1987
Some comings and going, and a new, interesting (?) debutant make it 30 in this pre-Olympic season, equal to the record: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, IRE, ITA, JAP, KOR, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, POR, PRK, ROM, SWE, SWI, URS, USA, VIR, YUG. Thus we need a preliminary round of 14 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, GDR, NED, SWE, URS, CHN, FRG, CAN and JAP, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: FRA-AUS, USA-NOR, AUT-BEL, PRK-URS, JAP-FIN, SWI-HUN, NED-GBR, CHN-POL, IRE-CAN, SWE-KOR, GDR-ROM, POR-VIR, YUG-CZE, FRG-MGL. The matches:
France-Australia 8-3
USA-Norway 8-3, for the first time outside the proper rounds...
Austria-Belgium 11-0
North Korea-USSR 0-11
Japan-Finland 11-0
Switzerland-Hungary 5-6
Netherlands-Britain 11-0
China-Poland 4-7
Ireland-Canada 0-11
Sweden-South Korea 9-2
East Germany-Romania 10-0. last year USSR, now this
Portugal-Virgin Islands 2-2; distances 3-4 — Portugal win!
Yugoslavia-Czechoslovakia 2-9, Kyncl displays a glimmer of Czech quality for the first time in years, and wins it for his country
West Germany-Mongolia 11-0
The first round proper then consists of: AUT, CAN, CZE, FRA, FRG, GDR, HUN, ITA, JAP, NED, NZL, POL, POR, SWE, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, URS, GDR, FRG and JAP, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: HUN-SWE, ITA-POR, CAN-FRA, AUT-JAP, NZL-USA, FRG-NED, CZE-URS, GDR-POL. The matches proceed as follows:
Hungary-Sweden 0-11
Italy-Portugal 11-0
Canada-France 10-1, again!
Austria-Japan 4-7
New Zealand-USA 0-11
West Germany-Netherlands 1-10
Czechoslovakia-USSR 0-11
East Germany-Poland 11-0
The quarter-final consists of: CAN, GDR, ITA, JAP, NED, SWE, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, URS and JAP, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: CAN-GDR, NED-SWE, ITA-USA, JAP-URS. Results of the matches:
Canada-East Germany 4-7, pretty close
Netherlands-Sweden 10-1
Italy-USA 2-9
Japan-USSR 0-11
Semi-final draw: NED-GDR, USA-USSR. Matches:
Netherlands-East Germany 6-5 !
USA-USSR 4-7, pretty close...
Bronze final: East Germany-USA 4-7
FINAL: Netherlands-USSR
40,92- 40,33 (0-1) 1.21,71- 1.21,05 (0-2) 2.04,52- 2.05,38 (1-2) 4.16,85- 4.22,71 (2-2) 7.20,36- 7.37,74 (3-2) 37,42- 36,5 (3-3) 1.15,54- 1.12,31 (3-4) 1.53,88- 1.52,46 (3-5) 3.59,27- 4.00,46 (4-5) 6.47,01- 6.49,33 (5-5) 14.04,04-14.22,40 (6-5)
Final result 6-5, and first defeat of the Russians since 1972!
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 35x NED GOLD 8x FIN GOLD 4x SWE GOLD 2x AUT Silver 4x GDR Silver 4x JAP Silver 3x FRG Silver 2x HUN Silver 2x USA Silver 2x CZE Silver 1955 CHN Silver 1965 CAN bronze 1897 LAT bronze 1940 GBR bronze 1949 PRK bronze 1963 SWI 4th 3x POL 4th 3x FRA 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 ITA 4th 1945 BEL 4th 1946 KOR 4th 1982 EST QF 5x ROM QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 MGL 1R 7x NZL 1R 6x YUG 1R 2x ISV 1R 1972 POR 1R 1987 ESP PR 7x ISR PR 5x RSA PR 4x ICE PR 2x COL PR 1933 GRE PR 1984 HKG PR 1986 TPE PR 1986 IRE PR 1987