1980
Belgium go missing again, and we are down to 28 for the new Olympic season: AUS, AUT, 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 12 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, GDR, POL, JAP, NOR, CAN, URS, NED and USA, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: CAN-SWE, FIN-JAP, ROM-NZL, FRA-YUG, ESP-PRK, GBR-ITA, CZE-AUT, MGL-ISR, KOR-NOR, POL-SWI, HUN-FRG, NED-CHN. The matches:
Canada-Sweden 4-7
Finland-Japan 6-5
Romania-New Zealand 10-0
France-Yugoslavia 10-0
Spain-North Korea 0-9
Britain-Italy 3-7
Czechoslovakia-Austria 0-10, Czech skating is in a depression
Mongolia-Israel 5-0, Israel go past South Africa in the statistics.
South Korea-Norway 1-10
Poland-Switzerland 9-2
Hungary-West Germany 0-10
Netherlands-China 11-0
The first round proper then consists of: AUS, AUT, FIN, FRA, FRG, GDR, ITA, MGL, NED, NOR, POL, PRK, ROM, SWE, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, URS, NOR, GDR and USA, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: PRK-ITA, NOR-POL, URS-AUS, SWE-AUT, FRG-NED, FIN-MGL, FRA-USA, GDR-ROM. The matches proceed as follows:
North Korea-Italy 1-9
Norway-Poland 8-3
USSR-Australia 10-0
Sweden-Austria 11-0
West Germany-Netherlands 0-11
Finland-Mongolia 11-0
France-USA 0-10
East Germany-Romania 10-0
The quarter-final consists of: FIN, GDR, ITA, NED, NOR, SWE, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, URS and GDR, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: URS-SWE, USA-NED, GDR-NOR, FIN-ITA. Results of the matches:
USSR-Sweden 10-1
USA-Netherlands 10-1
East Germany-Norway 6-5
Finland-Italy 11-0
Semi-final draw: GDR-USA, URS-FIN. Matches:
East Germany-USA 2-8
USSR-Finland 9-2
Bronze final: East Germany-Finland 7-4
FINAL: USA-USSR
41,13- 40,74 (0-1) 1.23,07- 1.21,9 (0-2) 2.07,87- 2.11,37 (1-2) 4.32,60- 4.27,02 (1-3) 37,63- 37,0 (1-4) 1.13,60- 1.15,05 (2-4) 1.54,79- 1.54,58 (2-5) 4.06,47- 4.01,5 (2-6) 7.02,29- 6.59,24 (2-7) 14.28,13-14.26,71 (2-8)
Final result 2-8
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 29x NED GOLD 7x FIN GOLD 4x SWE GOLD 2x AUT Silver 4x FRG Silver 2x HUN Silver 2x JAP Silver 2x USA Silver 2x CZE Silver 1955 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 7x NZL 1R 5x VIR 1R 1972 YUG PR 6x ESP PR 5x ISR PR 5x RSA PR 4x ICE PR 2x COL PR 1933