Italy competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 224 competitors, 197 men and 27 women, took part in 123 events in 19 sports.

Medalists

Gold

  • Klaus Dibiasi — Diving, Men's 10m Platform
  • Graziano Mancinelli — Equestrian, Jumping Individual Competition
  • Rolando Rigoli, Cesare Salvadori, Michele Maffei, Mario Aldo Montano, and Mario Tullio Montano — Fencing, Men's Sabre Team Competition
  • Antonella Ragno-Lonzi — Fencing, Women's Foil Individual Competition
  • Angelo Scalzone — Shooting, Trap Individual Competition

Silver

  • Giorgio Cagnotto — Diving, Men's 3m Springboard
  • Alessandro Argenton — Equestrian, Three-Day Event Individual Competition
  • Novella Calligaris — Swimming, Women's 400m Freestyle

Bronze

  • Pietro Mennea — Athletics, Men's 200m
  • Paola Pigni — Athletics, Women's 1.500m
  • Giorgio Cagnotto — Diving, Men's 10m Platform
  • Anselmo Silvino — Weightlifting, Men's Middleweight
  • Raimondo D'Inzeo, Piero D'Inzeo, Vittorio Orlandi, and Graziano Mancinelli — Equestrian, Jumping Team Competition
  • Silvano Basagni — Shooting, Trap Individual Competition
  • Novella Calligaris — Swimming, Women's 800m Freestyle
  • Novella Calligaris — Swimming, Women's 400m Individual Medley
  • Giuseppe Bognanni — Wrestling, Men's Greco-Roman Flyweight
  • Gian-Matteo Ranzi — Wrestling, Men's Greco-Roman Lightweight

Archery

In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, Italy entered three men. Their highest placing competitor was Alfredo Massazza, at 31st place.

Men's Individual Competition:

  • Alfredo Massazza - 2340 points (→ 31st place)
  • Giancarlo Ferrari - 2322 points (→ 33rd place)
  • Sante Spigarelli - 2300 points (→ 35th place)

Athletics

Men's 800 metres

  • Franco Arese
  • Heat — DNS (→ did not advance)

Men's 1500 metres

  • Franco Arese
  • Heat — 3:44.0
  • Semifinals — 3:41.1 (→ did not advance)
  • Gianni del Buono
  • Heat — 3:40.8
  • Semifinals — 3:42.0 (→ did not advance)

Men's 4 × 100 m Relay

  • Vincenzo Guerini, Ennio Preatoni, Luigi Benedetti, and Pietro Mennea
  • Heat — 39.29s
  • Semifinals — 39.21s
  • Final — 39.14s (→ 8th place)

Men's High Jump

  • Enzo del Forno
  • Qualifying Round — 2.15m
  • Final — 2.15m (→ 10th place)
  • Marco Schivo
  • Qualifying Round — 2.15m
  • Final — 2.10m (→ 17th place)

Basketball

;Men's Team Competition

  • Preliminary Round (Group B)
  • Lost to Yugoslavia (78-85)
  • Defeated Senegal (92-56)
  • Lost to Soviet Union (66-79)
  • Defeated West Germany (68-57)
  • Defeated Poland (71-59)
  • Defeated Puerto Rico (71-54)
  • Defeated Philippines (101-81)
  • Semi Finals
  • Lost to United States (38-68)
  • Bronze Medal Match
  • Lost to Cuba (65-66) → Fourth place
  • Team Roster
  • Ottorino Flaborea
  • Giuseppe Brumatti
  • Giorgio Giomo
  • Mauro Cerioni
  • Massimo Masini
  • Renzo Bariviera
  • Marino Zanatta
  • Dino Meneghin
  • Pierluigi Marzorati
  • Luigi Serafini
  • Ivan Bisson
  • Giulio Iellini

Boxing

Men's Light Flyweight:

  • Gaetano Curcetti
  1. 1/16-Final - Lost to Kadir Syed Abdul of Singapore (3 round, RSC)

Men's Flyweight:

  • Franco Udella
  1. 1/16-Final - Defeated Filex Maina of Kenya (5 - 0)
  2. 1/8-Final - Lost to Boris Zoriktuev of USSR (1 - 4)

Men's Featherweight:

  • Pasqualino Morbidelli
  1. 1/32-Final - Defeated Morgan Mwenya of Zambia (5 - 0)
  2. 1/16-Final - Defeated Ebu Sef Tatar of Turkey (5 -0 )
  3. 1/8-Final - Lost to Royal Kobayashi of Japan (1 round, KO)

Men's Lightweight:

  • Giambattista Capretti
  1. 1/32-Final - Defeated José Martinez of Canada (2 round, RSC)
  2. 1/16-Final - Lost to László Orbán of Hungary (1 - 4)

Men's Light Welterweight:

  • Ernesto Bergamasco
  1. 1/16-Final - Lost to Srisook Bantow of Thailand (1 - 4)

Men's Welterweight:

  • Damiano Lassandro
  1. 1/32-Final - Lost to Emilio Correa of Cuba (0 - 5)

Men's Light Middleweight:

  • Antonio Castellini
  1. 1/16-Final - Lost to Wiesław Rudkowski of Poland (0 - 5)

Men's Light Heavyweight:

  • Guglielmo Spinello
  1. 1/16-Final - Defeated Samson Laizer of Tanzania (2round KO)
  2. 1/8-Final - Lost to Rudi Hornig of West Germany (1 - 4)

Canoeing

Cycling

Fifteen cyclists represented Italy in 1972.

;Individual road race

  • Francesco Moser — 8th place
  • Walter Riccomi — 49th place
  • Aldo Parecchini — did not finish (→ no ranking)
  • Franco Ongarato — did not finish (→ no ranking)

;Team time trial

  • Osvaldo Castellan
  • Pasqualino Moretti
  • Francesco Moser
  • Giovanni Tonoli

;Sprint

  • Massimo Marino
  • Ezio Cardi

;1000m time trial

  • Ezio Cardi
  • Final — 1:07.80 (→ 9th place)

;Tandem

  • Dino Verzini and Giorgio Rossi → 9th place

;Individual pursuit

  • Luciano Borgognoni

;Team pursuit

  • Pietro Algeri
  • Giacomo Bazzan
  • Giorgio Morbiato
  • Luciano Borgognoni

Diving

Men's 3m Springboard

  • Giorgio Cagnotto — 591.63 points (→ Image:Med 2.png Silver Medal)
  • Klaus Dibiasi — 559.05 points (→ 4th place)

Men's 10m Platform

  • Klaus Dibiasi — 504.12 points (→ Image:Med 1.png Gold Medal)
  • Giorgio Cagnotto — 475.83 points (→ Image:Med 3.png Bronze Medal)

Equestrian

Fencing

19 fencers, 14 men and 5 women, represented Italy in 1972.

;Men's foil

  • Nicola Granieri
  • Stefano Simoncelli
  • Arcangelo Pinelli

;Men's team foil

  • Alfredo Del Francia, Nicola Granieri, Carlo Montano, Arcangelo Pinelli, Stefano Simoncelli

;Men's épée

  • Nicola Granieri
  • Claudio Francesconi
  • Gianluigi Saccaro

;Men's team épée

  • Claudio Francesconi, Nicola Granieri, Gianluigi Placella, Gianluigi Saccaro, Pier Alberto Testoni

;Men's sabre

  • Michele Maffei
  • Mario Aldo Montano
  • Rolando Rigoli

;Men's team sabre

  • Michele Maffei, Rolando Rigoli, Cesare Salvadori, Mario Aldo Montano, Mario Tullio Montano

;Women's foil

  • Antonella Ragno-Lonzi
  • Maria Consolata Collino
  • Giulia Lorenzoni

;Women's team foil

  • Antonella Ragno-Lonzi, Giulia Lorenzoni, Der Reka Cipriani, Maria Consolata Collino, Giuseppina Bersani

Gymnastics

Judo

Modern pentathlon

Three male pentathletes represented Italy in 1972.

Men's Individual Competition:

  • Mario Medda - 4850 points (→ 16th place)
  • Giovanni Perugini - 4571 points (→ 34th place)
  • Nicolo Deligia - 4492 points (→ 39th place)

Men's Team Competition:

  • Medda, Perugini, and Deligia - 13913 points (→ 10th place)

Rowing

Men's Coxed Pairs

  • Giampaolo Tronchin, Mario Semenzato and Siro Kuhnke Meli
  • Heat — 8:02.79
  • Repechage — 8:10.46 (→ did not advance)

Sailing

Shooting

Eleven male shooters represented Italy in 1972. In the trap event, Angelo Scalzone won gold and Silvano Basagni won bronze.

;25 m pistol

  • Giovanni Liverzani
  • Roberto Ferraris

;50 m pistol

  • Giuseppe De Chirico
  • Piero Errani

;50 m rifle, three positions

  • Giuseppe De Chirico
  • Walter Frescura

;50 m rifle, prone

  • Giovanni Mezzani
  • Giancarlo Cecconi

;Trap

  • Angelo Scalzone
  • Silvano Basagni

;Skeet

  • Romano Garagnani
  • Carlo Alberto Lodi

Swimming

Men's 100m Freestyle

  • Roberto Pangaro
  • Heat — 54.74s (→ did not advance)

Men's 200m Freestyle

  • Riccardo Targetti
  • Heat — 2:02.58 (→ did not advance)
  • Arnaldo Cinquetti
  • Heat — 2:01.78 (→ did not advance)
  • Roberto Pangaro
  • Heat — 2:00.97 (→ did not advance)

Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

  • Roberto Pangaro, Paolo Barelli, Marcello Guarducci and Alberto Castagnetti
  • Heat — 3:38.81 (→ did not advance)

Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay

  • Roberto Pangaro, Arnaldo Cinquetti, Lorenzo Marugo, and Riccardo Targetti
  • Heat — 8:03.98 (→ did not advance)

Men's Competition

  • Vincenzo Finocchiaro, Sergio Irredento, Massimo Nistri, Edmondo Mingione, Michele di Pietro, Angelo Tozzi, Gaetano Carboni, and Mauro Calligaris. Reserve: Sandro Grassi.

Women's Competition

  • Laura Podestà, Novella Calligaris, Federica Stabilini, Patrizia Miserini, Donatella Talpo, Patrizia Lanfredini, Laura Gorgerino, and Alessandra Finesso. Reserve: Antonella Valentini.

Water polo

Men's Team Competition

  • Preliminary Round (Group C)
  • Lost to Soviet Union (1-4)
  • Defeated Bulgaria (8-5)
  • Defeated Spain (6-2)
  • Defeated Japan (12-5)
  • Final Round (Group I)
  • Lost to Hungary (7-8)
  • Drew with Yugoslavia (6-6)
  • Drew with West Germany (2-2)
  • Lost to United States (5-6) → Sixth place
  • Team Roster
  • Alberto Alberani
  • Eraldo Pizzo
  • Roldano Simeoni
  • Mario Cevasco
  • Alessandro Ghibellini
  • Gianni de Magistris
  • Guglielmo Marsili
  • Silvio Baracchini
  • Franco Lavoratori
  • Sante Marsili
  • Ferdinande Ligano

Weightlifting

Men's Bantamweight:

  • Gaetano Tosto - 325.0 kg (→ 16th place)

Men's Featherweight:

  • Peppino Tanti - 372.5 kg (→ 8th place)

Men's Middleweight:

  • Anselmo Silvino - 470.0 kg (→ Image:Med 3.png Bronze Medal)
  • Salvatore Laudani - 440.0 kg (→ 11th place)

Men's Light Heavyweight:

  • Dino Turcato - 455.0 (→ 9th place)

Men's Heavyweight:

  • Roberto Vezzani - 545.0 (→ 5th place)

Wrestling

Water Skiing (demonstration sports)

Men's Slalom:

  • Roby Zucchi - 44.0 points (→ Image:Med 1.png Gold Medal)

Men's Figure Skiing:

  • Max Hofer - 3850 points (→ 6th place)
  • Roby Zucchi - 3560 points (→ 8th place)

Men's Jump:

  • Max Hofer - 37.70 points (→ Image:Med 2.png Silver Medal)
  • Roby Zucchi - 35.10 points (→ 7th place)

References

  • Italy at the 1972 Munich Summer Games