2014
Kenya and Greece are back, but with the loss of Israel, Mexico, the Philippines and Singapore, we don’t set a new record of participanting countries despite the Olympic year and end up with 41: ARG, AUS, AUT, BEL, BLR, CAN, CHI, CHN, COL, CZE, DEN, ESP, EST, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, GRE, HUN, IND, IRE, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KEN, KOR, LAT, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, PRK, ROM, RUS, SVK, SWE, SWI, TPE, UKR, USA. Thus we need a preliminary round of 9 matches. The 2nd round participants from last year, BLR, CAN, CZE, FIN, GER, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KOR, MGL, NED, POL, PRK, RUS, SWI, TPE, are exempt. The draw is: USA-LAT, FRA-DEN, ARG-CHI, HUN-SVK, AUT-IRE, UKR-GRE, CHN-IND, KEN-NZL, AUS-ROM. The results of the matches:
USA-Latvia 11-0, not such an easy match for Latvia as last year
France-Denmark 6-4
Argentina-Chile 0-11, unbalanced local derby
Hungary-Slovakia 10-0
Austria-Ireland 11-0
Ukraine-Greece 8-0
China-India 11-0, the superpowers meet
Kenya-New Zealand 0-6
Australia-Romania 5-5; but 10-9 in distances, and a 0.04 seconds win in the female 500 m, give Romania the win
The first round proper then consists of: AUT, BEL, BLR, CAN, CHI, CHN, COL, CZE, ESP, EST, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, HUN, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KOR, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, PRK, ROM, RUS, SWE, SWI, TPE, UKR, USA. The quarter-finalists from last year, CAN, CZE, JAP, KAZ, KOR, NED, POL, and SWI, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. Here is the draw: ROM-GBR, KOR-CHI, AUT-SWI, SWE-NED, KAZ-TPE, NZL-CAN, GER-MGL, FIN-BEL, PRK-JAP, EST-CZE, USA-FRA, ESP-ITA, UKR-POL, HUN-BLR, NOR-CHN, RUS-COL. The matches:
Romania-Britain 9-0
South Korea-Chile 11-0
Austria-Switzerland 10-1, not much more balanced local derby
Sweden-Netherlands 0-11, unlucky draw
Kazakhstan-Taiwan 10-1
New Zealand-Canada 2-9
Germany-Mongolia 11-0
Finland-Belgium 4-7, Finns can only do sprint these days
North Korea-Japan 0-11
Estonia-Czech Republic 3-8
USA-France 10-1, unlucky draw for France again
Spain-Italy 0-11, inequality in the Latin world
Ukraine-Poland 0-11, yet another unbalanced local derby
Hungary-Belarus 3-8
Norway-China 8-3
Russia-Colombia 11-0
Then the second round consists of: AUT, BEL, BLR, CAN, CZE, GER, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KOR, NED, NOR, POL, ROM, RUS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, CAN, KAZ, NED, and POL, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: BEL-NOR, POL-CZE, KOR-USA, JAP-KAZ, BLR-GER, CAN-ITA, NED-RUS, ROM-AUT. The matches proceed as follows:
Belgium-Norway 2-9
Poland-Czech Republic 7-4
South Korea-USA 5-6, repetition from 2012 and 2013, one win each before this one
Japan-Kazakhstan 7-4
Belarus-Germany 0-11
Canada-Italy 11-0
Netherlands-Russia 9-2, tough draw for a strong team
Romania-Austria 1-10
The quarter-final consists of: AUT, CAN, GER, JAP, NED, NOR, POL, USA. The finalists from last year, CAN and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: NED-NOR (ouch), JAP-USA, GER-AUT, POL-CAN. Results of the matches:
Netherlands-Norway 11-0
Japan-USA 3-8
Germany-Austria 10-1
Poland-Canada 4-7
Semi-final draw: GER-CAN, NED-USA. Matches:
Germany-Canada 6-5, their first final since 2009
Netherlands-USA 7-4, worthy of a final
Bronze final: Canada-USA 1-10, they are back with yet another medal after leaving the competition in the 1st round last year
FINAL: Germany-Netherlands
37,14- 37,28 (1-0) 1.14,15- 1.13,33 (1-1) 1.54,17- 1.52,08 (1-2) 3.57,80- 3.58,83 (2-2) 6.58,39- 6.54,28 (2-3) 34,71- 34,25 (2-4) 1.08,81- 1.07,02 (2-5) 1.45,18- 1.42,28 (2-6), we have a winner 3.45,04- 3.39,79 (2-7) 6.13,03- 6.04,46 (2-8) 13.14,26-12.44,45 (2-9)
Final result 2-9 as usual, the 22nd Dutch win.
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x RUS GOLD 36x NED GOLD 22x FIN GOLD 4x JAP GOLD 3x CAN GOLD 3x SWE GOLD 2x GDR GOLD 2x GER GOLD 2x USA GOLD 2x AUT Silver 5x HUN Silver 2x CZE Silver 1955 CHN Silver 1965 ITA Silver 2006 LAT bronze 1940 GBR bronze 1949 PRK bronze 1963 POL bronze 2013 SWI 4th 4x KOR 4th 3x FRA 4th 2x KAZ 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 BEL 4th 1946 EST QF 5x ROM QF 3x UKR QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 BLR QF 2008 MGL 2R 4x POR 2R 2x IRE 2R 2005 COL 2R 2007 NZL 2R 2012 TPE 2R 2013 ARG 1R 7x MEX 1R 7x YUG 1R 5x SVK 1R 5x ESP 1R 5x GRE 1R 4x IND 1R 3x BOS 1R 2x ISR 1R 2x PHI 1R 2x CHI 1R 2x ISV 1R 1972 IRN 1R 1993 PAN 1R 1995 RSA 1R 1998 HKG 1R 2003 SER 1R 2004 QAT 1R 2011 KEN PR 3x ICE PR 2x BRA PR 2010 SIN PR 2013