| | 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. | 
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 |  |  | 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 | 
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