The Soviet Union (USSR) competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 371 competitors, 298 men and 73 women, took part in 180 events in 22 sports. The Soviet Union won 50 gold medal in the year, when the fiftieth anniversary of the USSR's founding was celebrated in the country. That fact pleased the Soviet authorities. Medalists The USSR finished first in the final medal rankings, with 50 gold and 99 total medals. Gold Athletics Mykola Avilov — men's decathlon Anatoliy Bondarchuk — men's hammer throw Valeriy Borzov — men's 100 metres Valeriy Borzov — men's 200 metres Lyudmila Bragina — women's 1500 metres Nadezhda Chizhova — women's shot put Faina Melnik — women's discus throw Viktor Saneyev — men's triple jump Jüri Tarmak — men's high jump Basketball Alzhan Zharmukhamedov, Zurab Sakandelidze, Gennady Volnov, Ivan Yedeshko, Sergei Kovalenko, Modestas Paulauskas, Anatoly Polivoda, Ivan Dvornyi, Mikheil Korkia, Aleksandr Belov, Sergey Belov and Aleksandr Boloshev — men's team competition. Boxing Boris Kuznetsov — men's featherweight Vyacheslav Lemeshev — men's 71–75 kg Canoeing Aleksandr Shaparenko — men's K1 1000m kayak singles Yuliya Ryabchynskaya — women's K1 500m kayak singles Nikolai Gorbachev and Viktor Kratasyuk — men's K2 1000m kayak pairs Yekaterina Kuryshko and Lyudmila Pinayeva-Khvedosyuk — women's K2 500m kayak pairs Vladas Česiūnas and Yury Lobanov — men's C2 1000m Canadian pairs Yury Stetsenko, Valery Didenko, Yury Filatov and Vladimir Morozov — men's K4 1000m kayak fours Cycling Valery Yardy, Gennady Komnatov, Valery Likhachov and Boris Shukov — men's team road race Vladimir Semenets and Igor Tselovalnykov — men's 2000m tandem Diving Vladimir Vasin — men's springboard Equestrian Yelena Petushkova, Pepel, Ivan Kalita, Ikhor, Ivan Kizimov, Tarif — dressage team Fencing Viktor Sidyak — men's sabre individual Svetlana Tširkova, Alexandra Zabelina, Yelena Belova-Novikova, Galina Gorokhova and Tatyana Samusenko-Petrenko — women's foil team Gymnastics Viktor Klimenko — men's pommel horse Nikolay Andrianov — men's floor exercises Lyudmila Turishcheva — women's all-around individual Olga Korbut — women's balance beam Olga Korbut — women's floor exercises Tamara Lazakovich, Elvira Saadi, Lyudmila Turishcheva, Lyubov Burda, Olga Korbut and Antonina Koshel — women's team combined exercises Judo Shota Chochishvili — men's half-heavyweight (93 kg) Modern pentathlon Pavel Lednev, Boris Onyshchenko and Vladimir Shmelyov — men's team competition Rowing Men's single sculls – 1st place ( gold medal) Yury Malyshev Men's double sculls – 1st place ( gold medal) Gennadi Korshikov Aleksandr Timoshinin Sailing Vitaly Dyrdyra