Coxed Pairs, Men

Aside from the return of 1932’s silver medal-winning Polish team (Jerzy Braun, Janusz Ślązak, and Jerzy Skolimowski), the field in the coxed pairs event in Berlin was wide open, although the hometown advantage of Germans Herbert Adamski, Dieter Arend, and Gerhard Gustmann could not be overlooked.

In the opening round, the Germans were faster than any other team by over six seconds, while France won the other heat (although they would have been fourth had they been in Germany’s heat). Italy (the 1935 European champions), Denmark, Yugoslavia, and Switzerland advanced in the semi-finals, which essentially served as a repêchage, as round one’s winners did not compete, but none were able to best the Germans.

The Italians led the final for about half the race, but were eventually passed by the host nation, who went on to win the gold medal by a margin of nearly 13 seconds. Italy settled for silver, while France slid in at third, ahead of the Danish crew. The French coxswain, Noël Vandernotte, was only 12 years, 231 days old when he won his prize, but he was not the Games’ youngest medalist: Denmark’s Inge Sørensen, who took bronze in the women’s 200 metres breaststroke, was even younger, at 12 years, 21 days.