Rowing at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four

Men's coxed four at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Venue	Lake Wendouree
Date	23–27 November
Competitors	50 from 10 nations
Teams	10
Winning time	7:19.4
Medalists
Alberto Winkler Romano Sgheiz Angelo Vanzin Franco Trincavelli Ivo Stefanoni (cox)   Italy   Olle Larsson Gösta Eriksson Ivar Aronsson Evert Gunnarsson Bertil Göransson   Sweden   Kauko Hänninen Reino Poutanen Veli Lehtelä Toimi Pitkänen Matti Niemi   Finland

Rowing at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Single sculls	men
Double sculls	men
Coxless pairs	men
Coxed pairs	men
Coxless fours	men
Coxed fours	men
Eights	men

The men's coxed four competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics took place at Lake Wendouree, Ballarat, Australia. It was held from 23 to 27 November and was won by the team from Italy.^[1]

Background

There was no clear favourite for the event. No nation had won the European Rowing Championships since the previous Olympic Games more than once. Only the Soviet Union had won a European Rowing Championship medal twice since 1952. Italy had come third at the 1956 European Rowing Championships.^[1]

The competition venue had five lanes, but the organising committee had restricted races to four teams. This allowed for changing wind conditions, where the most affected lane could be left unused.^[2] Ten teams from ten nations attended the competition.^[1] On all days, the coxed four were the first races held of the day.^[3]

Results

Heats

Three heats were rowed on 23 November.^[4] Two of the heats had three teams and one had four teams, with the first two teams to qualify for the semi-final, and the remaining teams progressing to the round one repechage.^[5]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Alberto Winkler Romano Sgheiz Angelo Vanzin Franco Trincavelli Ivo Stefanoni	Italy	7:00.0	SF
2	Andrey Arkhipov Yury Popov Valentin Zanin Yaroslav Cherstvy Anatoly Fetisov	Soviet Union	7:07.5	SF
3	Peter Lucas Ray Laurent Donald Gemmell Allan Tong Colin Johnstone	New Zealand	7:16.2	R

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Olle Larsson Gösta Eriksson Ivar Aronsson Evert Gunnarsson Bertil Göransson	Sweden	6:57.9	SF
2	Elo Tostenæs Mogens Sørensen Børge Hansen Tage Grøndahl John Vilhelmsen	Denmark	7:05.3	SF
3	Kauko Hänninen Reino Poutanen Veli Lehtelä Toimi Pitkänen Matti Niemi	Finland	7:16.2	R

Heat 3

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	James Wynne Douglas Turner James McMullen Ronald Cardwell Edward Masterson	United States	7:01.8	SF
2	Gordon Cowey Kevin McMahon Reg Libbis Mick Allen John Jenkinson	Australia	7:01.9	SF
3	André Richer Ruy Kopper Nelson Guarda José de Carvalho Filho Sylvio de Souza	Brazil	7:13.9	R
4	José Roa Enrique Torres José Romero Santos José Hurdado Virgilio Ara	Cuba	7:14.3	R

Repechage

Four boats competed in the one repechage on 24 November in two heats, with the winner qualifying for the semi-final.^[6][7]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Peter Lucas Ray Laurent Donald Gemmell Allan Tong Colin Johnstone	New Zealand	7:16.6	SF
2	José Roa Enrique Torres José Romero Santos José Hurdado Virgilio Ara	Cuba	7:28.2

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Kauko Hänninen Reino Poutanen Veli Lehtelä Toimi Pitkänen Matti Niemi	Finland	7:09.8	SF
2	André Richer Ruy Kopper Nelson Guarda José de Carvalho Filho Sylvio de Souza	Brazil	7:25.7

Semi-finals

Two heats were rowed in the semi-finals on 26 November, with the top two teams qualifying for the final.^[6][8]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Alberto Winkler Romano Sgheiz Angelo Vanzin Franco Trincavelli Ivo Stefanoni	Italy	7:54.4	F
2	Gordon Cowey Kevin McMahon Reg Libbis Mick Allen John Jenkinson	Australia	7:59.8	F
3	Elo Tostenæs Mogens Sørensen Børge Hansen Tage Grøndahl John Vilhelmsen	Denmark	8:08.4
4	Peter Lucas Ray Laurent Donald Gemmell Allan Tong Colin Johnstone	New Zealand	8:30.7

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Olle Larsson Gösta Eriksson Ivar Aronsson Evert Gunnarsson Bertil Göransson	Sweden	8:01.8	F
2	Kauko Hänninen Reino Poutanen Veli Lehtelä Toimi Pitkänen Matti Niemi	Finland	8:08.1	F
3	Andrey Arkhipov Yury Popov Valentin Zanin Yaroslav Cherstvy Anatoly Fetisov	Soviet Union	8:14.0
4	James Wynne Douglas Turner James McMullen Ronald Cardwell Edward Masterson	United States	8:24.3

Final

Four teams reached the final, which was decided in one race held on 27 November.^[6][9] The team from Italy, which had won its heat and semi-final, won the final in an unremarkable race leading from start to finish.^[10]

Rank	Rower	Country	Time
01 !	Alberto Winkler Romano Sgheiz Angelo Vanzin Franco Trincavelli Ivo Stefanoni	Italy	7:19.4
02 !	Olle Larsson Gösta Eriksson Ivar Aronsson Evert Gunnarsson Bertil Göransson	Sweden	7:22.4
03 !	Kauko Hänninen Reino Poutanen Veli Lehtelä Toimi Pitkänen Matti Niemi	Finland	7:30.9
4	Gordon Cowey Kevin McMahon Reg Libbis Mick Allen John Jenkinson	Australia	7:31.1

Notes

References

• The Official Report of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XVI Olympiad Melbourne 1956 (PDF) (PDF). Melbourne, Australia: W. M. Houston, Government Printer. 1958.