Luge at the 1972 Winter Olympics – Doubles

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Doubles
at the XI Olympic Winter Games
Luge pictogram.svg
Venue Sapporo Teine
Dates10 February 1972
Competitors40 from 11 nations
Winning time1:28.35
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Horst Hörnlein, Reinhard Bredow Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany
Gold medal icon.svg Paul Hildgartner, Walter Plaikner Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
Bronze medal icon.svg Klaus-Michael Bonsack, Wolfram Fiedler Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany
  1968
1976  

The Doubles luge competition at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo was held on 10 February, at Sapporo Teine. [1] A malfunctioning starting gate cancelled the results of the first run. [2] Italy, whose doubles team of Paul Hildgartner and Walter Plaikner won the first run, protested to event officials the results should stand since all contestants had suffered equally, but to no avail. [2] After the protest was denied, a rerun was ordered. [2] [3]

Hildgartner and Plaikner won the first run of the rerun event while the East German team of Horst Hörnlein and Reinhard Bredow had the fastest second run. [4] The combined times were equal for the only time in Winter Olympic luge history. [4] The International Luge Federation consulted with IOC President Avery Brundage on this matter, and gold medals were awarded to both teams as a result. [2] By the time of the 1976 Winter Olympics, artificial track luge would be timed in thousandths of a second (0.001) rather than hundredths of a second (0.01) in an effort to avoid ties. [5] That would prove effective until the FIL European Luge Championships 2008 at Cesana, when another tie occurred. [6] This tie was again in the men's doubles event and it again involved Italy and Germany (East and West Germany reunified in 1990) only this time it was for a bronze medal rather than gold. [6]

Results

Rank [1] AthletesCountryRun 1Run 2Total
Gold medal icon.svg Paul Hildgartner
Walter Plaikner
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 44.2144.141:28.35
Gold medal icon.svg Horst Hörnlein
Reinhard Bredow
Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 44.2744.081:28.35
Bronze medal icon.svg Klaus-Michael Bonsack
Wolfram Fiedler
Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 44.6944.471:29.16
4 Satoru Arai
Masatoshi Kobayashi
Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 44.7344.901:29.63
5 Hans Brandner
Balthasar Schwarm
Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 44.8644.801:29.66
5 Mirosław Więckowski
Wojciech Kubik
Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 44.8844.781:29.66
7 Manfred Schmid
Ewald Walch
Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 44.9244.831:29.75
8 Sigisfredo Mair
Ernesto Mair
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 45.2245.041:30.26
9 Lucjan Kudzia
Ryszard Gawior
Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 45.2845.401:30.68
9 Rudolf Schmid
Franz Schachner
Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 45.3745.311:30.68
11 Stefan Hölzlwimmer
Hans Wimmer
Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 45.6145.311:30.92
12 Yury Svetikov
Sergey Osipov
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 45.6445.481:31.12
13 Yury Yegorov
Viktor Ilyin
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 45.6645.531:31.19
14 Christian Strøm
Stephen Sinding
Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 45.8146.251:32.06
15 Jack Elder
Frank Jones Jr.
Flag of the United States.svg  United States 46.4846.111:32.59
16 Larry Arbuthnot
Doug Hansen
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 46.4746.221:32.69
17 Robert Berkley Jr.
Richard Cavanaugh
Flag of the United States.svg  United States 46.5846.591:33.17
18 Masako Eguchi
Kazuaki Ichikawa
Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 46.9346.631:33.56
19 Stephen Marsh
Jonnie Woodall
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 46.7747.051:33.82
20 Michel de Carvalho
Jeremy Palmer-Tomkinson
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 47.0947.501:34.59

References

  1. 1 2 "The XI Olympic Winter Games Sapporo 1972" (PDF). Organizing Committee for the XIth Olympic Winter Games. LA84 Foundation. 1972. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2009). "Luge (Toboggan): Two-Seater". In The Completed Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. pp. 173-4.
  3. "Luge at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games: Men's Doubles". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  4. 1 2 1972 Winter Olympics official report. Archived 26 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine p. 495. Accessed 7 November 2010. (in English and French)
  5. 1976 Winter Olympics official report. Archived 26 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine pp. 144-5, 147, 149-51. Accessed 7 November 2010. (in English, French, and German)
  6. 1 2 FIL European Luge Championships Cesana 12 January 2008 men's doubles results. Accessed 7 November 2010.