|
| Event type

4 × 10 kilometres Relay, Men

Date11 February 1976 — 9:00
StatusOlympic
LocationLanglaufstadion, Seefeld
Participants64 from 16 countries
DetailsCourse Length: ?
Height Differential: 95 m
Maximum Climb: 65 m
Total Climbing: 350 m

With a team where all members had won medals in the foregoing 30 and 15 km cross-country races, the Soviet Union was expected to win an easy gold medal in the relay race, organized three days after the 15 km. But – as the Olympic cross-country skiing history had shown – in relays anything can happen, and the drama started on the first leg. The Soviet’s Yevgeny Belyayev, the silver medalist from 15 km, took the lead as expected, but two kilometers from the exchange he developed trouble with his ski binding, had to continue with a loose ski and could not get a new one until a couple of hundred metres from the exchange, but by then it was too late. He reached the exchange in 10th position, 1:11 behind the leading Swedish team, closely followed by East Germany two seconds behind, with Norway another four seconds back. On the second leg, East Germany’s Axel Lesser immediately took the lead, and now the gold medal team from the 1974 World Championships had taken over as favorites for an Olympic gold. But alas, the drama continued. Halfway thru his leg Lesser collided with a female tourist skiing on the relay track, and he so severely injured his knee that he was not able to continue, allowing Finland’s Juha Mieto to build up a 50 seconds lead over Norway. The Soviet Union’s 15 km gold medalist, Nikolay Bazhukov, advanced from 10th to third place, but was over 1½ minutes behind the leading Finnish team. On the third leg, 30 km gold medalist Sergey Savelyev made a gallant try to catch Norway, but then suddenly he also developed trouble with his ski bindings and dropped back to sixth position at the last exchange. Finland had extended their lead over Norway to 1:01, and the unbelievable young American Bill Koch, with the fastest time of his leg, had brought the USA into bronze medal position, only 21 seconds behind Norway.

On the anchor leg, the unlucky bronze medalist from the 15 km, Arto Koivisto, secured an easy gold medal for Finland, with Norway a distant second almost two minutes behind. The United States could not hold their medal position and dropped down to sixth place, but the Soviet Union’s Ivan Garanin was able to pass Switzerland and Sweden in the final stages and secure a bronze medal for the unlucky Soviet team. The team had used a new type of ski binding, apparently not strong enough for the pace and rhythm changes in a fast 10 km relay leg. After the Lesser incident the organizers received strong criticism for their lack of security control alongside the track, and Koivisto and Lesser were not the only victims of non-competing tourists skiing in and along the track.

PosNumberCompetitorsNOCTimeExchange
14FinlandFIN2-07:59.72– (–)Gold
Lead-Off4-1Matti Pitkänen 35:03.5935:03.59 (5)
2nd Leg4-2Juha Mieto 31:14.891-06:18.48 (1)
3rd Leg4-3Pertti Teurajärvi 31:25.041-37:43.52 (1)
Anchor4-4Arto Koivisto 30:16.202-07:59.72 (1)
23NorwayNOR2-09:58.36– (–)Silver
Lead-Off3-1Pål Tyldum 34:46.2234:46.22 (3)
2nd Leg3-2Einar Sagstuen 32:22.401-07:08.62 (2)
3rd Leg3-3Ivar Formo 31:35.981-38:44.60 (2)
Anchor3-4Odd Martinsen 31:13.762-09:58.36 (2)
32Soviet UnionURS2-10:51.46– (–)Bronze
Lead-Off2-1Yevgeny Belyayev 35:53.6935:53.69 (10)
2nd Leg2-2Nikolay Bazhukov 31:57.041-07:50.73 (3)
3rd Leg2-3Sergey Savelyev 32:19.061-40:09.79 (6)
Anchor2-4Ivan Garanin 30:41.672-10:51.46 (3)
414SwedenSWE2-11:16.88– (–)
Lead-Off14-1Benny Södergren 34:42.6334:42.63 (1)
2nd Leg14-2Christer Johansson 33:12.471-07:55.10 (4)
3rd Leg14-3Thomas Wassberg 31:37.721-39:32.82 (4)
Anchor14-4Sven-Åke Lundbäck 31:44.062-11:16.88 (4)
56SwitzerlandSUI2-11:28.53– (–)
Lead-Off6-1Franz Renggli 35:25.8635:25.86 (7)
2nd Leg6-2Edi Hauser 32:30.091-07:55.95 (5)
3rd Leg6-3Heinz Gähler 31:38.461-39:34.41 (5)
Anchor6-4Fredel Kälin 31:54.122-11:28.53 (5)
612United StatesUSA2-11:41.35– (–)
Lead-Off12-1Doug Peterson 36:06.2436:06.24 (12)
2nd Leg12-2Tim Caldwell 32:16.011-08:22.25 (8)
3rd Leg12-3Bill Koch 30:43.611-39:05.86 (3)
Anchor12-4Ronny Yeager 32:35.492-11:41.35 (6)
78ItalyITA2-12:07.12– (–)
Lead-Off8-1Renzo Chiocchetti 37:32.5537:32.55 (15)
2nd Leg8-2Tonino Biondini 32:24.331-09:56.88 (11)
3rd Leg8-3Ulrico Kostner 30:56.091-40:52.97 (7)
Anchor8-4Giulio Capitanio 31:14.152-12:07.12 (7)
89AustriaAUT2-12:22.80– (–)
Lead-Off9-1Rudi Horn 34:54.6434:54.64 (4)
2nd Leg9-2Reinhold Feichter 33:06.581-08:01.22 (7)
3rd Leg9-3Werner Vogel 32:57.121-40:58.34 (9)
Anchor9-4Herbert Wachter 31:24.462-12:22.80 (8)
911West GermanyFRG2-12:38.96– (–)
Lead-Off11-1Franz Betz 35:59.9135:59.91 (11)
2nd Leg11-2Georg Kandlinger 33:05.501-09:05.41 (10)
3rd Leg11-3Walter Demel 31:51.361-40:56.77 (8)
Anchor11-4Georg Zipfel 31:42.192-12:38.96 (9)
105CzechoslovakiaTCH2-12:49.99– (–)
Lead-Off5-1František Šimon 37:12.3937:12.39 (14)
2nd Leg5-2Milan Jarý 32:55.641-10:08.03 (13)
3rd Leg5-3Jiří Beran 31:18.441-41:26.47 (11)
Anchor5-4Stanislav Henych 31:23.522-12:49.99 (10)
1110FranceFRA2-13:05.26– (–)
Lead-Off10-1Daniel Drezet 35:47.6435:47.64 (9)
2nd Leg10-2Jean-Paul Vandel 33:10.121-08:57.76 (9)
3rd Leg10-3Yves Blondeau 32:09.161-41:06.92 (10)
Anchor10-4Jean-Paul Pierrat 31:58.342-13:05.26 (11)
1213CanadaCAN2-15:31.85– (–)
Lead-Off13-1Bert Bullock 35:16.9835:16.98 (6)
2nd Leg13-2Ernie Lennie 34:45.371-10:02.35 (12)
3rd Leg13-3Edward Day 32:50.201-42:52.55 (12)
Anchor13-4Hans Skinstad 32:39.302-15:31.85 (12)
137PolandPOL2-16:06.63– (–)
Lead-Off7-1Wiesław Gębala 35:33.8535:33.85 (8)
2nd Leg7-2Jan Staszel 32:23.891-07:57.74 (6)
3rd Leg7-3Jan Dragon 34:56.601-42:54.34 (13)
Anchor7-4Władysław Podgórski 33:12.292-16:06.63 (13)
1416BulgariaBUL2-19:45.66– (–)
Lead-Off16-1Lyubomir Toskov 37:10.8437:10.84 (13)
2nd Leg16-2Ivan Lebanov 35:12.891-12:23.73 (14)
3rd Leg16-3Hristo Barzanov 33:28.541-45:52.27 (14)
Anchor16-4Petar Pankov 33:53.392-19:45.66 (14)
DNF1East GermanyGDR– (–)
Lead-Off1-1Gerd Heßler 34:44.4434:44.44 (2)
2nd Leg1-2Axel Lesser – (–)
3rd Leg1-3Gerhard Grimmer – (–)
Anchor1-4Gert-Dietmar Klause – (–)
DNF15TurkeyTUR– (–)
Lead-Off15-1Sacit Özbey 41:14.0041:14.00 (16)
2nd Leg15-2Bahri Yılmaz – (–)
3rd Leg15-3Şeref Çınar – (–)
Anchor15-4Yavuz Özbey – (–)