Rowing at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four

Men's coxed four; at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Venue	Mei Bay, Helsinki
Date	20–23 August 1952
Competitors	85 from 17 nations
Teams	17
Winning time	7:33.4
Medalists

The men's coxed four competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics took place at Mei Bay, Helsinki, Finland. It was held from 20 to 23 August and was won by the team from Czechoslovakia.[1]

Background

The Italian team was regarded as the slight favourite for the event; they had won gold at the European Rowing Championships in 1949, silver in 1950, and gold again in 1951, with the team having changed between competitions. Of the New Zealand team that had won the 1950 British Empire Games, three rowers were in the 1952 Olympic event: Ted Johnson, John O'Brien, and Colin Johnstone. The Danish team was made up of the 1950 European Rowing Championships winners: Niels Kristensen, Ove Nielsen, Peter Hansen, Bent Blach Petersen, and Eivin Kristensen. The New Zealand and Italian team met in the repechage and New Zealand was eliminated. The Czechoslovakian team dominated the competition and won every round. In the final, they defeated the Swizz quad, while the team from the USA—the winners of the 1948 Olympic competition—won bronze.[1]

Based on a previous decision, each boat raced a minimum of two races before it could be eliminated.[2]

Results

Heats

Four heats were rowed on 20 July.[3] Three of the heats had four teams and one had five teams, with the first two teams to qualify for the semi-final, and the remaining teams progressing to the round one repechage.[4]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	André Goursolle Robert Texier Guy Nosbaum Claude Martin Didier Moureau	France	7:18.4	SF
2	Kirill Putyrsky Yevgeny Tretnikov Georgy Gushchenko Boris Fyodorov Boris Brechko	Soviet Union	7:19.9	SF
3	Albino Trevisan Amadeo Scarpi Abbondio Smerghetto Tarquinio Angiolin Domenico Cambieri	Italy	7:20.5	R
4	Salvador Costa Miguel Palau Francisco Gironella Pedro Massana Luis Omedes	Spain	7:25.5	R
5	Kurt Grönholm Paul Stråhlman Birger Karlsson Karl-Erik Johansson Antero Tukiainen	Finland	DNF[3]	R

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Carl Lovsted Al Ulbrickson Richard Wahlstrom Matt Leanderson Al Rossi	United States	7:17.9	SF
2	John MacMillan Graham Fisk Laurence Guest Peter de Giles Paul Massey	Great Britain	7:18.3	SF
3	Niels Kristensen Ove Nielsen Peter Hansen Bent Blach Petersen Eivin Kristensen	Denmark	7:33.9	R
4	Ibrahim El-Attar Mohamed El-Sahrawi Mamdooh El-Attar Mohamed El-Sayed Albert Selim El-Mankabadi	Egypt	7:52.8	R

Heat 3

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Karel Mejta Jiří Havlis Jan Jindra Stanislav Lusk Miroslav Koranda	Czechoslovakia	7:16.6	SF
2	Bjørn Christoffersen Arnfinn Larsen Wilhelm Hayden Thor Nilsen Leif Andersen	Norway	7:21.6	SF
3	Ton Fontani Han Heijenbrock Jan Willem Pennink Jaap Beije Hans Caro	Netherlands	7:24.9	R
4	Kosuke Matsuo Ryuji Goto Kazuo Kanda Toshiya Takeuchi Tamatsu Kogure	Japan	7:29.8	R

Heat 4

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Rico Bianchi Karl Weidmann Heini Scheller Émile Ess Walter Leiser	Switzerland	7:20.7	SF
2	Juan Ecker Roberto Suárez Alfredo Czerner Jorge Schneider Jorge Arripe	Argentina	7:24.4	SF
3	Günter Twiesselmann Klaus Schulze Heinz Beyer Gerd Vogeley Hans Joachim Wiemken	Germany	7:24.8	R
4	Ted Johnson John O'Brien Kerry Ashby Bill Tinnock Colin Johnstone	New Zealand	7:25.2	R