Rowing at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four

Men's coxed four at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
The venue in 2015
Venue	Virgilio Uribe Rowing and Canoeing Course
Date	13–19 October
Competitors	66 from 13 nations
Teams	13
Medalists
Dick Joyce Ross Collinge Dudley Storey Warren Cole Simon Dickie   New Zealand   Peter Kremtz Manfred Gelpke Roland Göhler Klaus Jacob Dieter Semetzky   East Germany   Denis Oswald Peter Bolliger Hugo Waser Jakob Grob Gottlieb Fröhlich   Switzerland

Rowing at the 1968 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 1968 Summer Olympics took place at Virgilio Uribe Rowing and Canoeing Course, Mexico City, Mexico. It was held from 13 to 19 October and was unexpectedly won by the team from New Zealand, which secured the country its first Olympic rowing medal.

Background

At the 1964 Summer Olympics, the men's coxed four event was won by the United Team of Germany. It was the last appearance of the German United Team. The 1962 World Rowing Championships had been won by the team from West Germany, and the 1966 World Rowing Championships had been won by East Germany. The West Germans had come second at the 1965 European Rowing Championships. The crew from the Soviet Union also belonged to the group of favourites, as they had won the last three European Rowing Championships and gained silver at the 1966 World Rowing Championships. A further medal contender was Italy, who had several previous Olympians in their boat.^[1]

Races were held in up to six lanes.^[2] Thirteen teams from 13 nations attended the competition.^[1]

Results

Heats

Three heats were rowed on 13 October; these were the first three rowing races of the 1968 Summer Olympics.^[2] Two of the heats had four teams and one had five teams, with the first three teams to qualify for the semi-finals, and the remaining teams progressing to the repechage.^[3]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Peter Kremtz Manfred Gelpke Roland Göhler Klaus Jacob Dieter Semetzky	East Germany	7:03.60	SF
2	Herman Rouwé Erik Hartsuiker Berend Brummelman Tom Dronkert Otto Weekhout	Netherlands	7:08.15	SF
3	Anatoly Nemtyryov Nikolay Surov Aleksey Mishin Boris Duyunov Viktor Mikheyev	Soviet Union	7:10.18	SF
4	Hugo Aberastegui José María Robledo Juan Carlos Gómez Guillermo Segurado Rolando Locatelli	Argentina	7:11.52	R
5	Jorge Castillo Daniel Chávez Avelino Soberón Rafael Velasco Gregorio Blasco	Mexico	7:51.39	R

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Dick Joyce Ross Collinge Dudley Storey Warren Cole Simon Dickie	New Zealand	7:12.19	SF
2	Reinhold Batschi Petre Ceapura Ștefan Tudor Francisc Papp Ladislau Lovrenschi	Romania	7:16.50	SF
3	Luther Jones Bill Purdy Tony Martin Gardner Cadwalader John Hartigan	United States	7:21.39	SF
4	Ramón Luperón Santiago Cuesta Jorge López Lázaro Rivero Roberto Ojeda	Cuba	7:41.11	R

Heat 3

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Romano Sgheiz Emilio Trivini Giuseppe Galante Luciano Sgheiz Mariano Gottifredi	Italy	7:08.60	SF
2	Denis Oswald Peter Bolliger Hugo Waser Jakob Grob Gottlieb Fröhlich	Switzerland	7:10.39	SF
3	Niko Ott Peter Berger Udo Brecht Hans-Johann Färber Stefan Armbruster	West Germany	7:12.04	SF
4	Jean le Goff André Sloth Jean Freslon Jean-Pierre Grimaud Roger Jouy	France	7:13.47	R

Repechage

One heat was rowed in the repechage on 15 October.^[2] Of the four teams competing, the first three would progress to the semi-finals. The team from the host nation was eliminated in the repechage.^[4]

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Hugo Aberastegui José María Robledo Juan Carlos Gómez Guillermo Segurado Rolando Locatelli	Argentina	6:55.55	SF
2	Jean le Goff André Sloth Jean Freslon Jean-Pierre Grimaud Roger Jouy	France	7:05.48	SF
3	Ramón Luperón Santiago Cuesta Jorge López Lázaro Rivero Roberto Ojeda	Cuba	7:13.43	SF
4	Jorge Castillo Daniel Chávez Avelino Soberón Rafael Velasco Gregorio Blasco	Mexico	7:36.29

Semi-finals

Two heats were rowed in the semi-finals on 17 October.^[5] Of the six teams competing per heat, the first three would qualify for the final, while the others would progress to the small final.^[6]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Dick Joyce Ross Collinge Dudley Storey Warren Cole Simon Dickie	New Zealand	6:48.65	F
2	Luther Jones Bill Purdy Tony Martin Gardner Cadwalader John Hartigan	United States	6:54.22	F
3	Romano Sgheiz Emilio Trivini Giuseppe Galante Luciano Sgheiz Mariano Gottifredi	Italy	6:58.24	F
4	Hugo Aberastegui José María Robledo Juan Carlos Gómez Guillermo Segurado Rolando Locatelli	Argentina	7:02.25
5	Niko Ott Peter Berger Udo Brecht Hans-Johann Färber Stefan Armbruster	West Germany	7:06.45
6	Herman Rouwé Erik Hartsuiker Berend Brummelman Tom Dronkert Otto Weekhout	Netherlands	7:08.68

Heat 2

Note that the team from the Soviet Union replaced one of their rowers in this heat, and swapped some seats. Anatoly Nemtyryov rowed in this heat only.^[5]

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Peter Kremtz Manfred Gelpke Roland Göhler Klaus Jacob Dieter Semetzky	East Germany	6:46.23	F
2	Nikolay Surov Aleksey Mishin Anatoly Nemtyryov Arkady Kudinov Viktor Mikheyev	Soviet Union	6:48.16	F
3	Denis Oswald Peter Bolliger Hugo Waser Jakob Grob Gottlieb Fröhlich	Switzerland	6:48.54	F
4	Reinhold Batschi Petre Ceapura Ștefan Tudor Francisc Papp Ladislau Lovrenschi	Romania	6:52.67
5	Jean le Goff André Sloth Jean Freslon Jean-Pierre Grimaud Roger Jouy	France	7:14.05
6	Ramón Luperón Santiago Cuesta Jorge López Lázaro Rivero Roberto Ojeda	Cuba	7:26.62

Small final

The small final (now termed B final) was raced on 18 October.^[7]

Rank	Rower	Country	Time
7	Reinhold Batschi Petre Ceapura Ștefan Tudor Francisc Papp Ladislau Lovrenschi	Romania	6:46.68
8	Hugo Aberastegui José María Robledo Juan Carlos Gómez Guillermo Segurado Rolando Locatelli	Argentina	6:50.54
9	Herman Rouwé Erik Hartsuiker Berend Brummelman Tom Dronkert Otto Weekhout	Netherlands	6:51.77
10	Jean le Goff André Sloth Jean Freslon Jean-Pierre Grimaud Roger Jouy	France	6:52.86
11	Ramón Luperón Santiago Cuesta Jorge López Lázaro Rivero Roberto Ojeda	Cuba	7:07.07
12		West Germany	DNS

Final

The final (now termed A final) was raced on 19 October.^[7] The New Zealand team unexpectedly beat the team from East Germany by over two seconds. In another surprise, the Swiss boat overtook the Italians for the bronze medal position. The win secured New Zealand its first Olympic rowing gold, and its third Olympic rowing medal in total.^[1] The medals were presented by IOC vice-president Konstantin Adrianow.^[8]

Rank	Rower	Country	Time
	Dick Joyce Ross Collinge Dudley Storey Warren Cole Simon Dickie	New Zealand	6:45.62
	Peter Kremtz Manfred Gelpke Roland Göhler Klaus Jacob Dieter Semetzky	East Germany	6:48.20
	Denis Oswald Peter Bolliger Hugo Waser Jakob Grob Gottlieb Fröhlich	Switzerland	6:49.04
4	Romano Sgheiz Emilio Trivini Giuseppe Galante Luciano Sgheiz Mariano Gottifredi	Italy	6:49.54
5	Luther Jones Bill Purdy Tony Martin Gardner Cadwalader John Hartigan	United States	6:51.41
6	Anatoly Nemtyryov Nikolay Surov Aleksey Mishin Boris Duyunov Viktor Mikheyev	Soviet Union	7:00.00

Notes

1. "Rowing at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
2. Official Report of the Organising Committee 1969, p. 541.
3. "Rowing at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours Round One". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
4. "Rowing at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours Round One Repêchage". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
5. Official Report of the Organising Committee 1969, pp. 541f.
6. "Rowing at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours Semi-Finals". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
7. Official Report of the Organising Committee 1969, p. 542.
8. Official Report of the Organising Committee 1969, p. 129.

References

• Alvarez, José Rogelio (1969). The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XIX Olympiad Mexico 1968: Volume III part 1 (PDF). Mexico City, Mexico: Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad.

• Part 1 (up to page 417)
• Part 2 (from page 418)