The men's coxed pair competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich took place from 27 August to 2 September at the Olympic Regatta Course in Oberschleißheim. There were 21 boats (63 competitors) from 21 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by East German crew Wolfgang Gunkel, Jörg Lucke, and coxswain Klaus-Dieter Neubert; it was the first medal in the event for East Germany as a separate nation. Czechoslovakia (silver) and Romania (bronze) also won their first medals in the men's coxed pair.
Background
This was the 13th appearance of the event. Rowing had been on the programme in 1896 but was cancelled due to bad weather. The men's coxed pair was one of the original four events in 1900, but was not held in 1904, 1908, or 1912. It returned to the programme after World War I and was held every Games from 1924 to 1992, when it (along with the men's coxed four) was replaced with the men's lightweight double sculls and men's lightweight coxless four.
Two of the 18 competitors from the 1968 coxed pair Final A returned: rower Wolfgang Gunkel and coxswain Klaus-Dieter Neubert from the fourth-place East German boat. They, along with new second rower Jörg Lucke (a 1968 coxless pairs Olympic champion), had won the 1971 European championship and were among the favorites. Another top team was the Czechoslovak boat, brothers Oldřich Svojanovský and Pavel Svojanovský and cox Vladimír Petříček; they had won the 1969 European title. The Romanian crew, Ștefan Tudor, Petre Ceapura, and cox Ladislau Lovrenschi, were the reigning (1970) World Champions.
Canada and Norway each made their debut in the event. France and the United States each made their 11th appearance, tied for most among nations to that point.
Competition format
The coxed pair event featured three-person boats, with two rowers and a coxswain. It was a sweep rowing event, with the rowers each having one oar (and thus each rowing on one side). The course used the 2000 metres distance that became the Olympic standard in 1912. This rowing competition consisted of three main rounds (quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals), as well as a repechage round that allowed teams that did not win their quarterfinal heats to advance to the semifinals.
Heats: Four heats. With 21 boats entered, there were 5 or 6 boats per heat. The top boat in each heat (total of 4 boats) advanced directly to the semifinals; all other boats (17 boats) went to the repechage. Repechage: Four heats. There were 4 or 5 boats in each heat. The top two boats in each heat (total of 8 boats) advanced to the semifinals. The remaining boats (9 boats) were eliminated. Semifinals: Two heats. Each heat consisted of 6 boats. The top three boats in each heat advanced to the "A" final; the other three boats in each heat were sent to a "B" final (7th–12th place classification race). Finals: A main final (Final A) and a 7th–12th place classification race (Final B).
Schedule
All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)
Date Time Round Sunday, 27 August 1972 14:00 Quarterfinals Tuesday, 29 August 1972 14:00 Repechage Thursday, 31 August 1972 11:30 Semifinals Friday, 1 September 1972 10:00 Final B Saturday, 2 September 1972 11:30 Final A
Results
Quarterfinals
The top crew in each heat advanced to the semifinals, with all others sent to the repechages.
Quarterfinal 1
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Oldřich SvojanovskýPavel Svojanovský Vladimír Petříček 7:41.27 2 René FurlerNicolas Lindecker Stefan Hablützel 7:46.03 3 Ștefan TudorPetre Ceapura Ladislau Lovrenschi 7:47.98 4 Mike NearyTrevor Josephson Robert Battersby 7:49.54 5 Rolf AndreassenArne Bergodd Thor Egil Olsen 8:00.56 6 Paul De WeertWilfried Van Herck Guy Defraigne 8:08.51
Quarterfinal 2
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Mike StainesLuther Jones Aaron Herman 7:50.00 2 Wojciech RepszWiesław Długosz Jacek Rylski 7:57.23 3 Bernard LuttikhuizenRené Kieft Herman Zaanen 8:00.15 4 Rainer HintereggerManfred Grieshofer Werner Grieshofer 8:08.88 5 Pedro CiapessoniJorge Buenahora Daniel Jorge 8:29.51
Quarterfinal 3
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Wolfgang GunkelJörg Lucke Klaus-Dieter Neubert 7:54.11 2 Dimitar ValovDimitar Yanakiev Nenko Dobrev 8:01.01 3 Giampaolo TronchinMario Semenzato Siro Meli 8:02.79 4 Jean-Claude CoucardonChristian Durniak Alain Lacoste 8:09.62 5 Pedro YucciolinoRafael Garba Raúl Mazerati 8:20.19
Quarterfinal 4
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Vladimir EshinovNikolay Ivanov Yuriy Lorentsson 7:43.84 2 David MaxwellMike Hart Alan Inns 7:49.56 3 Heinz MußmannBernd Krause Stefan Kuhnke 8:02.19 4 Leo AhonenLeif Andersson Antero Yli-Ikkelä 8:06.56 5 Lázaro RiveroTeófilo López Jesús Rosello 8:17.34
Repechages Top two finishers in each heat advanced to semi-finals.
Repechage heat 1
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 David MaxwellMike Hart Alan Inns 8:01.14 2 Rolf AndreassenArne Bergodd Thor Egil Olsen 8:03.50 3 Giampaolo TronchinMario Semenzato Siro Meli 8:10.46 4 Rainer HintereggerManfred Grieshofer Werner Grieshofer 8:15.94
Repechage heat 2
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Dimitar ValovDimitar Yanakiev Nenko Dobrev 8:10.94 2 Mike NearyTrevor Josephson Robert Battersby 8:12.69 3 Bernard LuttikhuizenRené Kieft Herman Zaanen 8:17.37 4 Lázaro RiveroTeófilo López Jesús Rosello 8:37.14
Repechage heat 3
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Ștefan TudorPetre Ceapura Ladislau Lovrenschi 8:08.34 2 Wojciech RepszWiesław Długosz Jacek Rylski 8:10.87 3 Leo AhonenLeif Andersson Antero Yli-Ikkelä 8:11.89 4 Pedro YucciolinoRafael Garba Raúl Mazerati 8:31.51
Repechage heat 4
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Heinz MußmannBernd Krause Stefan Kuhnke 8:07.95 2 René FurlerNicolas Lindecker Stefan Hablützel 8:11.53 3 Jean-Claude CoucardonChristian Durniak Alain Lacoste 8:15.25 4 Paul De WeertWilfried Van Herck Guy Defraigne 8:16.26 5 Pedro CiapessoniJorge Buenahora Daniel Jorge 8:52.42
Semifinals
The top three finishers in each heat advanced to Final A; others went to Final B.
Semifinal 1
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Wolfgang GunkelJörg Lucke Klaus-Dieter Neubert 8:13.87 2 Heinz MußmannBernd Krause Stefan Kuhnke 8:19.86 3 Wojciech RepszWiesław Długosz Jacek Rylski 8:20.69 4 David MaxwellMike Hart Alan Inns 8:21.61 5 Mike StainesLuther Jones Aaron Herman 8:25.40 6 Mike NearyTrevor Josephson Robert Battersby 9:28.82
Semifinal 2
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Vladimir EshinovNikolay Ivanov Yuriy Lorentsson 8:07.34 2 Oldřich SvojanovskýPavel Svojanovský Vladimír Petříček 8:07.88 3 Ștefan TudorPetre Ceapura Ladislau Lovrenschi 8:10.89 4 Dimitar ValovDimitar Yanakiev Nenko Dobrev 8:20.21 5 Rolf AndreassenArne Bergodd Thor Egil Olsen 8:30.29 6 René FurlerNicolas Lindecker Stefan Hablützel 8:32.34
Finals
Final B
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time 7 Rolf AndreassenArne Bergodd Thor Egil Olsen 7:58.45 8 David MaxwellMichael Hart Alan Inns 7:59.57 9 Mike NearyTrevor Josephson Robert Battersby 8:00.27 10 Dimitar ValovDimitar Yanakiev Nenko Dobrev 8:01.86 11 Mike StainesLuther Jones Aaron Herman 8:04.80 12 René FurlerNicolas Lindecker Stefan Hablützel 8:05.54
Final A
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Wolfgang GunkelJörg Lucke Klaus-Dieter Neubert 7:17.25 Oldřich SvojanovskýPavel Svojanovský Vladimír Petříček 7:19.57 Ștefan TudorPetre Ceapura Ladislau Lovrenschi 7:21.36 4 Heinz MußmannBernd Krause Stefan Kuhnke 7:21.52 5 Vladimir EshinovNikolay Ivanov Yuriy Lorentsson 7:24.44 6 Wojciech RepszWiesław Długosz Jacek Rylski 7:28.92
References