Coxed Fours, Men1

The field for the coxed fours at the 1952 Summer Olympics was fairly open, with Italy perhaps being the slight favorite, as it had won the European Championships in 1949 and 1951 and come in second in 1950 with various lineups. Three members of New Zealand’s entry, Ted Johnson, John O’Brien, and Colin Johnstone were members of the crew that had won the event at the 1950 British Empire Games, while Denmark’s squad boasted the 1950 European Champions: Niels Kristensen, Ove Nielsen, Peter Hansen, Bent Blach Petersen, and Eivin Kristensen. None of these nations advanced automatically after the opening round, however, and New Zealand was eliminated by Italy in the repêchage. Czechoslovakia was the dominant nation in every round and placed first by a comfortable margin of over three seconds ahead of Switzerland to win the gold medal in the final. Switzerland thus repeated its silver performance from 1948, while the United States, the defending champions, settled for bronze.