1975
And we have a new record for the pre-Olympic season, 28 participants, including one debutant: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, DEN, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, ITA, JAP, KOR, MGL, NED, NOR, POL, PRK, ROM, SWE, SWI, URS, USA, VIR, YUG. Thus we need a preliminary round of 12 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, NOR, CAN, FRG, NED, AUS, GDR, SWE and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: YUG-HUN, SWI-FRA, VIR-CZE, GDR-FIN, DEN-URS, ITA-GBR, ROM-AUS, NED-KOR, BEL-FRG, SWE-AUT, CHN-NOR, MGL-USA. The matches:
Yugoslavia-Hungary 0-10
Switzerland-France 7-3
Virgin Islands-Czechoslovakia 0-9
East Germany-Finland 9-1
Denmark-USSR 0-10
Italy-Britain 10-0
Romania-Australia 4-6
Netherlands-South Korea 11-0
Belgium-West Germany 0-10
Sweden-Austria 10-0
China-Norway 0-10
Mongolia-USA 0-10
The first round proper then consists of: AUS, CAN, CZE, FRG, GDR, HUN, ITA, JAP, NED, NOR, POL, PRK, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, GDR, NOR, NED and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: FRG-URS, GDR-POL, JAP-AUS, SWI-PRK, NED-SWE, USA-CAN, HUN-NOR, CZE-ITA. The matches proceed as follows:
West Germany-USSR 0-10
East Germany-Poland 8-2
Japan-Australia 10-0
Switzerland-North Korea 7-3
Netherlands-Sweden 5-6 !
USA-Canada 7-3
Hungary-Norway 0-10
Czechoslovakia-Italy 2-8
The quarter-final consists of: GDR, ITA, JAP, NOR, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, NOR and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: GDR-USA, JAP-SWI, URS-ITA, NOR-SWE. Results of the matches:
East Germany-USA 7-3
Japan-Switzerland 10-0
USSR-Italy 10-0
Norway-Sweden 5-5; distances: 10-10; Sweden win on samalog points!
Semi-final draw: GDR-URS, JAP-SWE. Matches:
East Germany-USSR 0-10
Japan-Sweden 2-8
Bronze final: East Germany-Japan 6-4
FINAL: USSR-Sweden
41,06- 42,83 (1-0) 1.23,46- 1.28,80 (2-0) 2.09,90- 2.15,62 (3-0) 4.44,69- 4.52,79 (4-0) 37,00- 38,49 (5-0) 1.16,92- 1.18,11 (6-0) 1.59,43- 2.04,64 (7-0) 4.10,7 - 4.23,94 (8-0) 7.08,92- 7.31,30 (9-0) 14.52,73-15.21,67 (10-0)
Final result 10-0
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 24x NED GOLD 7x FIN GOLD 4x 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 GDR bronze 1975 SWI 4th 3x POL 4th 2x FRA 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 ITA 4th 1945 BEL 4th 1946 EST QF 5x KOR QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 ROM 1R 11x NZL 1R 4x MGL 1R 3x VIR 1R 1972 ICE PR 2x RSA PR 2x COL PR 1933 ESP PR 1957 YUG PR 1975