1971
With New Zealand absent for the first time since 1960, some other returning absentees make it 25 with another Olympic season coming up: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, ITA, KOR, JAP, MGL, NED, NOR, POL, PRK, ROM, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. Thus we need a preliminary round of 9 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, FIN, JAP, URS, SWE, USA, NOR, AUT and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: HUN-JAP, NOR-PRK, FRG-CZE, AUT-SWI, FIN-FRA, ROM-USA, POL-BEL, URS-ITA, NED-MGL. The matches:
Hungary-Japan 0-10
Norway-North Korea 9-1
West Germany-Czechoslovakia 10-0
Austria-Switzerland 3-3; distances: 6-6; Switzerland win on samalog points
Finland-France 10-0
Romania-USA 0-10
Poland-Belgium 10-0
USSR-Italy 9-1
Netherlands-Mongolia 10-0
The first round proper then consists of: AUS, CAN, CHN, FIN, FRG, GBR, GDR, KOR, JAP, NED, NOR, POL, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, NED, JAP, URS and NOR, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: CAN-AUS, FIN-SWI, USA-FRG, URS-CHN, NOR-GBR, NED-KOR, POL-JAP, GDR-SWE. The matches proceed as follows:
Canada-Australia 6-4
Finland-Switzerland 10-0
USA-West Germany 6-4
USSR-China 10-0
Norway-Britain 10-0
Netherlands-South Korea 10-0
Poland-Japan 1-9
East Germany-Sweden 3-7
The quarter-final consists of: CAN, FIN, JAP, NED, NOR, SWE, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, NED and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: NOR-CAN, NED-FIN, URS-SWE, JAP-USA. Results of the matches:
Norway-Canada 10-0
Netherlands-Finland 10-0
USSR-Sweden 4-6, outside the semis for the first time since 1943!
Japan-USA 4-6
Semi-final draw: NED-NOR, SWE-USA. Matches:
Netherlands-Norway 10-0, massacred
Sweden-USA 6-4
Bronze final: Norway-USA 7-3
FINAL: Netherlands-Sweden
44,23- 45,64 (1-0) 1.29,0 - 1.34,3 (2-0) 2.15,8 - 2.28,9 (3-0) 4.46,5 - 5.16,4 (4-0) 38,9 - 38,48 (4-1) 1.18,8 - 1.19,2 (5-1) 1.58,7 - 2.00,1 (6-1) 4.12,6 - 4.18,1 (7-1) 7.12,0 - 7.22,4 (8-1) 14.55,9 -15.18,7 (9-1)
Final result 9-1
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 21x NED GOLD 6x FIN GOLD 4x SWE GOLD 2x AUT Silver 4x FRG Silver 2x HUN Silver 2x JAP Silver 2x CZE Silver 1955 USA Silver 1964 CHN Silver 1965 CAN bronze 1897 LAT bronze 1940 GBR bronze 1949 PRK bronze 1963 SWI 4th 3x POL 4th 2x FRA 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 ITA 4th 1945 BEL 4th 1946 GDR 4th 1964 EST QF 5x LIT QF 1927 KOR QF 1949 ROM 1R 9x AUS 1R 8x MGL 1R 3x NZL 1R 3x ICE PR 2x RSA PR 2x COL PR 1933 ESP PR 1957