Rowing at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four

Men's coxed four at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Venue	Mei Bay, Helsinki
Date	20–23 August 1952
Competitors	85 from 17 nations
Teams	17
Winning time	7:33.4
Medalists
Karel Mejta Jiří Havlis Jan Jindra Stanislav Lusk Miroslav Koranda   Czechoslovakia   Rico Bianchi Karl Weidmann Heinrich Scheller Émile Ess Walter Leiser   Switzerland   Carl Lovsted Al Ulbrickson Richard Wahlstrom Matt Leanderson Al Rossi   United States

Rowing at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Single sculls	men
Double sculls	men
Coxless pairs	men
Coxed pairs	men
Coxless fours	men
Coxed fours	men
Eights	men

The men's coxed four competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics took place at Mei Bay, Helsinki, Finland. It was held from 20 to 23 August and was won by the team from Czechoslovakia.^[1]

Background

The Italian team was regarded as the slight favourite for the event; they had won gold at the European Rowing Championships in 1949, silver in 1950, and gold again in 1951, with the team having changed between competitions. Of the New Zealand team that had won the 1950 British Empire Games, three rowers were in the 1952 Olympic event: Ted Johnson, John O'Brien, and Colin Johnstone. The Danish team was made up of the 1950 European Rowing Championships winners: Niels Kristensen, Ove Nielsen, Peter Hansen, Bent Blach Petersen, and Eivin Kristensen. The New Zealand and Italian team met in the repechage and New Zealand was eliminated. The Czechoslovakian team dominated the competition and won every round. In the final, they defeated the Swizz quad, while the team from the USA—the winners of the 1948 Olympic competition—won bronze.^[1]

Based on a previous decision, each boat raced a minimum of two races before it could be eliminated.^[2]

Results

Heats

Four heats were rowed on 20 July.^[3] Three of the heats had four teams and one had five teams, with the first two teams to qualify for the semi-final, and the remaining teams progressing to the round one repechage.^[4]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	André Goursolle Robert Texier Guy Nosbaum Claude Martin Didier Moureau	France	7:18.4	SF
2	Kirill Putyrsky Yevgeny Tretnikov Georgy Gushchenko Boris Fyodorov Boris Brechko	Soviet Union	7:19.9	SF
3	Albino Trevisan Amadeo Scarpi Abbondio Smerghetto Tarquinio Angiolin Domenico Cambieri	Italy	7:20.5	R
4	Salvador Costa Miguel Palau Francisco Gironella Pedro Massana Luis Omedes	Spain	7:25.5	R
5	Kurt Grönholm Paul Stråhlman Birger Karlsson Karl-Erik Johansson Antero Tukiainen	Finland	DNF[3]	R

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Carl Lovsted Al Ulbrickson Richard Wahlstrom Matt Leanderson Al Rossi	United States	7:17.9	SF
2	John MacMillan Graham Fisk Laurence Guest Peter de Giles Paul Massey	Great Britain	7:18.3	SF
3	Niels Kristensen Ove Nielsen Peter Hansen Bent Blach Petersen Eivin Kristensen	Denmark	7:33.9	R
4	Ibrahim El-Attar Mohamed El-Sahrawi Mamdooh El-Attar Mohamed El-Sayed Albert Selim El-Mankabadi	Egypt	7:52.8	R

Heat 3

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Karel Mejta Jiří Havlis Jan Jindra Stanislav Lusk Miroslav Koranda	Czechoslovakia	7:16.6	SF
2	Bjørn Christoffersen Arnfinn Larsen Wilhelm Hayden Thor Nilsen Leif Andersen	Norway	7:21.6	SF
3	Ton Fontani Han Heijenbrock Jan Willem Pennink Jaap Beije Hans Caro	Netherlands	7:24.9	R
4	Kosuke Matsuo Ryuji Goto Kazuo Kanda Toshiya Takeuchi Tamatsu Kogure	Japan	7:29.8	R

Heat 4

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Rico Bianchi Karl Weidmann Heinrich Scheller Émile Ess Walter Leiser	Switzerland	7:20.7	SF
2	Juan Ecker Roberto Suárez Alfredo Czerner Jorge Schneider Jorge Arripe	Argentina	7:24.4	SF
3	Günter Twiesselmann Klaus Schulze Heinz Beyer Gerd Vogeley Hans Joachim Wiemken	Germany	7:24.8	R
4	Ted Johnson John O'Brien Kerry Ashby Bill Tinnock Colin Johnstone	New Zealand	7:25.2	R

Round one repechage

Three heats were rowed in the round one repechage on 21 July,^[5] with the first team to qualify for the semi-final repechage.^[6]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Albino Trevisan Amadeo Scarpi Abbondio Smerghetto Tarquinio Angiolin Domenico Cambieri	Italy	7:06.0	SF-R
2	Ted Johnson John O'Brien Kerry Ashby Bill Tinnock Colin Johnstone	New Zealand	7:07.3
3	Kosuke Matsuo Ryuji Goto Kazuo Kanda Toshiya Takeuchi Tamatsu Kogure	Japan	7:13.9

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Niels Kristensen Ove Nielsen Peter Hansen Bent Blach Petersen Eivin Kristensen	Denmark	7:03.4	SF-R
2	Günter Twiesselmann Klaus Schulze Heinz Beyer Gerd Vogeley Hans Joachim Wiemken	Germany	7:04.6
3	Salvador Costa Miguel Palau Francisco Gironella Pedro Massana Luis Omedes	Spain	7:06.9

Heat 3

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Kurt Grönholm Paul Stråhlman Birger Karlsson Karl-Erik Johansson Antero Tukiainen	Finland	7:00.7	SF-R
2	Ton Fontani Han Heijenbrock Jan Willem Pennink Jaap Beije Hans Caro	Netherlands	7:04.2
3	Ibrahim El-Attar Mohamed El-Sahrawi Mamdooh El-Attar Mohamed El-Sayed Albert Selim El-Mankabadi	Egypt	7:21.0

Semi-finals

Two heats were rowed in the semi-finals on 21 July,^[5] with the first team to qualify for the final, and all other teams to progress to the semi-final repechage.^[7][8]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Carl Lovsted Al Ulbrickson Richard Wahlstrom Matt Leanderson Al Rossi	United States	7:07.6	F
2	André Goursolle Robert Texier Guy Nosbaum Claude Martin Didier Moureau	France	7:11.2	SF-R
3	Bjørn Christoffersen Arnfinn Larsen Wilhelm Hayden Thor Nilsen Leif Andersen	Norway	7:12.6	SF-R
4	Juan Ecker Roberto Suárez Alfredo Czerner Jorge Schneider Jorge Arripe	Argentina	7:14.6	SF-R

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Karel Mejta Jiří Havlis Jan Jindra Stanislav Lusk Miroslav Koranda	Czechoslovakia	6:58.5	F
2	Rico Bianchi Karl Weidmann Heinrich Scheller Émile Ess Walter Leiser	Switzerland	6:59.2	SF-R
3	John MacMillan Graham Fisk Laurence Guest Peter de Giles Paul Massey	Great Britain	7:04.1	SF-R
4	Kirill Putyrsky Yevgeny Tretnikov Georgy Gushchenko Boris Fyodorov Boris Brechko	Soviet Union	7:11.6	SF-R

Semi-finals repechage

Three heats were rowed in the semi-finals repechage on 22 July,^[5] with the winning teams progressing to the final.^[8]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Kurt Grönholm Paul Stråhlman Birger Karlsson Karl-Erik Johansson Antero Tukiainen	Finland	7:03.5	F
2	Kirill Putyrsky Yevgeny Tretnikov Georgy Gushchenko Boris Fyodorov Boris Brechko	Soviet Union	7:05.1
3	André Goursolle Robert Texier Guy Nosbaum Claude Martin Didier Moureau	France	7:09.4

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Rico Bianchi Karl Weidmann Heinrich Scheller Émile Ess Walter Leiser	Switzerland	7:02.3	F
2	Albino Trevisan Amadeo Scarpi Abbondio Smerghetto Tarquinio Angiolin Domenico Cambieri	Italy	7:06.0
3	Juan Ecker Roberto Suárez Alfredo Czerner Jorge Schneider Jorge Arripe	Argentina	7:14.8

Heat 3

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	John MacMillan Graham Fisk Laurence Guest Peter de Giles Paul Massey	Great Britain	7:02.3	F
2	Bjørn Christoffersen Arnfinn Larsen Wilhelm Hayden Thor Nilsen Leif Andersen	Norway	7:06.6
3	Niels Kristensen Ove Nielsen Peter Hansen Bent Blach Petersen Eivin Kristensen	Denmark	7:08.6

Final

Jiri Havlis of the Czech team with his gold medal

Five teams reached the final, which was decided in one race held on 23 July.^[5][9] While conditions had been favourable on the first three days of racing, the day the finals were held saw wind at considerable force. This wind died down later, but the coxed four was the first race of the day and the results were affected by the strong wind.^[2]

Rank	Rower	Country	Time
01 !	Karel Mejta Jiří Havlis Jan Jindra Stanislav Lusk Miroslav Koranda	Czechoslovakia	7:33.4
02 !	Rico Bianchi Karl Weidmann Heinrich Scheller Émile Ess Walter Leiser	Switzerland	7:36.5
03 !	Carl Lovsted Al Ulbrickson Richard Wahlstrom Matt Leanderson Al Rossi	United States	7:37.0
4	John MacMillan Graham Fisk Laurence Guest Peter de Giles Paul Massey	Great Britain	7:41.2
5	Kurt Grönholm Paul Stråhlman Birger Karlsson Karl-Erik Johansson Antero Tukiainen	Finland	7:43.8

Notes

References

• The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XV Olympiad Helsinki 1952 (PDF) (PDF). Porvoo, Finland: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. 1955.