Ski jumping at the 1972 Winter Olympics
Encyclopedia

Large hill

February 11, 1972

In the competition on the Okurayama jumping hill, conditions were "variable and unfair" according to a Norwegian account of the 1972 Games published in 2006, and the result is described as "the greatest surprise of all time on the jumping hill". In the first run, the 19-year-old Zakopane
Zakopane
Zakopane , is a town in southern Poland. It lies in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998 it was in of Nowy Sącz Province, but since 1999 it has been in Lesser Poland Province. It had a population of about 28,000 as of 2004. Zakopane is a...

 mechanic Wojciech Fortuna
Wojciech Fortuna
Wojciech Fortuna is a former Polish ski jumper who won the Olympic Gold Medal in the Large Hill at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo. The Gold Medal was Poland's first - and the only gold until Vancouver 2010 - in the Winter Olympics history.He competed from 1972 to 1976.-External links:...

 completed a leap of 111 metres, while Manfred Wolf
Manfred Wolf
Manfred Wolf was an East German ski jumper who competed from 1971 to 1973. He finished fifth in the individual large hill event at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo....

 of East Germany was runner-up after the first run having jumped 107 metres. Jiri Raska
Jirí Raška
Jiří Raška is the most famous Czech ski jumper, Olympic winner and Czech skier of the century.- Early life :His father died of leukaemia when Jiří Raška was nine years old, leaving his mother to raise four children on her own. His interest in winter sports was not surprising. His cousin and...

, Gariy Napalkov
Gariy Napalkov
Gariy Napalkov . is a former Soviet ski jumper who competed from 1968 to 1976. He won both ski jumping events at the 1970 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Vysoké Tatry....

 and Tauno Käyhkö
Tauno Käyhkö
Tauno Käyhkö is a former Finnish/Canadian ski jumper who competed from 1970 to 1980. At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, he finished fourth in the individual large hill event....

, all counted among the favourites according to Jorsett's account, were all more than 12 metres behind, Yukio Kasaya
Yukio Kasaya
Yukio Kasaya is a former Japanese ski jumper. He was one of the most successful ski jumpers of the late 1960s and the early 1970s. At the 1970 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships at Vysoké Tatry, Czechoslovakia, he finished 2nd in the individual normal hill behind Gariy Napalkov...

, who won on the normal hill, landed on 90 metres, and Ingolf Mork
Ingolf Mork
Ingolf Mork is a Norwegian ski jumper who was born in Molde, but represented SFK Lyn in Oslo. He won the Four Hills Tournament in 1972, and had two victories in the Holmenkollen ....

, the 1972 Four Hills Tournament
Four Hills Tournament
The Four Hills Tournament is composed of four Ski Jumping World Cup events and has taken place in Germany and Austria each year since 1952.The Four Hills Tournament champion is the one who gets the most points over the four events...

 winner, touched down on 88 metres.

Fortuna's second jump was a more modest 87.5 metres; still, the tenths of a point remained on his side. Again according to Jorsett, Steiner (103 metres), Schmidt (101 metres) and Käyhkö (100.5 metres) got lucky with the wind in the second run, but all finished within 0.7 points of Fortuna. This was the smallest margin between first and fourth to date.

Pudgar's eighth place was the best placing by a Yugoslav at the Winter Olympics until Matjaž Debelak
Matjaž Debelak
Matjaž Debelak is a slovene ski jumper who competed for the former Yugoslavia from 1986 to 1990.His best known successes were at the 1988 Winter Olympics, where he earned two medals with a silver in the team large hill event and a bronze in the individual large hill event...

 won bronze at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.
Pos. Athlete Points Distance
Gold 219.9 111.5m 87.5m
Silver 219.8 94.0m 103.0m
Bronze 219.3 98.5m 101.0m
4 219.2 95.0m 100.5m
5 215.1 107.0m 89.5m
6 210.1 99.5m 92.0m
7 209.4
8 206.0

Normal hill

February 6, 1972
Pos. Athlete Points Distance
Gold 244.2 84.0m 79.0m
Silver 234.8 82.5m 79.0m
Bronze 229.5 83.5m 77.5m
4 225.5 78.0m 78.0m
5 224.8 78.5m 78.0m
6 222.0 82.0m 76.5m
7 & 220.2
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