Rowing at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four

The men's coxed four competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place at took place at Lake of Banyoles, Spain.[1] It was held from 27 July to 1 August.[2] There were 12 boats (60 competitors) from 12 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event.[2] The event was won by Romania, the nation's first victory in the event; the Romanian team had taken silver in 1988. Germany, recently re-united, took silver in 1992; East Germany had won gold in 1988. Two men returned from the 1988 podium to medal again in 1992: Dimitrie Popescu of Romania and Hendrik Reiher of the former East German team. They were the eighth and ninth men to earn multiple medals in the event; due to the removal of the men's coxed four from the programme, they would be the last. Bronze went to Poland, the nation's fourth bronze medal in the coxed four.

Men's coxed four
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Gold medal Romanian team
VenueLake of Banyoles
Dates27 July – 1 August
Competitors60 from 12 nations
Winning time5:59.37
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Romania
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Poland
← 1988

Background

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This was the 19th and final appearance of the event. Rowing had been on the programme in 1896 but was cancelled due to bad weather. The coxed four was one of the four initial events introduced in 1900. It was not held in 1904 or 1908, but was held at every Games from 1912 to 1992 when it (along with the men's coxed pair) was replaced with the men's lightweight double sculls and men's lightweight coxless four.[2]

East Germany had been dominant prior to the reunification of Germany, winning gold at the 1980 and 1988 Olympics (missing 1984 due to the Soviet-led boycott) and winning 8 of the 11 World Championships from 1977 to 1990 (with a second and third place finish as well). Germany won the only World Championship between reunification and the Games, in 1991, and was favoured in Barcelona. Romania was a strong challenger; the Romanians had won the 1989 World Championship as well as finishing second in both the 1988 Olympics and the most recent (1991) World Championship.[2]

The People's Republic of China and Croatia each made their debut in the event; some former Soviet republics competed together as the Unified Team. The United States made its 16th appearance, most of any nation.

Competition format

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The coxed four event featured five-person boats, with four rowers and a coxswain. It was a sweep rowing event, with the rowers each having one oar (and thus each rowing on one side). The competition used the 2000 metres distance that became standard at the 1912 Olympics and which has been used ever since except at the 1948 Games.[3]

The competition consisted of two main rounds (semifinals and finals) as well as a repechage. The 12 boats were divided into two heats for the semifinals, with 6 boats in each heat. The winner of each heat (2 boats total) advanced directly to the "A" final to compete for medals and 4th through 6th place. The remaining 10 boats were placed in the repechage. The repechage featured two heats, with 5 boats in each heat. The top two boats in each repechage heat (4 boats total) advanced to the "A" final. The remaining 6 boats in the repechage (3rd, 4th, and 5th placers) were placed in the "B" final to compete for 7th through 12th places.[4]

Schedule

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All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Monday, 27 July 1992 9:30 Semifinals
Wednesday, 29 July 1992 8:40 Repechage
Saturday, 1 August 1992 8:20 Finals

Results

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Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Hendrik Reiher   Germany 6:21.47 QA
2 Pyotr Petrinich   Unified Team 6:25.63 R
3 John Deakin   Great Britain 6:27.95 R
4 Goran Puljko   Croatia 6:31.19 R
5 Carl Sheehan   New Zealand 6:32.61 R
6 Alexandre Fernandes   Brazil 6:45.54 R

Semifinal 2

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Dumitru Răducanu   Romania 6:17.22 QA
2 Tim Evans   United States 6:21.79 R
3 Li Jianxin   China 6:25.03 R
4 Jean-Pierre Huguet-Balent   France 6:26.51 R
5 Michał Cieślak   Poland 6:27.24 R
6 Martin Svoboda   Czechoslovakia 6:28.83 R

Repechage

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Repechage heat 1

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Pyotr Petrinich   Unified Team 6:16.26 QA
2 Michał Cieślak   Poland 6:16.93 QA
3 Goran Puljko   Croatia 6:18.98 QB
4 Li Jianxin   China 6:26.70 QB
5 Alexandre Fernandes   Brazil 6:34.87 QB

Repechage heat 2

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Tim Evans   United States 6:18.10 QA
2 Jean-Pierre Huguet-Balent   France 6:18.77 QA
3 John Deakin   Great Britain 6:21.19 QB
4 Carl Sheehan   New Zealand 6:25.32 QB
5 Martin Svoboda   Czechoslovakia 6:28.03 QB

Finals

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Final B

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time
7 Goran Puljko   Croatia 6:08.52
8 Li Jianxin   China 6:11.52
9 John Deakin   Great Britain 6:12.60
10 Martin Svoboda   Czechoslovakia 6:13.32
11 Carl Sheehan   New Zealand 6:15.66
12 Alexandre Fernandes   Brazil 6:22.00

Final A

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
  Dumitru Răducanu   Romania 5:59.37 OB
  Hendrik Reiher   Germany 6:00.34
  Michał Cieślak   Poland 6:03.27
4 Tim Evans   United States 6:06.03
5 Jean-Pierre Huguet-Balent   France 6:06.82
6 Pyotr Petrinich   Unified Team 6:12.13

Final classification

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The following rowers took part:[1]

Rank Rowers Country
  Iulică Ruican
Viorel Talapan
Dimitrie Popescu
Dumitru Răducanu (cox)
Nicolae Țaga
  Romania
  Ralf Brudel
Uwe Kellner
Thoralf Peters
Karsten Finger
Hendrik Reiher (cox)
  Germany
  Wojciech Jankowski
Maciej Łasicki
Jacek Streich
Tomasz Tomiak
Michał Cieślak (cox)
  Poland
James Neil
Teo Bielefeld
Sean Hall
Jack Rusher
Tim Evans (cox)
  United States
Yannick Schulte
Philippe Lot
Daniel Fauché
Jean-Paul Vergne
Jean-Pierre Huguet-Balent (cox)
  France
Veniamin But
Igor Bortnitsky
Vladimir Romanishin
Gennadi Kryuçkin
Pyotr Petrinich (cox)
  Unified Team
Sead Marušić
Marko Banović
Ninoslav Saraga
Aleksandar Fabijanić
Goran Puljko (cox)
  Croatia
Feng Feng
Sun Senlin
Huang Xiaoping
Xu Wuling
Li Jianxin (cox)
  China
Peter Mulkerrins
Nicholas Burfitt
Terence Dillon
Simon Berrisford
John Deakin (cox)
  Great Britain
Ivo Žerava
Richard Krejčí
Jan Kabrhel
Petr Batěk
Martin Svoboda (cox)
  Czechoslovakia
Bill Coventry
Guy Melville
Toni Dunlop
Ian Wright
Carl Sheehan (cox)
  New Zealand
Cleber Leite
Otávio Bandeira
José Augusto Loureiro Júnior
José Ribeiro
Alexandre Fernandes (cox)
  Brazil

References

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  1. ^ a b "Rowing at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Coxed Fours, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Why Do We Race 2000m? The History Behind the Distance". World Rowing. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  4. ^ Official Report, vol. 5, pp. 328–29.