1968
A slight increase to 26 participants for the new Olympic season: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, ITA, KOR, JAP, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, PRK, ROM, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. Thus we need a preliminary round of 10 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, FRG, NED, URS, ITA, NOR, USA, FIN and GDR, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: USA-BEL, FRG-CHN, HUN-ROM, CAN-AUS, FRA-JAP, SWI-PRK, URS-GDR, SWE-NED, GBR-AUT, KOR-ITA. The matches:
USA-Belgium 10-0
West Germany-China 10-0, culturally revolutionised
Hungary-Romania 10-0
Canada-Australia 10-0
France-Japan 0-10
Switzerland-North Korea 6-4
USSR-East Germany 10-1
Sweden-Netherlands 3-7, unlucky Swedes, again!
Britain-Austria 5-5; distances: 10-8 — Austria win
South Korea-Italy 2-8
The first round proper then consists of: AUT, CAN, CZE, FIN, FRG, HUN, ITA, JAP, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, SWI, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, NOR, NED, URS and FIN, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: NOR-JAP, AUT-SWI, NZL-FIN, POL-CZE, ITA-NED, USA-MGL, URS-CAN, FRG-HUN. The matches proceed as follows:
Norway-Japan 9-1
Austria-Switzerland 6-2
New Zealand-Finland 0-10
Poland-Czechoslovakia 6-4
Italy-Netherlands 0-10
USA-Mongolia 10-0
USSR-Canada 10-0, fourth bad draw i a row for Canada
West Germany-Hungary 10-0
The quarter-final consists of: AUT, FIN, FRG, NED, NOR, POL, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, NED and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: NOR-FIN, USA-NED, URS-AUT, FRG-POL. Results of the matches:
Norway-Finland 7-3
USA-Netherlands 1-9
USSR-Austria 10-0
West Germany-Poland 9-1
Semi-final draw: NED-FRG, NOR-URS. Matches:
Netherlands-West Germany 8-2
Norway-USSR 5.5-4.5
Bronze final: West Germany-USSR 4-6
FINAL: Netherlands-Norway
45,4 - 45,2 (0-1) 1.31,0 - 1.34,2 (1-1) 2.19,7 - 2.25,2 (2-1) 4.54,6 - 5.13,3 (3-1) 40,2 - 39,6 (3-2) 1.20,6 - 1.20,5 (3-3) 2.02,6 - 2.02,5 (3-4) 4.22,8 - 4.17,5 (3-5) 7.19,9 - 7.16,7 (3-6) 15.28,7 -15.16,1 (3-7)
Final result 3-7, first win since 1950!
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 21x FIN GOLD 4x NED GOLD 3x 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 SWI 4th 3x POL 4th 2x FRA 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 ITA 4th 1945 BEL 4th 1946 GDR 4th 1964 EST QF 5x LIT QF 1927 KOR QF 1949 ROM 1R 8x AUS 1R 7x MGL 1R 3x NZL 1R 2x ICE PR 2x RSA PR 2x COL PR 1933 ESP PR 1957