Rowing at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's eight

Men's eight at the Games of the XXI Olympiad
Romania stamp commemorating rowing at the 1976 Olympics
Venue	Olympic basin at Notre Dame Island
Dates	18–25 July 1976
Competitors	100 from 11 nations
Winning time	5:58.29
Medalists
East Germany Bernd Baumgart Gottfried Döhn Werner Klatt Hans-Joachim Lück Dieter Wendisch Roland Kostulski Ulrich Karnatz Karl-Heinz Prudöhl Karl-Heinz Danielowski (cox)   Great Britain Richard Lester John Yallop Tim Crooks Hugh Matheson David Maxwell Jim Clark Frederick Smallbone Lenny Robertson Patrick Sweeney (cox)   New Zealand Ivan Sutherland Trevor Coker Peter Dignan Lindsay Wilson Joe Earl Dave Rodger Alec McLean Tony Hurt Simon Dickie (cox)
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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 1976. 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

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

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

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

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

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Rowers	Coxswain	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Malcolm Shaw Ian Clubb Tim Conrad Gary Uebergang Islay Lee Athol MacDonald Robert Paver Brian Richardson	Stuart Carter	Australia	5:39.07	QA
2	Trevor Coker Lindsay Wilson Peter Dignan Joe Earl Tony Hurt Alec McLean Dave Rodger Ivan Sutherland	Simon Dickie	New Zealand	5:40.00	R
3	Richard Cashin Steve Christiansen John Everett David Fellows Michael Hess Chip Lubsen Mark Norelius Alan Shealy	David Weinberg	United States	5:42.05	R
4	Luis Alonso Humberto Dorrego Israel Gorguet Francisco Mora Hermenegildo Palacio Angel Ramírez Porfirio Reynoso Alcides Risco	Jesús Rosello	Cuba	5:44.30	R
5	Ron Burak George Tintor Patrick Croskerry Dirk Gidney James Henniger Mel LaForme Alexander Manson Edgar Smith	Robert Choquette	Canada	6:04.83	R
6	Tomiaki Iso Masanobu Yamamoto Kenji Kaneyasu Toshihai Kitaura Shiro Mataki Shigeru Miyagawa Takashi Murayama Hiroshi Toriba	Akio Kakishita	Japan	6:08.11	R

Semifinal 2

Rank	Rowers	Coxswain	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bernd Baumgart Dieter Wendisch Gottfried Döhn Ulrich Karnatz Werner Klatt Roland Kostulski Hans-Joachim Lück Karl-Heinz Prudöhl	Karl-Heinz Danielowski	East Germany	5:32.17	QA
2	Jim Clark Tim Crooks Richard Lester Hugh Matheson David Maxwell Lenny Robertson Frederick Smallbone John Yallop	Patrick Sweeney	Great Britain	5:36.97	R
3	Antanas Čikotas Anatoly Ivanov Igor Konnov Anatoly Nemtyryov Aleksandr Plyushkin Vasily Potapov Aleksandr Shitov Vladimir Vasilyev	Vladimir Zharov	Soviet Union	5:37.79	R
4	Pavel Konvička Karel Mejta Jr. Václav Mls Josef Neštický Josef Plamínek Josef Pokorný Lubomír Zapletal Miroslav Vraštil Sr.	Jiří Pták	Czechoslovakia	5:43.94	R
5	Frithjof Henckel Otmar Kaufhold Reinhard Wendemuth Wolf-Dieter Oschlies Volker Sauer Frank Schütze Wolfram Thiem Bernd Truschinski	Helmut Latz	West Germany	5:48.30	R

Repechage

Repechage heat 1

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	Ivan Sutherland Trevor Coker Peter Dignan Lindsay Wilson Joe Earl Dave Rodger Alec McLean Tony Hurt	Simon Dickie	New Zealand	5:37.08	QA
2	Reinhard Wendemuth Bernd Truschinski Frank Schütze Frithjof Henckel Wolfram Thiem Volker Sauer Otmar Kaufhold Wolf-Dieter Oschlies	Helmut Latz	West Germany	5:37.76	QA
3	Aleksandr Shitov Antanas Čikotas Vasily Potapov Aleksandr Plyushkin Anatoly Nemtyryov Igor Konnov Anatoly Ivanov Vladimir Vasilyev	Vladimir Zharov	Soviet Union	5:40.65	QB
4	Israel Gorguet Francisco Mora Hermenegildo Palacio Angel Ramírez Luis Alonso Humberto Dorrego Alcides Risco	Jesús Rosello	Cuba	5:47.33	QB
5	Shigeru Miyagawa Toshihai Kitaura Masanobu Yamamoto Takashi Murayama Hiroshi Toriba Kenji Kaneyasu Tomiaki Iso Shiro Mataki	Akio Kakishita	Japan	6:11.06	QB

Repechage heat 2

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	Richard Lester John Yallop Timothy Crooks Hugh Matheson David Maxwell Jim Clark Frederick Smallbone Lenny Robertson	Patrick Sweeney	Great Britain	5:40.00	QA
2	Pavel Konvička Václav Mls Josef Plamínek Josef Pokorný Karel Mejta Jr. Josef Neštický Lubomír Zapletal Miroslav Vraštil Sr.	Jiří Pták	Czechoslovakia	5:43.81	QA
3	Richard Cashin Steve Christiansen John Everett David Fellows Michael Hess Chip Lubsen Mark Norelius Alan Shealy	David Weinberg	United States	5:48.60	QB
4	Edgar Smith Dirk Gidney George Tintor James Henniger Patrick Croskerry Mel LaForme Ron Burak Alexander Manson	Robert Choquette	Canada	5:48.94	QB

Finals

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

Rank	Rowers	Coxswain	Nation	Time
7	Aleksandr Shitov Antanas Čikotas Vasily Potapov Aleksandr Plyushkin Anatoly Nemtyryov Igor Konnov Anatoly Ivanov Vladimir Vasilyev	Vladimir Zharov	Soviet Union	6:05.88
8	Edgar Smith Dirk Gidney George Tintor James Henniger Patrick Croskerry Mel LaForme Ron Burak Alexander Manson	Robert Choquette	Canada	6:09.03
9	Richard Cashin Steve Christiansen John Everett David Fellows Michael Hess Chip Lubsen Mark Norelius Alan Shealy	David Weinberg	United States	6:11.07
10	Israel Gorguet Francisco Mora Hermenegildo Palacio Angel Ramírez Luis Alonso Humberto Dorrego Alcides Risco Porfirio Reynoso	Jesús Rosello	Cuba	6:14.86
11	Shigeru Miyagawa Toshihai Kitaura Masanobu Yamamoto Takashi Murayama Hiroshi Toriba Kenji Kaneyasu Tomiaki Iso Shiro Mataki	Akio Kakishita	Japan	6:33.33

Final A

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
	Bernd Baumgart Gottfried Döhn Werner Klatt Hans-Joachim Lück Dieter Wendisch Roland Kostulski Ulrich Karnatz Karl-Heinz Prudöhl	Karl-Heinz Danielowski	East Germany	5:58.29
	Richard Lester John Yallop Timothy Crooks Hugh Matheson David Maxwell Jim Clark Frederick Smallbone Lenny Robertson	Patrick Sweeney	Great Britain	6:00.82
	Ivan Sutherland Trevor Coker Peter Dignan Lindsay Wilson Joe Earl Dave Rodger Alec McLean Tony Hurt	Simon Dickie	New Zealand	6:03.51
4	Reinhard Wendemuth Bernd Truschinski Frank Schütze Frithjof Henckel Wolfram Thiem Volker Sauer Otmar Kaufhold Wolf-Dieter Oschlies	Helmut Latz	West Germany	6:06.15
5	Islay Lee Ian Clubb Tim Conrad Robert Paver Gary Uebergang Athol MacDonald Peter Shakespear Brian Richardson	Stuart Carter	Australia	6:09.75
6	Pavel Konvička Václav Mls Josef Plamínek Josef Pokorný Karel Mejta Jr. Josef Neštický Lubomír Zapletal Miroslav Vraštil Sr.	Jiří Pták	Czechoslovakia	6:14.29

Notes

1. "Eight, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
2. 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. "(M8+) Men's Eight - Final". International Rowing Federation . Retrieved 20 October 2016.
5. "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. 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

• 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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