Coxed Fours, Men

Germany had, with various lineups, won every edition of the coxed fours event at the European Championships since the previous Olympics and seemed best poised to take the 1960 Olympic crown. Three of the reigning European champions, Gerd Cintl, Horst Effertz, and Michael Obst, competed in Rome and were joined by Klaus Riekemann and Jürgen Litz. Similarly, three members of Italy’s 1956 Olympic champions, Romano Sgheiz, Franco Trincavelli, and Ivo Stefanoni, were joined by Fulvio Balatti and Giovanni Zucchi. Since 1956, however, the Italians had not appeared on a European Championship podium and no nation other than Germany had won more than one medal of any kind at that tournament. England had won the event at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, but only one member of that crew, Simon Crosse, rowed at the 1960 Olympics.

In the opening round, Germany’s stature as the favorites increased as they completed the heats with a time over four seconds faster than their nearest competitor, the Soviet Union. Italy and Germany were the quickest in the semifinals as well, although France, who had not medaled at the Europeans since 1947, was less than a tenth of a second behind Italy’s time, which was made even more surprising by the fact that the nation had only survived the opening round by winning its heat in the repêchage. Its performance in the final was even more astonishing: although they could not quite catch the Germans to win the gold medal, the French crew captured silver by outperforming the defending champion Italians, who in turn settled for bronze.