Hans Bourquin

Although barely 14-years-old Hans Bourquin coxed Swiss rowers Karl and Hans Schöchlin to the gold medal in the coxed pairs at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. At the time, Bourquin was among the youngest Olympic gold medalists.

In the opening round, France’s trio of Henri Préaux and brothers Armand and Édouard Marcelle emerged as contenders, and the Swiss were able to eke out a victory by only two-tenths of a second. With France defeating the Americans in the repêchage, the stage was set for a Switzerland-France rematch in the final, as these two nations were clearly superior to the rest of the field. Italy dropped out in the quarterfinals, however, essentially giving the Swiss team a walkover in the semifinals and allowing them to conserve their strength, while the French crew were forced to face the Belgians for a second time. Thus the final was more decisive, with an exhausted French trio unable to keep up with the Swiss, who captured the gold medal. Belgium took home bronze by default, having no one to compete against in a third-place race.