1979
And the Belgians return, giving us 29: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, ESP, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, ISR, ITA, JAP, KOR, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, PRK, ROM, SWE, SWI, URS, USA, YUG. Thus we need a preliminary round of 13 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, URS, URS, NOR, NED, ITA, GDR, AUT and CAN, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: PRK-YUG, GBR-ITA, POL-SWE, KOR-JAP, FRG-NZL, URS-BEL, FRA-SWI, HUN-USA, CAN-CZE, ISR-NED, AUT-AUS, CHN-GDR, ROM-ESP. The matches:
North Korea-Yugoslavia 10-0
Britain-Italy 4-5
Poland-Sweden 6-5
South Korea-Japan 0-10
West Germany-New Zealand 10-0
USSR-Belgium 10-0
France-Switzerland 4-6
Hungary-USA 0-11
Canada-Czechoslovakia 9-1
Israel-Netherlands 0-11
Austria-Australia 5-5; distances: 10-6; Australia win
China-East Germany 0-10
Romania-Spain 10-0
The first round proper then consists of: AUS, CAN, FIN, FRG, GDR, ITA, JAP, MGL, NED, NOR, POL, PRK, ROM, SWI, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, GDR, URS, NOR and CAN, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: NOR-FRG, URS-SWI, ITA-JAP, MGL-GDR, FIN-POL, AUS-NED, PRK-USA, CAN-ROM. The matches proceed as follows:
Norway-West Germany 10-1
USSR-Switzerland 10-0
Italy-Japan 0-10
Mongolia-East Germany 0-10
Finland-Poland 0-10
Australia-Netherlands 0-11
North Korea-USA 0-11
Canada-Romania 9-1
The quarter-final consists of: CAN, GDR, JAP, NED, NOR, POL, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, URS and NOR, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: GDR-POL, JAP-NOR, CAN-URS, NED-USA. Results of the matches:
East Germany-Poland 10-0
Japan-Norway 5-6, that was close...
Canada-USSR 0-10
Netherlands-USA 1-10
Semi-final draw: URS-NOR, GDR-USA. Matches:
USSR-Norway 10-1
East Germany-USA 6-5, thanks to Medeo
Bronze final: Norway-USA 1-10
FINAL: USSR-East Germany
41,2 - 41,0 (0-1) 1.23,1 - 1.23,6 (1-1) 2.07,88- 2.11,17 (2-1) 4.34,00- 4.33,62 (2-2) 37,5 - 37,4 (2-3) 1.14,8 - 1.15,6 (3-3) 1.56,50- 1.57,29 (4-3) 4.03,98- 4.04,52 (5-3) 7.04,54- 7.19,00 (6-3) 14.56,73-15.29,39 (7-3)
Final result 7-3
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 28x 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 GDR Silver 1979 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 EST QF 5x KOR QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 ROM QF 1977 MGL 1R 6x NZL 1R 5x VIR 1R 1972 YUG PR 5x RSA PR 4x ISR PR 4x ESP PR 4x ICE PR 2x COL PR 1933