Single Sculls, Men

The defending Olympic champion in the single sculls, Jan Wienese of the Netherlands, was not present in Munich, but that did not mean that the 1972 edition lacked a favorite. Argentina’s Alberto Demiddi had captured bronze in 1968 and had won the event at the last two European Championships, the 1970 World Championships, the 1967 and 1971 Pan American Games, and the 1971 Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta, making him the best candidate to take the only top prize missing from his collection: an Olympic gold medal.

Demiddi won his opening heat easily, but the fastest time of the round was posted by Yury Malyshev of the Soviet Union, an unheralded competitor whose best international finish had been fourth at the 1970 World Championships. The final heat was taken by Yordan Valchev of Bulgaria. Demiddi and Malyshev were the heat winners in the semi-finals, but the Argentine regained his dominance, which seemed to indicate Malyshev’s earlier superiority was a fluke. In the final, however, Malyshev and Demiddi went neck and neck towards the finish, but the Soviet pulled ahead and, in a startling upset, snatched gold away from the Argentine. Demiddi’s silver medal was an improvement on his bronze one from the previous edition, but clearly not the prize that he had hoped for. East Germany’s Wolfgang Güldenpfennig was the only competitor anywhere near the two front runners and rowed to a comfortable third-place finish.