5 111.3 92.0 98.8 210.1 6

Speed skating

Main article: Speed skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Men
Event Athlete Race
Time Rank
500 m Vladimir Komarov 40.65 14
Valery Muratov 39.80 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
1500 m Valery Muratov 2:11.83 21
Valery Lavrushkin 2:07.16 6
5000 m Valery Lavrushkin 7:39.26 7
10,000 m Valery Lavrushkin 15:20.08 5
Women
Event Athlete Race
Time Rank
500 m Alle Butova 45.17 8
Lyudmila Titova 44.45 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Vera Krasnova 44.01 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
1000 m Lyudmila Savrulina 1:33.41 10
Nina Statkevich 1:32.21 5
Lyudmila Titova 1:31.85 4
1500 m Lyudmila Savrulina 2:25.85 14
Kapitolina Seregina 2:24.29 9
Nina Statkevich 2:23.19 6
3000 m Lyudmila Savrulina 5:06.61 8
Kapitolina Seregina 5:01.88 6
Nina Statkevich 5:01.79 5

Bibliography

A. Dobrov (1973). XI Winter Olympic Games. Year 1972 (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. Archived from the original on 2007-08-19.

References

  1. ^ "The USSR and Olympism" (PDF). Olympic Review. International Olympic Committee (84): 530–557. October 1974. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
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