Olympia 1972: Revolutionary in the boxing ring, sideburns on the lawn

Dhe Olympic team of the German Football Association (DFB), still without a win in the final round of the football tournament, has to win the inner-German duel against the GDR in order to keep the last chance for a medal. In front of 80,000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium, the equalizer succeeded twice, first with an elegant scissor lift from Uli Hoeneß (with blond curly hair), then with a powerful header from Ottmar Hitzfeld (with lush sideburns).

But the late 3:2 by Eberhard Vogel ended the hopes of the West Germans and put the East Germans in the game for third place – where they will agree two days later with the socialist brothers from the Soviet Union on a non-aggression pact in extra time.

Because there is still no penalty shoot-out, a game without a winner becomes a win-win scenario, even if nobody knew the term at the time. Both teams, USSR and GDR, receive bronze medals.

Such tricks are not necessary in boxing, where both semi-final losers have always been shared third place without further exchange of blows. Peter Hussing, bricklayer from the Westerwald, has already secured bronze when he has to face 20-year-old Teófilo Stevenson, such an outstanding heavyweight fighter that later attempts are made to persuade him to fight Muhammad Ali.

But Stevenson, Fidel Castro’s star athlete and ardent supporter of the Cuban revolution, is adamant in his rejection of capitalist prize-boxing: “What’s a million dollars against eight million Cubans who love me?” He remains an amateur and is a three-time Olympic heavyweight champion.

In lap one Hussing can set a few liver hooks, in lap two he only stays on his feet for two seconds before the first knockdown. After the third, the referee takes the bloodied German out of the fight.

Stevenson has gold secured as his final opponent, Romania’s Ion Alexe, prefers to claim his silver medal without a fight. The dominance of Cuban amateur boxers begins in Munich, the basis for which the trainer Kurt Rosentritt created in the 1960s by importing modern training theory from the GDR. The three Olympic victories of 1972 have been followed by 38 more to date.

The Germans also reach their limits in the decathlon, and that across borders. The three West German participants gave up on the first day of the competition, and at the beginning of the second day the leader, Joachim Kirst from the GDR, fell, falling over 110 meters hurdles.

The superior Olympic champion, with a world record, is the Soviet athlete Mykola Avilow from Odessa. In May 2022 he escaped the war from his Ukrainian homeland to Dortmund, where his son, his wife and four children had previously fled.