1976
For the Olympic season again 28 participants, equal to last year’s record: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, ISR, ITA, JAP, KOR, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, ROM, RSA, SWE, SWI, URS, USA, YUG. Thus we need a preliminary round of 12 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, GDR, USA, JAP, SWI, URS, ITA, NOR and SWE, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: AUT-CHN, ISR-JAP, NOR-YUG, POL-GBR, CAN-NZL, RSA-ITA, KOR-USA, SWE-FIN, URS-BEL, AUS-CZE, SWI-FRG, FRA-GDR. The matches:
Austria-China 1-9
Israel-Japan 0-10
Norway-Yugoslavia 10-0
Poland-Britain 9-1
Canada-New Zealand 10-0
South Africa-Italy 0-10
South Korea-USA 0-10, consistently unlucky Koreans
Sweden-Finland 8-3
USSR-Belgium 11-0
Australia-Czechoslovakia 6-4
Switzerland-West Germany 3-7
France-East Germany 1-10
The first round proper then consists of: AUS, CAN, CHN, FRG, GDR, HUN, ITA, JAP, MGL, NED, NOR, POL, ROM, SWE, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, GDR, URS, JAP and SWE, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: FRG-SWE, CAN-URS, USA-AUS, HUN-CHN, MGL-JAP, POL-GDR, NED-ROM, ITA-NOR. The matches proceed as follows:
West Germany-Sweden 1-10
Canada-USSR 0-11
USA-Australia 8-2
Hungary-China 0-10
Mongolia-Japan 0-10
Poland-East Germany 0-11, again!
Netherlands-Romania 10-0
Italy-Norway 0-10
The quarter-final consists of: CHN, GDR, JAP, NED, NOR, SWE, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, URS and SWE, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: JAP-CHN, USA-NOR, SWE-NED, GDR-URS. Results of the matches:
Japan-China 10-0
USA-Norway 4-6
Sweden-Netherlands 2-9
East Germany-USSR 1-10
Semi-final draw: NOR-URS, JAP-NED. Matches:
Norway-USSR 2-9
Japan-Netherlands 1-9
Bronze final: Norway-Japan 9-1
FINAL: USSR-Netherlands
40,96- 43,23 (1-0) 1.23,80- 1.25,55 (2-0) 2.09,8 - 2.13,95 (3-0) 4.31,00- 4.44,00 (4-0) 8.11,74- - (5-0) 37,15- 38,47 (6-0) 1.15,01- 1.17,3 (7-0) 1.57,29- 1.55,61 (7-1) 4.07,7 - 4.13,84 (8-1) 7.14,00- 7.02,38 (8-2) 14.50,06-14.41,90 (8-3)
Final result 8-3
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 25x 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 GDR bronze 1975 SWI 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 12x NZL 1R 4x MGL 1R 4x VIR 1R 1972 RSA PR 3x ICE PR 2x YUG PR 2x COL PR 1933 ESP PR 1957 ISR PR 1976