Rowing at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's eight

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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 →
Rowing at the
1976 Summer Olympics
Single scullsmenwomen
Double scullsmenwomen
Coxless pairmenwomen
Coxed pairmen
Quadruple scullsmenwomen
Coxless fourmen
Coxed fourmenwomen
Eightmenwomen

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]

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
1st place, gold medalist(s)
Karl-Heinz Danielowski  East Germany 5:58.29
2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Patrick Sweeney  Great Britain 6:00.82
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
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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