Wikipedia

Rowing at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's eight

The men's eight competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics took place at the rowing basin on Notre Dame Island in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was held from 18 to 25 July and was won by the team from East Germany. It was East Germany's first victory in the event, improving on a bronze medal in 1972. The defending champions, New Zealand, switched places with the East Germans, taking bronze in 1972. Between them was Great Britain, taking its first men's eight medal since 1948. There were 11 boats (100 competitors, with Australia making one substitution) from 11 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event.[1]

Men's eight
at the Games of the XXI Olympiad
Romania stamp commemorating rowing at the 1976 Olympics
VenueOlympic basin at Notre Dame Island
Dates18–25 July
Competitors100 from 11 nations
Winning time5:58.29
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  East Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  New Zealand
← 1972
1980 →

Background edit

This was the 17th appearance of the event. Rowing had been on the programme in 1896 but was cancelled due to bad weather. The men's eight has been held every time that rowing has been contested, beginning in 1900.[1]

Whilst the East German team was considered to be the favourite, the event was wide open and many teams could have won it.[2] The United States had in the past dominated the event and up until and including the 1964 Summer Olympics, they had won nine out of ten Olympic golds.[3] Whilst their dominance had since waned, they were still considered possible medal contenders, as they had won the 1974 World Rowing Championships. East Germany had won the 1973 European Rowing Championships (the event was discontinued after 1973), and the 1975 World Rowing Championships, and they had won bronze at the 1972 Olympics. The New Zealand team had won the event at the previous Summer Olympics, had won bronze at the last two World Rowing Championships, and four of their 1972 Olympic rowers plus their cox returned to Montreal.[2] Other medalists at these major rowing events were Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain.[4][5]

No nations made their debut in the event. The United States made its 15th appearance, most among nations to that point.

Previous M8+ competitions edit

Competition Gold Silver Bronze
1972 Summer Olympics[6] New Zealand United States East Germany
1973 European Rowing Championships[4] East Germany Czechoslovakia Soviet Union
1974 World Rowing Championships[5] United States Great Britain New Zealand
1975 World Rowing Championships[7] East Germany Soviet Union New Zealand

Competition format edit

The "eight" event featured nine-person boats, with eight rowers and a coxswain. It was a sweep rowing event, with the rowers each having one oar (and thus each rowing on one side). This rowing competition consisted of two main rounds (semifinals and finals; down from three main rounds in 1927 with a smaller field), as well as a repechage round after the semifinals. The course used the 2000 metres distance that became the Olympic standard in 1912 (with the exception of 1948).[8] Races were held in up to six lanes.

  • Semifinals: Two heats with five or six boats each. The top boat in each semifinal (2 boats total) went to the "A" final, while the remaining boats went to the repechage.
  • Repechage: Two heats with four or five boats each. The top two boats in each heat (4 boats total) advanced to the "A" final, with the remainder (5 boats) to the "B" final (out of medal contention).
  • Finals: The "A" final consisted of the top six boats, competing for the medals and 4th through 6th place. The "B" final had the next five boats; they competed for 7th through 11th place.

Schedule edit

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round
Sunday, 18 July 1976 15:00 Semifinals
Tuesday, 20 July 1976 12:00 Repechage
Sunday, 25 July 1976 14:05 Finals

Results edit

Semifinals edit

Semifinal 1 edit

Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1
Stuart Carter   Australia 5:39.07 QA
2
Simon Dickie   New Zealand 5:40.00 R
3
David Weinberg   United States 5:42.05 R
4
Jesús Rosello   Cuba 5:44.30 R
5
Robert Choquette   Canada 6:04.83 R
6
Akio Kakishita   Japan 6:08.11 R

Semifinal 2 edit

Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1
Karl-Heinz Danielowski   East Germany 5:32.17 QA
2
Patrick Sweeney   Great Britain 5:36.97 R
3
Vladimir Zharov   Soviet Union 5:37.79 R
4
Jiří Pták   Czechoslovakia 5:43.94 R
5
Helmut Latz   West Germany 5:48.30 R

Repechage edit

Repechage heat 1 edit

New Zealand changed seats for seven of its eight rowers. West Germany and Japan changed seats for all eight rowers. The Soviet team changed seats 1 to 7. The team from Cuba changed seats for seven rowers.[9]

Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1
Simon Dickie   New Zealand 5:37.08 QA
2
Helmut Latz   West Germany 5:37.76 QA
3
Vladimir Zharov   Soviet Union 5:40.65 QB
4
Jesús Rosello   Cuba 5:47.33 QB
5
Akio Kakishita   Japan 6:11.06 QB

Repechage heat 2 edit

Great Britain changed five of its seats, including the stroke. Czechoslovakia changed seats 2 to 6. Canada changed seven of the eight seats.[9]

Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1
Patrick Sweeney   Great Britain 5:40.00 QA
2
Jiří Pták   Czechoslovakia 5:43.81 QA
3
David Weinberg   United States 5:48.60 QB
4
Robert Choquette   Canada 5:48.94 QB

Finals edit

The two finals were rowed on 25 July.[10] The only team that did not change seats during the competition was the United States.[9]

Final B edit

Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time
7
Vladimir Zharov   Soviet Union 6:05.88
8
Robert Choquette   Canada 6:09.03
9
David Weinberg   United States 6:11.07
10
Jesús Rosello   Cuba 6:14.86
11
Akio Kakishita   Japan 6:33.33

Final A edit

East Germany changed five seats for the final.[9] After Malcolm Shaw as stroke injured his back in the elimination race,[11] Australia replaced him with Peter Shakespear for the final.[9]

Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time
 
Karl-Heinz Danielowski   East Germany 5:58.29
 
Patrick Sweeney   Great Britain 6:00.82
 
Simon Dickie   New Zealand 6:03.51
4
Helmut Latz   West Germany 6:06.15
5
Stuart Carter   Australia 6:09.75
6
Jiří Pták   Czechoslovakia 6:14.29

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b "Eight, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games: Men's Coxed Eights". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  3. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's Coxed Eights". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b "(M8+) Men's Eight - Final". International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Rudern – Weltmeisterschaften. Achter – Herren" [Rowing – World Championships. Eight – Men]. Sport-Komplett.de (in German). Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  6. ^ "(M8+) Men's Eight - Final". International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  7. ^ "(M8+) Men's Eight - Final - Final". International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  8. ^ "Why Do We Race 2000m? The History Behind the Distance". World Rowing. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e Official Report of the Organising Committee 1978, Vol 3, pp. 115–117.
  10. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games: Men's Coxed Eights Final Round". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Malcolm Shaw". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 17 October 2016.

References edit

  • Proulx, Daniel; Mollitt, J. James (1969). Chantigny, Louis (ed.). The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XXI Olympiad (PDF). Ottawa, Canada: Organizing Committee of the Games of the XXI Olympiad.
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