1981
With a couple of losses and a couple of gains, we remain at 28: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, DEN, ESP, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, ITA, JAP, KOR, 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, URS, SWE, USA, NED, GDR, NOR, FIN and ITA, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: FIN-ESP, HUN-JAP, KOR-URS, NZL-NOR, YUG-AUS, NED-DEN, AUT-BEL, POL-CAN, CHN-USA, ROM-GDR, FRG-SWE, GBR-ITA. The matches:
Finland-Spain 11-0
Hungary-Japan 0-10
South Korea-USSR 0-11, Koreans still consistently unlucky
New Zealand-Norway 0-11
Yugoslavia-Australia 0-6
Netherlands-Denmark 11-0
Austria-Belgium 10-0
Poland-Canada 6-5
China-USA 2-8
Romania-East Germany 0-10
West Germany-Sweden 5-6
Britain-Italy 0-10, again!
The first round proper then consists of: AUS, AUT, CZE, FIN, FRA, GDR, ITA, JAP, NED, NOR, POL, PRK, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, GDR, USA, URS and FIN, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: CZE-USA, PRK-AUT, AUS-SWI, JAP-POL, FIN-ITA, FRA-NOR, NED-URS, SWE-GDR. The matches proceed as follows:
Czechoslovakia-USA 0-10
North Korea-Austria 5-5; distances: 9-10 — North Korea win
Australia-Switzerland 4-6
Japan-Poland 4-7
Finland-Italy 6-5, many exciting matches this year
France-Norway 0-11
Netherlands-USSR 0-11
Sweden-East Germany 0-10
The quarter-final consists of: FIN, GDR, NOR, POL, PRK, SWI, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, USA and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: PRK-NOR, POL-SWI, GDR-FIN, URS-USA. Results of the matches:
North Korea-Norway 0-11
Poland-Switzerland 9-2
East Germany-Finland 10-0
USSR-USA 11-0
Semi-final draw: NOR-POL, GDR-URS. Matches:
Norway-Poland 7-4
East Germany-USSR 2-9
Bronze final: Poland-East Germany 1-10
FINAL: Norway-USSR
43,4 - 40,40 (0-1) 1.26,74- 1.20,81 (0-2) 2.12,35- 2.05,39 (0-3) 4.39,75- 4.23,94 (0-4) 8.05,0 - 7.50,61 (0-5) 37,7 - 36,9 (0-6) 1.16,97- 1.13,86 (0-7) 1.56,18- 1.55,22 (0-8) 4.07,22- 4.05,4 (0-9) 7.06,48- 6.54,95 (0-10) 14.58,71-14.33,76 (0-11)
Final result 0-11
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 30x 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 3x 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 7x ESP PR 6x ISR PR 5x RSA PR 4x ICE PR 2x COL PR 1933