The men's coxed pair competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics took place at Notre Dame Island Olympic Basin, Canada. It was held from 18 to 25 July. There were 13 boats (40 competitors, with West Germany making one substitution) from 13 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by Harald Jährling, Friedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich, and Georg Spohr of East Germany, the nation's second consecutive victory in the event (with an entirely different crew than in 1972). The Soviet Union (Dmitry Bekhterev, Yuriy Shurkalov, and cox Yuriy Lorentsson) earned that nation's first medal in the event since 1960 with their silver. The Czechoslovak brothers Oldřich Svojanovský and Pavel Svojanovský became the 8th and 9th men to win multiple medals in the event, adding a bronze to 1972 silver with new cox Ludvík Vébr.
Background
This was the 14th 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.
Three of the 18 competitors from the 1972 coxed pair Final A returned: Oldřich Svojanovský and Pavel Svojanovský, the rowers from the silver-medal Czechoslovakia boat, and Yuriy Lorentsson, the coxswain of the fifth-place Soviet Union crew. East Germany had won the 1972 Olympics and 1975 World Championship, but sent a different crew after Harald Jährling, Friedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich, and Georg Spohr defeated the reigning champions in Grünau in May. Similarly, the Soviet Union had won the 1974 World Championship, but sent a different crew. Primo Baran, a member of the 1968 Italian gold medalist team, returned after not being selected for the coxed pair in 1972.
No nations made their debut in the event. France and the United States each made their 12th 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. The competition consisted of three main rounds (quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals) as well as a repechage after the quarterfinals.
The 13 boats were divided into three heats for the quarterfinals, with 4 or 5 boats in each heat. The top 3 boats in each heat advanced directly to the semifinals (9 boats total). The remaining 4 boats competed in a single-heat repechage. The top 3 boats in the repechage advanced to the semifinals; the last-place boat was eliminated. The semifinals consisted of two heats of 6 boats each. The top 3 boats in each semifinal advanced to the "A" final (1st through 6th place). The 4th through 6th place boats were placed in the "B" final (7th through 12th place).Official Report, vol. 3, p. 103.
Schedule
All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
Date Time Round Sunday, 18 July 1976 13:00 Quarterfinals Tuesday, 20 July 1976 11:00 Repechage Friday, 23 July 1976 12:00 Semifinals Sunday, 25 July 1976 12:20 Finals
Results
Quarterfinals
Quarterfinal 1
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Todor Kishev 7:24.44 2 Georg Spohr 7:26.03 3 Yuriy Lorentsson 7:29.19 4 Ryszard Kubiak 7:43.45 5 Ken Dreyfuss 7:49.00
Quarterfinal 2
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Antoine Gambert 7:35.91 2 Nilton Alonço 7:39.20 3 Siniša Rutešić 7:40.70 4 Michel Riendeau 7:45.77
Quarterfinal 3
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Ludvík Vébr 7:34.03 2 Franco Venturini 7:37.15 3 David Webb 7:40.22 4 Holger Hocke 8:04.22
Repechage
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Ryszard Kubiak 7:23.17 2 Ken Dreyfuss 7:25.58 3 Holger Hocke 7:26.90 4 Michel Riendeau 7:28.81
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Todor Kishev 7:01.10 2 Yuriy Lorentsson 7:03.89 3 Franco Venturini 7:05.60 4 Antoine Gambert 7:06.70 5 Siniša Rutešić 7:17.02 6 Holger Hocke 7:23.93
Semifinal 2
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes 1 Georg Spohr 7:05.76 2 Ludvík Vébr 7:08.00 3 Ryszard Kubiak 7:09.33 4 David Webb 7:11.67 5 Nilton Alonço 7:21.81 6 Ken Dreyfuss 7:24.78
Finals
Final B
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time 7 David Webb 8:06.93 8 Holger Hocke 8:09.02 9 Antoine Gambert 8:12.66 10 Nilton Alonço 8:14.44 11 Ken Dreyfuss 8:15.65 12 Siniša Rutešić 8:16.22
Final A
Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Georg Spohr 7:58.99 Yuriy Lorentsson 8:01.82 Ludvík Vébr 8:03.28 4 Todor Kishev 8:11.27 5 Franco Venturini 8:15.97 6 Ryszard Kubiak 8:23.02
Final classification
RankRowers CoxswainNation Harald JährlingFriedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich Georg Spohr Dmitry BekhterevYuriy Shurkalov Yuriy Lorentsson Oldřich SvojanovskýPavel Svojanovský Ludvík Vébr 4 Rumen KhristovTsvetan Petkov Todor Kishev 5 Primo BaranAnnibale Venier Franco Venturini 6 Ryszard StadniukGrzegorz Stellak Ryszard Kubiak 7 Neil ChristieJames MacLeod David Webb 8 Winfried Ringwald (final)Klaus JägerThomas Hitzbleck (quarters, semis) Holger Hocke 9 Yves FraisseJean-Claude Coucardon Antoine Gambert 10 Atalibio MagioniWandir Kuntze Nilton Alonço 11 John MatthewsDarrell Vreugdenhil Ken Dreyfuss 12 Stanko MilošMilan Butorac Siniša Rutešić 13 Robert BergenWalter Krawec Michel Riendeau
References