Competitors 71 from 14 nations Location Notre Dame Island, Canada | Winning time 6:40.22 Teams 14 | |
Venue Olympic basin at Notre Dame Island | ||
The men's coxed four (M4+) competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics took place at the rowing basin on Notre Dame Island in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was held from 18 to 25 July and was won by the team from Soviet Union.
Contents
Background
While West Germany had won the previous Olympic event in 1972, the Soviet Union had since won most of the relevant competitions: the 1973 European Rowing Championships (the event was discontinued after 1973), and the 1975 World Rowing Championships. In the 1974 World Rowing Championships, the Soviet Union won silver. East Germany had won silver at the 1972 Summer Olympics and had since won silver at the 1973 European Rowing Championships, gold at the 1974 World Rowing Championships, and silver in the following year. West Germany had not made the A final at the 1973 European Rowing Championships, but had won bronze at both the subsequent world championships. The only other country that had won medals in these events was Czechoslovakia, having won bronze in both 1972 and 1973.
Heats
Three heats were rowed on 18 July. Two of the heats had five teams and one had four teams, with the first three teams to qualify for the semi-finals, and the remaining teams progressing to the repechage.
Repechage
One heat was rowed in the repechage on 20 July. Of the five teams competing, the first three progressed to the semi-finals. Poland swapped seats 2 and 4 for this race. The team from Bulgaria swapped three of the seats for the repechage. Italy swapped seats 1 to 3. Norway swapped seats 2 to 4. Argentina and Norway were eliminated in the repechage.
Semi-finals
Two heats were rowed in the semi-finals on 23 July. Of the six teams competing per heat, the first three would qualify for the A final, while the others would progress to the B final.
Heat 1
East Germany swapped the seats of all four rowers. The New Zealanders swapped seats 2 and 4. The United States swapped seats 2 to 4. The Dutch changed the seats of all four rowers. The French team swapped the stroke with seat 3.
Heat 2
The team from the Soviet Union replaced Aleksandr Sema with Mikhail Kuznetsov. The team from West Germany swapped seats 2 and 3. Ireland swapped rowers in seats 1, 2, and 4.
Finals
The two finals were rowed on 25 July.
B final
In the B final, the Dutch team changed seats 2 to 4. The team from the USA swapped the stroke with seat 4.
A final
The team from the Soviet Union swapped rowers in seats 3 and 4. The East German Dießner twins swapped their seats. The Czechoslovakian, Bulgarian, and New Zealand teams changed seats for all four rowers.