|
| Event type

Coxed Pairs, Men

Date23 – 27 November 1956
StatusOlympic
LocationLake Wendouree, Ballarat, Victoria
Participants24 from 8 countries

As the reigning European champions, Moritz von Groddeck, Horst Arndt, and Rainer Borkowsky of Germany were probably the strongest competitors entering the coxed pairs event at the 1956 Summer Olympics, but the field was relatively open. Ihor Yemchuk and Heorhiy Zhylin, silver medalists in the double sculls at the 1952 Games, for example, had partnered with Vladimir Petrov to compete for the Soviet Union in this event. In the opening round, it was the American trio of Dan Ayrault, Conn Findlay, and Kurt Seiffert who posted the fastest time, while the Polish crew of Henryk Jagodziński, Zbigniew Schwarzer, and Berthold Mainka took that honor in the semi-finals. These four nations advanced to the finals, where they were fairly evenly matched. The first half saw Poland and the USSR contest for the lead, until both the Germans and the Americans initiated drives to claim the top podium spot. Poland, who had taken the lead from the Soviets, had no answer for this push and dipped into third place as the United States claimed gold and the Germans took silver. Poland and the Soviet Union were neck and neck approaching the finish line, but the latter pulled ahead just in time to claim bronze by a margin of 0.5 seconds. One of the Americans, Findlay, would go on to win three more Olympic medals, one of which was bronze in the two person keelboat, mixed yachting event at the 1976 Games. His most notable yachting success, however, came in 1977, when he served on the crew of the America Cup-winning _ Courageous_.

PosCompetitorsNOC
1United StatesUSAGold
Dan AyraultConn FindlayKurt Seiffert
2Unified Team of GermanyGERSilver
Moritz von GroddeckHorst ArndtRainer Borkowsky
3Soviet UnionURSBronze
Igor YemchukGeorgy ZhilinVladimir Petrov
4PolandPOL
Henryk JagodzińskiZbigniew SchwarzerBertold Mainka
3 h1 r3/4BelgiumBEL
Livien VenAntoon VenJos Van Thillo
3 h2 r3/4AustraliaAUS
Robert DuncanBruce DicksonJohn Cockbill
4 h1 r3/4AustriaAUT
Josef KloimsteinAlfred SagederFranz König
4 h2 r3/4ChileCHI
Juan CarmonaJorge ContrerasEusebio Ojeda

Round One

Date23 November 1956 — 11:45
FormatWinner of each heat advanced to semi-finals

Heat #1

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1Soviet UnionURS8:06.6Q
Igor YemchukGeorgy ZhilinVladimir Petrov
2AustraliaAUS8:15.9Q
Robert DuncanBruce DicksonJohn Cockbill
3ChileCHI8:57.9
Juan CarmonaJorge ContrerasEusebio Ojeda

Heat #2

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1United StatesUSA7:42.8Q
Dan AyraultConn FindlayKurt Seiffert
2PolandPOL7:43.7Q
Zbigniew SchwarzerHenryk JagodzińskiBertold Mainka
3BelgiumBEL8:10.6
Livien VenAntoon VenJos Van Thillo

Heat #3

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1Unified Team of GermanyGER8:03.3Q
Moritz von GroddeckHorst ArndtRainer Borkowsky
2AustriaAUT8:11.2Q
Josef KloimsteinAlfred SagederFranz König

Round One Repêchage

Date24 November 1956 — 12:00
FormatWinner of each heat advanced to semi-finals
PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1BelgiumBEL9:12.7Q
Livien VenAntoon VenJos Van Thillo
2ChileCHI10:13.1Q
Juan CarmonaJorge ContrerasEusebio Ojeda

Semi-Finals

Date26 November 1956 — 14:30
FormatTop two finishers in each heat advanced to final

Heat #1

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1PolandPOL9:22.8Q
Henryk JagodzińskiZbigniew SchwarzerBertold Mainka
2Soviet UnionURS9:26.2Q
Igor YemchukGeorgy ZhilinVladimir Petrov
3BelgiumBEL9:29.3
Livien VenAntoon VenJos Van Thillo
4AustriaAUT9:29.7
Josef KloimsteinAlfred SagederFranz König

Heat #2

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1Unified Team of GermanyGER9:24.1Q
Moritz von GroddeckHorst ArndtRainer Borkowsky
2United StatesUSA9:25.1Q
Dan AyraultConn FindlayKurt Seiffert
3AustraliaAUS9:37.7
Robert DuncanBruce DicksonJohn Cockbill
4ChileCHI11:03.6
Juan CarmonaJorge ContrerasEusebio Ojeda

Final Round

Date27 November 1956 — 16:00
PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1United StatesUSA8:26.1
Dan AyraultConn FindlayKurt Seiffert
2Unified Team of GermanyGER8:29.2
Moritz von GroddeckHorst ArndtRainer Borkowsky
3Soviet UnionURS8:31.0
Igor YemchukGeorgy ZhilinVladimir Petrov
4PolandPOL8:31.5
Zbigniew SchwarzerHenryk JagodzińskiBertold Mainka