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Coxed Fours, Women

Date21 – 26 July 1980
StatusOlympic
LocationGrebnoy kanal, Sportivny komplex Krylatskoye, Moskva
Participants31 from 6 countries

The East Germans had won the women’s coxed fours event at the 1976 Olympics and every World Championship except the most recent, where they finished second, and thus were considered strong favorites to claim gold in Moscow. Notable among their crew were Angelika Noack, a 1976 silver medalist in the coxless pairs and a two-time World Champion (1974 and 1978), and Kirsten Wenzel a 1978 World Champion. The Soviet Union, the 1976 Olympic bronze medalists, sent four members from their reigning World Championship squad, Nina Cheremisina, Marina Studneva, Galina Sovetnikova, and Svetlana Semyonova (the fifth, Olha Pyvovarova, competed in the coxed eights in Moscow), augmented by Mariya Fadeyeva and Nataliya Kazak, the latter of whom substituted for Cheremisina in the opening round. With the United States not participating due to its Olympic boycott, the only other World medalist from the past three years who sent a crew to Moscow was Romania, who had taken bronze at the last three editions. They were represented by their most recent bronze medal-winning crew: Georgeta Militaru, Florica Silaghi, Maria Tănasă, Valeria Cătescu, and Aneta Matei.

East Germany won its heat over the Soviet Union in the opening round, but more surprising was the Bulgarian victory in the other heat. Bulgaria had been the runners up at the 1976 Games, but had not since made an impact on the World Championships and only brought two of their silver medalists from Montreal, Ginka Gyurova and Mariyka Modeva, to Moscow. Nonetheless, the East Germans remained the superior power and took gold in an Olympic record time, leaving the Bulgarians and the Soviets to battle for silver. In the end, the host nation lost out by a margin of only 0.17 seconds, and settled for bronze. This meant that podium for this event at the 1980 Games was unchanged from the previous edition.

PosCompetitorsNOC
1East GermanyGDRGold
Ramona KapheimSilvia FröhlichAngelika NoackRomy SaalfeldKirsten Wenzel
2BulgariaBULSilver
Ginka GyurovaMariyka ModevaRita TodorovaIskra VelinovaNadya Filipova
3Soviet UnionURSBronze
Mariya FadeyevaGalina SovetnikovaMarina StudnevaSvetlana SemyonovaNina CheremisinaNataliya Kazak
4RomaniaROU
Georgeta MaşcaFlorica SilaghiMaria TănasăValeria CătescuAneta Matei
5AustraliaAUS
Anne ChirnsideVerna WestwoodPam WestendorfSally HardingSusie Palfreyman
6Great BritainGBR
Pauline JansonBridget BuckleyPauline HartJane CrossSue Brown

Round One

Date21 July 1980 — 10:00
FormatWinner of each heat advanced to final

Heat #1

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
13BulgariaBUL3:26.7550.60 (2)1:41.26 (2)2:33.06 (1)50.66 (2)51.80 (1)53.69 (1)Q
Ginka GyurovaMariyka ModevaRita TodorovaIskra VelinovaNadya Filipova
21RomaniaROU3:31.4249.46 (1)1:40.01 (1)2:33.44 (2)50.55 (1)53.43 (2)57.98 (3)
Georgeta MaşcaFlorica SilaghiMaria TănasăValeria CătescuAneta Matei
32AustraliaAUS3:34.0851.04 (3)1:43.39 (3)2:38.62 (3)52.35 (3)55.23 (3)55.46 (2)
Anne ChirnsideVerna WestwoodPam WestendorfSally HardingSusie Palfreyman

Heat #2

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
13East GermanyGDR3:25.2248.51 (1)1:38.72 (1)2:31.04 (1)50.21 (1)52.32 (1)54.18 (1)Q
Ramona KapheimSilvia FröhlichAngelika NoackRomy SaalfeldKirsten Wenzel
21Soviet UnionURS3:28.7250.43 (2)1:40.93 (2)2:33.78 (2)50.50 (2)52.85 (2)54.94 (2)
Mariya FadeyevaGalina SovetnikovaMarina StudnevaSvetlana SemyonovaNataliya Kazak
32Great BritainGBR3:48.1354.84 (3)1:50.94 (3)2:50.16 (3)56.10 (3)59.22 (3)57.97 (3)
Pauline JansonBridget BuckleyPauline HartJane CrossSue Brown

Round One Repêchage

Date23 July 1980 — 10:00
FormatTop three finishers advanced to final
PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
11Soviet UnionURS3:21.5148.04 (1)1:37.46 (1)2:28.83 (1)49.42 (1)51.37 (1)52.68 (2)Q
Mariya FadeyevaGalina SovetnikovaMarina StudnevaSvetlana SemyonovaNataliya Kazak
23RomaniaROU3:23.9150.08 (3)1:40.42 (3)2:31.86 (2)50.34 (2)51.44 (2)52.05 (1)Q
Georgeta MaşcaFlorica SilaghiMaria TănasăValeria CătescuAneta Matei
32AustraliaAUS3:26.7749.68 (2)1:40.16 (2)2:32.27 (3)50.48 (3)52.11 (3)54.50 (4)Q
Anne ChirnsideVerna WestwoodPam WestendorfSally HardingSusie Palfreyman
44Great BritainGBR3:35.8553.72 (4)1:47.28 (4)2:41.76 (4)53.56 (4)54.48 (4)54.09 (3)
Pauline JansonBridget BuckleyPauline HartJane CrossSue Brown

Final Round

Date26 July 1980 — 10:10
PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime250 m500 m750 m250-500 m500-750 m750-1,000 m
15East GermanyGDR3:19.2748.08 (2)1:36.48 (1)2:26.97 (1)48.40 (1)50.49 (2)52.30 (3)OB
Ramona KapheimSilvia FröhlichAngelika NoackRomy SaalfeldKirsten Wenzel
23BulgariaBUL3:20.7549.40 (4)1:39.41 (4)2:29.30 (3)50.01 (4)49.89 (1)51.45 (1)
Ginka GyurovaMariyka ModevaRita TodorovaIskra VelinovaNadya Filipova
34Soviet UnionURS3:20.9247.59 (1)1:36.91 (2)2:28.45 (2)49.32 (2)51.54 (5)52.47 (4)
Mariya FadeyevaGalina SovetnikovaMarina StudnevaSvetlana SemyonovaNina Cheremisina
41RomaniaROU3:22.0849.09 (3)1:38.54 (3)2:29.86 (4)49.45 (3)51.32 (3)52.22 (2)
Georgeta MaşcaFlorica SilaghiMaria TănasăValeria CătescuAneta Matei
52AustraliaAUS3:26.3750.55 (5)1:41.37 (5)2:32.80 (5)50.82 (5)51.43 (4)53.57 (5)
Anne ChirnsideVerna WestwoodPam WestendorfSally HardingSusie Palfreyman