| Venue: Olimpiapark Swimming Hall. 32 competitors from 16 nations. |
| Final | Points | Final | Qualif. | age | | 1. Vladimir Vasin | URS | 594.09 | 206.37 | 1. | 387.72 | 3. | 25 | | 2. Franco Cagnotto | ITA | 591.63 | 190.68 | 2. | 400.95 | 1. | 25 | | 3. Craig Lincoln | USA | 577.29 | 190.50 | 3. | 386.79 | 4. | 21 | | 4. Klaus Dibiasi | ITA | 559.05 | 178.89 | 4. | 380.16 | 6. | 24 | | 5. Michael Finneran | USA | 557.34 | 178.50 | 5. | 378.84 | 7. | 23 | | 6. Vyacheslav Strakhov | URS | 556.20 | 164.10 | 10. | 392.10 | 2. | 22 | | 7. Falk Hoffmann | GDR | 544.95 | 160.50 | 11. | 384.45 | 5. | 19 | | 8. Norbert Huda | FRG | 524.16 | 168.87 | 8. | 355.29 | 9. | 22 | | 9. Carlos Girón | MEX | 521.88 | 176.67 | 6. | 345.21 | 11. | 17 | | 10.Roar Løken | NOR | 514.92 | 170.37 | 7. | 344.55 | 12. | 27 | | 11.José Robinson | MEX | 514.02 | 165.54 | 9. | 348.48 | 10. | 27 | | 12.Helge Ziethen | GDR | 511.02 | 147.00 | 12. | 364.02 | 8. | 19 |
|
| Divers performed three voluntary dives without limit of degrees of difficulty. The final ranking was determined by the combined score with the preliminary round. |
|
|
| | | Divers performed 8 dives. First 12 advanced to Final. |
| Ranking | Points | | 1. Franco Cagnotto | ITA | 400.95 | | 2. Vyacheslav Strakhov | URS | 392.10 | | 3. Vladimir Vasin | URS | 387.72 | | 4. Craig Lincoln | USA | 386.79 | | 5. Falk Hoffmann | GDR | 384.45 | | 6. Klaus Dibiasi | ITA | 380.16 | | 7. Michael Finneran | USA | 378.84 | | 8. Helge Ziethen | GDR | 364.02 | | 9. Norbert Huda | FRG | 355.29 | | 10.José Robinson | MEX | 348.48 | | 11.Carlos Girón | MEX | 345.21 | | 12.Roar Løken | NOR | 344.55 | | eliminated | | 13.Donald Wagstaff | AUS | 344.13 | | 14.Scott Cranham | CAN | 339.21 | | 15.Pentti Koskinen | FIN | 336.99 | | 16.Kenneth Sully | CAN | 336.12 | | 17.Christopher Walls | GBR | 332.07 | | 18.Vladimir Kapyrulin | URS | 329.46 | | 19.Gerhard Hölzl | FRG | 327.42 | | 20.David Bush | USA | 327.06 | | 21.Ion Ganea | ROU | 325.17 | | 22.Alain Goosen | FRA | 322.41 | | 23.John Baker | GBR | 321.15 | | 24.Junji Yuasa | JPN | 316.95 | | 25.Ron Friesen | CAN | 313.11 | | 26.Salim Barjum | COL | 310.86 | | 27.Porfirio Becerril | MEX | 310.65 | | 28.Brian Wetheridge | GBR | 310.53 | | 29.Kenneth Grove | AUS | 302.91 | | 30.Reinhard von Bauer | FRG | 299.79 | | 31.Rudolf Kruspel | AUT | 293.58 | | 32.Josef Kien | AUT | 285.30 |
|
|
| Olympic Champions Men 3m Springboard | | 2016: | Cao Yuan | CHN | | 2012: | Ilya Zakharov | RUS | | 2008: | He Chong | CHN | | 2004: | Peng Bo | CHN | | 2000: | Xiong Ni | CHN | | 1996: | Xiong Ni | CHN | | 1992: | Mark Lenzi | USA | | 1988: | Greg Louganis | USA | | 1984: | Greg Louganis | USA | | 1980: | Aleksandr Portnov | URS | | 1976: | Phil Boggs | USA | | 1972: | Vladimir Vasin | URS | | 1968: | Bernard Wrightson | USA | | 1964: | Kenneth Sitzberger | USA | | 1960: | Gary Tobian | USA | | 1956: | Bob Clotworthy | USA | | 1952: | David Browning | USA | | 1948: | Bruce Harlan | USA | | 1936: | Richard Degener | USA | | 1932: | Michael Galitzen | USA | | 1928: | Pete Desjardins | USA | | 1924: | Albert White | USA | | 1920: | Louis Kuehn | USA | | 1912: | Paul Günther | GER | | 1908: | Albert Zürner | GER |
|
|