Men's eight
at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Japan stamp commemorating rowing at the 1964 Olympics
VenueToda Rowing Course
Dates12–15 October
Competitors126 from 14 nations
Winning time6:18.23
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  United Team of Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Czechoslovakia

The men's eight event was a rowing event conducted as part of the 1964 Summer Olympics programme.[1] It was held from 12 to 15 October at the Toda Rowing Course.[2] There were 14 boats (126 competitors) from 14 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event.[2] The event was won by the United States, returning the top of the podium after losing their eight-Games winning streak with a fifth-place finish in 1960; it was the nation's 11th overall victory in the men's eight. The defending champions, the United Team of Germany, took silver; the Germans defeated the United States in the opening round but lost the rematch in the final after the Americans advanced through the repechage. Czechoslovakia repeated as bronze medalists.

Background

This was the 14th appearance of the event. Rowing had been on the programme in 1896 but was cancelled due to bad weather. The men's eight has been held every time that rowing has been contested, beginning in 1900.[2]

The United States was the dominant nation in the event, with the nation winning eight Olympic straight men's eight competitions from 1920 to 1956 before a surprise fifth-place finish in 1960. This time, the Americans were represented by the Vesper Boat Club. Germany had risen as a power as well—the United Team was the reigning Olympic gold medalist and West Germany had taken silver at the 1961 European Rowing Championships, gold at the 1962 World Rowing Championships, and gold at the 1963 European Rowing Championships. Other significant contenders included Canada (the 1963 Pan American Games champions) and Australia (1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games winners).[2]

Cuba, Egypt, and South Korea each made their debut in the event. Canada and the United States each made their 12th appearance, tied for most among nations to that point.

Competition format

The "eight" event featured nine-person boats, with eight rowers and a coxswain. It was a sweep rowing event, with the rowers each having one oar (and thus each rowing on one side). This rowing competition consisted of two main rounds (semifinals and finals), as well as a repechage round that allowed teams that did not win their heats to advance to the final. The competition introduced the consolation or "B" final, for ranking boats 7 through 12. The course used the 2000 metres distance that became the Olympic standard in 1912 (with the exception of 1948).[3]

  • Semifinals: Three heats. With 14 boats entered, there were four or five boats per heat. The winner of each heat (3 boats) advanced directly to the "A" final; all other boats (11 total) went to the repechage.
  • Repechage: Three heats. With 11 boats racing in but not winning their initial heats, there were three or four boats per repechage heat. The top boat in each repechage heat (3 boats) advanced to the "A" final, the 2nd and 3rd place boats in each heat (6 boats) went to the "B" final (out of medal contention), and the remaining 2 boats were eliminated.
  • Finals: The "A" final consisted of the six boats that had won either the semifinal heats or the repechage heats, competing for the medals and 4th through 6th place. The "B" final had the 2nd and 3rd place finishers from the repechage heats; they competed for 7th through 12th place.

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

Date Time Round
Monday, 12 October 196411:00Semifinals
Tuesday, 13 October 196415:00Repechage
Wednesday, 14 October 196416:00Final B
Thursday, 15 October 196416:30Final A

Results

Semifinals

The top crew in each heat advanced to the final, with all others sent to the repechages.

Semifinal 1

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Thomas Ahrens United Team of Germany5:54.02QA
2Róbert Zimonyi United States5:54.30R
3Ivo Stefanoni Italy6:02.13R
4Zdenko Balaš Yugoslavia6:02.43R
5Kevin Wickham Australia6:06.94R

Semifinal 2

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Miroslav Koníček Czechoslovakia6:03.88QA
2David Overton Canada6:07.19R
3Osamu Mandai Japan6:16.67R
4Doug Pulman New Zealand6:20.63R
5Roberto Ojeda Cuba6:31.76R

Semifinal 3

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Yuriy Lorentsson Soviet Union6:06.15QA
2Alain Bouffard France6:09.08R
3Abbas Khamis Egypt6:32.42R
4Park Sin-yeong South Korea6:46.13R

Repechages

The top finisher in each of the three repechages joined the finalists. The second and third-place finishers competed in a consolation final for 7th-12th places. All other crews were eliminated.

Repechage heat 1

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Ivo Stefanoni Italy6:03.59QA
2Alain Bouffard France6:07.43QB
3Doug Pulman New Zealand6:14.83QB
4Roberto Ojeda Cuba6:27.29

Repechage heat 2

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Róbert Zimonyi United States6:01.47QA
2Osamu Mandai Japan6:10.15QB
3Park Sin-yeong South Korea6:36.24QB

Repechage heat 3

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Zdenko Balaš Yugoslavia5:59.23QA
2David Overton Canada6:03.86QB
3Kevin Wickham Australia6:06.24QB
4Abbas Khamis Egypt6:19.03

Consolation final

The consolation final determined places from 7th to 12th.

RankRowersCoxswainNationTime
7Alain Bouffard France5:58.57
8Kevin Wickham Australia6:02.21
9David Overton Canada6:02.69
10Osamu Mandai Japan6:05.14
11Doug Pulman New Zealand6:07.59
12Park Sin-yeong South Korea6:31.80

Final

RankRowersCoxswainNationTime
1st place, gold medalist(s)Róbert Zimonyi United States6:18.23
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Thomas Ahrens United Team of Germany6:23.29
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)Miroslav Koníček Czechoslovakia6:25.11
4Zdenko Balaš Yugoslavia6:27.15
5Yuriy Lorentsson Soviet Union6:30.69
6Ivo Stefanoni Italy6:42.78

References

  1. ↑ "Rowing at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's Coxed Eights". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Eight, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  3. ↑ "Why Do We Race 2000m? The History Behind the Distance". World Rowing. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2021.

Sources

  • Tokyo Organizing Committee (1964). The Games of the XVIII Olympiad: Tokyo 1964, vol. 2.
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