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Coxed Fours, Men

Date23 – 27 November 1956
StatusOlympic
LocationLake Wendouree, Ballarat, Victoria
Participants50 from 10 countries

Since the last Olympics, no country had won the European Championships in the coxed fours more than once, leaving the 1956 Olympic tournament relatively open. The previous edition’s champions, Italy, had only appeared on the podium once since then, with a third place finish at the 1956 European Championships, while only the Soviet Union had managed more than two podium finishes in the tournament in the past four years. The Australians, with the assistance of Merv Wood, had won the event at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, but they had changed their entire lineup by the time of the Melbourne Olympics, as had the runner-up New Zealanders.

The opening round heats were won by Italy, the United States, and Sweden, the latter of whom had sent their silver medal-winning lineup from the 1955 European Championships. Italy and Sweden then won their semi-final heats, although the latter did so in a slower time than Australia had come runner-up in Italy’s heat. Finland rounded out the final four, leaving the two world superpowers behind. The final was fairly uneventful: Italy led from the beginning and won the gold medal, while Sweden pulled in comfortably ahead of Finland to take silver. Sweden’s silver was its second rowing medal ever (its first having been the silver it earned in the inriggers coxed four event that made its sole appearance in 1912) and, as of 2012, its most recent.

PosCompetitorsNOC
1ItalyITAGold
Alberto WinklerRomano SgheizAngelo VanzinFranco TrincavelliIvo Stefanoni
2SwedenSWESilver
Olle LarssonGösta ErikssonIvar AronssonEvert GunnarssonBertil Göransson
3FinlandFINBronze
Kauko HänninenReino PoutanenVeli LehteläToimi PitkänenMatti Niemi
4AustraliaAUS
Gordon CoweyKevin McMahonReg LibbisIan AllenJohn Jenkinson
3 h1 r3/4DenmarkDEN
Elo TostenæsMogens SørensenBørge HansenTage GrøndahlJohn Vilhelmsen
3 h2 r3/4Soviet UnionURS
Andrey ArkhipovYury PopovValentin ZaninYaroslav CherstvyAnatoly Fetisov
4 h1 r3/4New ZealandNZL
Peter LucasRay LaurentDonald GemmellAllan TongColin Johnstone
4 h2 r3/4United StatesUSA
James WynneDouglas TurnerJames McMullenRonald CardwellEdward Masterson
2 h1 r2/4CubaCUB
José RoaEnrique TorresJosé Romero SantosJosé HurtadoVirgilio Ara
2 h2 r2/4BrazilBRA
André RicherRuy KopperNelson Guarda Zé de CarvalhoSylvio de Souza

Round One

Date23 November 1956 — 9:30
FormatWinner of each heat advanced to semi-finals

Heat #1

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1ItalyITA7:00.0Q
Alberto WinklerRomano SgheizAngelo VanzinFranco TrincavelliIvo Stefanoni
2Soviet UnionURS7:07.5Q
Andrey ArkhipovYury PopovValentin ZaninYaroslav CherstvyAnatoly Fetisov
3New ZealandNZL7:16.2
Peter LucasRay LaurentDonald GemmellAllan TongColin Johnstone

Heat #2

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1SwedenSWE6:57.9Q
Olle LarssonGösta ErikssonIvar AronssonEvert GunnarssonBertil Göransson
2DenmarkDEN7:05.3Q
Elo TostenæsMogens SørensenBørge HansenTage GrøndahlJohn Vilhelmsen
3FinlandFIN7:16.2
Kauko HänninenReino PoutanenVeli LehteläToimi PitkänenMatti Niemi

Heat #3

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1United StatesUSA7:01.8Q
Douglas TurnerJames WynneJames McMullenRonald CardwellEdward Masterson
2AustraliaAUS7:01.9Q
Gordon CoweyKevin McMahonReg LibbisIan AllenJohn Jenkinson
3BrazilBRA7:13.9
André RicherRuy KopperNelson Guarda Zé de CarvalhoSylvio de Souza
4CubaCUB7:14.3
José RoaEnrique TorresJosé Romero SantosJosé HurtadoVirgilio Ara

Round One Repêchage

Date24 November 1956 — 9:30
FormatWinner of each heat advanced to semi-finals

Heat #1

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1New ZealandNZL7:16.6Q
Peter LucasRay LaurentDonald GemmellAllan TongColin Johnstone
2CubaCUB7:28.2
José RoaEnrique TorresJosé Romero SantosJosé HurtadoVirgilio Ara

Heat #2

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1FinlandFIN7:09.8Q
Kauko HänninenReino PoutanenVeli LehteläToimi PitkänenMatti Niemi
2BrazilBRA7:25.7
André RicherRuy KopperNelson Guarda Zé de CarvalhoSylvio de Souza

Semi-Finals

Date26 November 1956 — 10:00
FormatTop two finishers in each heat advanced to final

Heat #1

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1ItalyITA7:54.4Q
Alberto WinklerRomano SgheizAngelo VanzinFranco TrincavelliIvo Stefanoni
2AustraliaAUS7:59.8Q
Gordon CoweyKevin McMahonReg LibbisIan AllenJohn Jenkinson
3DenmarkDEN8:08.4
Elo TostenæsMogens SørensenBørge HansenTage GrøndahlJohn Vilhelmsen
4New ZealandNZL8:30.7
Peter LucasRay LaurentDonald GemmellAllan TongColin Johnstone

Heat #2

PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1SwedenSWE8:01.8Q
Olle LarssonGösta ErikssonIvar AronssonEvert GunnarssonBertil Göransson
2FinlandFIN8:08.1Q
Kauko HänninenReino PoutanenVeli LehteläToimi PitkänenMatti Niemi
3Soviet UnionURS8:14.0
Andrey ArkhipovYury PopovValentin ZaninYaroslav CherstvyAnatoly Fetisov
4United StatesUSA8:24.3
Douglas TurnerJames WynneJames McMullenRonald CardwellEdward Masterson

Final Round

Date27 November 1956 — 14:30
PosLaneCompetitorsNOCTime
1ItalyITA7:19.4
Alberto WinklerRomano SgheizAngelo VanzinFranco TrincavelliIvo Stefanoni
2SwedenSWE7:22.4
Olle LarssonGösta ErikssonIvar AronssonEvert GunnarssonBertil Göransson
3FinlandFIN7:30.9
Kauko HänninenReino PoutanenVeli LehteläToimi PitkänenMatti Niemi
4AustraliaAUS7:31.1
Gordon CoweyKevin McMahonReg LibbisIan AllenJohn Jenkinson