Single Sculls, Men

The retirement of Vyacheslav Ivanov of the Soviet Union, winner of the single sculls event at the last three Olympics, left the field at the 1968 edition more open than it had been for many years, particularly as each major international tournament had a different reigning champion. For the European Championships it was Achim Hill, who had won silver medals for a unified German team at the past two Olympics, as well as the 1966 Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta, and was now seeking the top spot for East Germany. The world champion, Donald Spero of the United States, was not present in Mexico City and his nation was represented by John Van Blom, but the Pan American champion, Argentina’s Alberto Demiddi, did attend. Great Britain, meanwhile, sent the runner-up from the Diamond Challenge Sculls, Kenneth Dwan, instead of winner Hugh Wardell-Yerburgh. Also notable were Canada’s Roger Jackson, a 1964 Olympic champion in the coxless pairs, and Czechoslovakia’s Václav Kozák, a 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the double sculls. Ivanov’s successor, meanwhile, was the relatively untested Viktor Melnikov.

The fastest time in the opening round, however, went to Jan Wienese of the Netherlands, bronze medalist at the last two editions of the European Championships and runner-up at the 1966 World Championships. The other heat winners were Jochen Meißner of West Germany, the 1965 European Champion, 1966 World silver medalist, and the 1967 runner-up in the Diamond Challenge Sculls, who had been considered a slight favorite prior to the Games, and the relatively unknown Niels Henry Secher of Denmark, whose time was beaten in other heats by Hill and Demiddi. Wienese and Hill took their heats in the semi-finals, although Demiddi in Wienese’s heat had a faster time than Hill. Melnikov, Kozák, Jackson, and Secher, meanwhile, were all eliminated for having failed to finish within the top six, which was rounded out by Van Blom, Meißner, and Dwan. In the final, Wienese moved to the front just after the first half and remained there for the rest of the race, winning by a comfortable margin of over four seconds. Meißner, therefore, settled for silver well ahead of Demiddi, whose bronze was an improvement on his fourth-place finish from the 1964 Games. Wienese had thus won the Netherlands’ first Olympic gold medal in rowing since 1924.