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Coxless Pairs, Women

Date19 – 24 July 1976
StatusOlympic
LocationBassin olympique, Île Notre Dame, Montréal, Québec
Participants22 from 11 countries

Women’s rowing events were new to the Olympic Games, but the coxless pairs had been contested at the World Championships for the past two years. In that short time, no duo had become clearly dominant, but East Germany’s Angelika Noack and Sabine Dähne were the reigning World Champions and both had seen international success in other disciplines. The only other World medalist was Marlena Predescu of Romania, who was paired with Marinela Maxim in Montreal and who had won bronze in 1975.

Edith Eckbauer and Thea Einöder of West Germany, both experienced international rowers, had the fastest time in the opening round but the field remained open enough that the gold medal was anyone’s for the taking. In fact, it was Bulgarians Siyka Kelbecheva and Stoyanka Gruycheva, who had been fourth in the event at the 1975 World Championships, that drew the most attention during the final. The unheralded duo came in for a surprise victory less than half a second ahead of the East Germans, who were forced to settle for silver, while West Germany snatched the bronze medal from the Soviets. Kelbecheva and Gruycheva’s achievement earned Bulgaria one of its first three Olympic rowing medals, as the nation’s women also won the double sculls and earned silver in the coxed fours.

PosPairNOC
1Siyka Kelbecheva / Stoyanka GruychevaBULGold
2Angelika Noack / Sabine DähneGDRSilver
3Edith Eckbauer / Thea EinöderFRGBronze
4Nataliya Gorodilova / Anna KarnaushenkoURS
5Tricia Smith / Betty CraigCAN
6Marlena Predescu / Marinela MaximROU
7Sue Morgan / Laura StainesUSA
8Anna Krzemińska-Karbowiak / Małgorzata KawalskaPOL
9Oldřiška Pěkná / Zdena TicháTCH
10Lin Clark / Beryl MitchellGBR
11Katalin Ribáry / Judit KériHUN

Round One

Date19 July 1976
FormatWinner of each heat advanced to final

Heat #1

Time11:00
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
14Edith Eckbauer / Thea EinöderFRG3:31.0150.66 (1)1:43.79 (2)2:36.89 (1)53.13 (2)53.10 (1)54.12 (3)Q OB
23Stoyanka Gruycheva / Siyka KelbechevaBUL3:33.2452.03 (4)1:45.65 (3)2:40.19 (3)53.62 (3)54.54 (3)53.05 (1)
32Nataliya Gorodilova / Anna KarnaushenkoURS3:33.9151.16 (2)1:43.45 (1)2:37.97 (2)52.29 (1)54.52 (2)55.94 (5)
41Sabine Dähne / Angelika NoackGDR3:36.2651.51 (3)1:46.73 (5)2:42.38 (4)55.22 (6)55.65 (4)53.88 (2)
55Anna Krzemińska-Karbowiak / Małgorzata KawalskaPOL3:41.0552.75 (5)1:46.43 (4)2:43.90 (5)53.68 (4)57.47 (6)57.15 (6)
66Lin Clark / Beryl MitchellGBR3:42.5354.48 (6)1:49.39 (6)2:46.63 (6)54.91 (5)57.24 (5)55.90 (4)

Heat #2

Time11:15
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
11Betty Craig / Tricia SmithCAN3:37.5351.48 (1)1:45.09 (1)2:39.76 (1)53.61 (1)54.67 (1)57.77 (2)Q OB
22Marinela Maxim / Marlena PredescuROU3:42.1852.49 (2)1:47.91 (2)2:43.22 (2)55.42 (2)55.31 (2)58.96 (4)
33Oldřiška Pěkná / Zdena TicháTCH3:46.6554.27 (3)1:50.27 (3)2:48.20 (3)56.00 (4)57.93 (3)58.45 (3)
45Laura Staines / Sue MorganUSA3:46.7654.81 (4)1:50.78 (4)2:49.20 (4)55.97 (3)58.42 (4)57.56 (1)
54Judit Kéri / Katalin RibáryHUN3:57.1756.69 (5)1:53.58 (5)2:52.26 (5)56.89 (5)58.68 (5)1:04.91 (5)

Round One Repêchage

Date21 July 1976
FormatTop two finishers in each heat advanced to final

Heat #1

Time10:45
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
14Stoyanka Gruycheva / Siyka KelbechevaBUL3:48.7354.32 (2)1:49.82 (1)2:47.82 (1)55.50 (1)58.00 (1)1:00.91 (1)Q
23Angelika Noack / Sabine DähneGDR3:54.5854.09 (1)1:51.27 (2)2:50.79 (2)57.18 (2)59.52 (2)1:03.79 (2)Q
35Oldřiška Pěkná / Zdena TicháTCH4:01.1856.59 (4)1:55.16 (4)2:57.20 (3)58.57 (3)1:02.04 (3)1:03.98 (3)
41Lin Clark / Beryl MitchellGBR4:02.5455.94 (3)1:54.61 (3)2:57.91 (4)58.67 (4)1:03.30 (4)1:04.63 (4)
52Katalin Ribáry / Judit KériHUN4:06.8157.34 (5)1:57.29 (5)3:01.04 (5)59.95 (5)1:03.75 (5)1:05.77 (5)

Heat #2

Time11:00
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
13Anna Karnaushenko / Nataliya GorodilovaURS3:52.5954.37 (1)1:51.47 (1)2:50.75 (1)57.10 (1)59.28 (1)1:01.84 (2)Q
21Marlena Predescu / Marinela MaximROU3:53.9354.78 (2)1:53.20 (2)2:52.71 (2)58.42 (2)59.51 (2)1:01.22 (1)Q
34Laura Staines / Sue MorganUSA3:58.4155.87 (4)1:55.07 (4)2:55.69 (4)59.20 (4)1:00.62 (3)1:02.72 (3)
42Anna Krzemińska-Karbowiak / Małgorzata KawalskaPOL4:02.2055.20 (3)1:54.17 (3)2:55.27 (3)58.97 (3)1:01.10 (4)1:06.93 (4)

Final Round

Date24 July 1976

Final A

Time11:20
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
15Siyka Kelbecheva / Stoyanka GruychevaBUL4:01.2255.97 (2)1:56.54 (2)2:58.12 (2)1:00.57 (1)1:01.58 (3)1:03.10 (3)
23Angelika Noack / Sabine DähneGDR4:01.6456.76 (3)1:57.90 (3)2:59.30 (3)1:01.14 (3)1:01.40 (2)1:02.34 (2)
32Edith Eckbauer / Thea EinöderFRG4:02.3554.98 (1)1:55.83 (1)2:56.86 (1)1:00.85 (2)1:01.03 (1)1:05.49 (5)
46Nataliya Gorodilova / Anna KarnaushenkoURS4:03.2757.38 (4)1:58.90 (4)3:03.79 (4)1:01.52 (4)1:04.89 (5)59.48 (1)
51Tricia Smith / Betty CraigCAN4:08.0957.78 (5)2:02.48 (5)3:04.61 (5)1:04.70 (6)1:02.13 (4)1:03.48 (4)
64Marlena Predescu / Marinela MaximROU4:15.441:00.53 (6)2:02.75 (6)3:08.14 (6)1:02.22 (5)1:05.39 (6)1:07.30 (6)

Final B

Time11:10
PosLanePairNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
13Laura Staines / Sue MorganUSA4:02.9159.52 (4)2:01.33 (4)3:03.00 (3)1:01.81 (4)1:01.67 (1)59.91 (1)
24Anna Krzemińska-Karbowiak / Małgorzata KawalskaPOL4:03.2657.38 (1)1:57.96 (1)3:00.37 (1)1:00.58 (1)1:02.41 (2)1:02.89 (2)
31Oldřiška Pěkná / Zdena TicháTCH4:05.1057.67 (2)1:59.09 (2)3:01.85 (2)1:01.42 (=2)1:02.76 (3)1:03.25 (3)
45Lin Clark / Beryl MitchellGBR4:07.9959.11 (3)2:00.53 (3)3:04.33 (4)1:01.42 (=2)1:03.80 (4)1:03.66 (4)
52Katalin Ribáry / Judit KériHUN4:11.931:00.09 (5)2:02.34 (5)3:06.78 (5)1:02.25 (5)1:04.44 (5)1:05.15 (5)