1974
It seems speedskating may be viable after all, as we are equalling the record with two years to go before the OG, with 27 participants: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, ITA, KOR, JAP, MGL, NED, NZL, NOR, POL, PRK, ROM, SWE, SWI, URS, USA, VIR. Thus we need a preliminary round of 11 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, KOR, GDR, SWE, URS, JAP, FRG, NED and USA, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: KOR-MGL, SWE-GBR, FRA-NZL, GDR-BEL, FIN-JAP, ROM-VIR, AUS-CZE, CAN-SWI, CHN-HUN, URS-AUT, NOR-USA. The matches:
South Korea-Mongolia 6-4
Sweden-Britain 10-0
France-New Zealand 10-0
East Germany-Belgium 10-0
Finland-Japan 0-10, again!
Romania-Virgin Islands 10-0
Australia-Czechoslovakia 5-5; distances: 6-10 — Australia win
Canada-Switzerland 7-3
China-Hungary 9-1
USSR-Austria 10-0
Norway-USA 6-4
The first round proper then consists of: AUS, CAN, CHN, FRA, FRG, GDR, ITA, KOR, JAP, NED, NOR, POL, PRK, ROM, SWE, URS. The semi-finalists from last year, GDR, NED, URS and JAP, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: SWE-JAP, AUS-ITA, KOR-NOR, CHN-GDR, FRA-CAN, NED-PRK, URS-POL, FRG-ROM. The matches proceed as follows:
Sweden-Japan 6-4
Australia-Italy 6-4
South Korea-Norway 1-9
China-East Germany 1-9
France-Canada 1-9
Netherlands-North Korea 10-0
USSR-Poland 10-0
West Germany-Romania 10-0
The quarter-final consists of: AUS, CAN, FRG, GDR, NED, NOR, SWE, URS. The finalists from last year, NED and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: NOR-CAN, FRG-NED, AUS-GDR, SWE-URS. Results of the matches:
Norway-Canada 8-2
West Germany-Netherlands 1-9
Australia-East Germany 2-8
Sweden-USSR 0-10, again!
Semi-final draw: GDR-NOR, NED-USSR. Matches:
East Germany-Norway 4-6
Netherlands-USSR 1-9
Bronze final: East Germany-Netherlands 1-9
FINAL: Norway-USSR
44,87- 42,20 (0-1) 1.30,25- 1.26,40 (0-2) 2.23,7 - 2.14,00 (0-3) 5.08,6 - 4.49,57 (0-4) 38,54- 38,02 (0-5) 1.19,25- 1.17,23 (0-6) 2.01,85- 2.00,63 (0-7) 4.20,32- 4.03,67 (0-8) 7.23,55- 7.15,95 (0-9) 15.07,45-15.15,64 (1-9)
Final result 1-9
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 23x NED GOLD 7x 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 GDR 4th 3x POL 4th 2x FRA 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 ITA 4th 1945 BEL 4th 1946 EST QF 5x KOR QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 ROM 1R 11x NZL 1R 4x MGL 1R 3x VIR 1R 1972 ICE PR 2x RSA PR 2x COL PR 1933 ESP PR 1957