Cycling at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's sprint at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, was held from 21 to 24 July 1976. There were 25 participants from 25 nations.[1] Following the explosion in size of the event from 1960 to 1972 when nations were allowed two cyclists each, the limit was again reduced to one competitor from each nation. The event was won by Anton Tkáč of Czechoslovakia, the nation's first medal in the men's sprint. Tkáč beat two-time defending champion Daniel Morelon of France in the final; Morelon's silver was a (still-standing record fourth medal in the event. Jürgen Geschke earned bronze to give East Germany its first medal in the event and the first medal for any German cyclist since 1952.

Men's sprint
at the Games of the XXI Olympiad
VenueMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Dates21–24 July 1976
Competitors25 from 25 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Anton Tkáč
 Czechoslovakia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Daniel Morelon
 France
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Jürgen Geschke
 East Germany
← 1972
1980 →

Background

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This was the 16th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except in 1904 and 1912. Three quarterfinalists from 1972 returned: two-time gold medalist (and 1964 bronze medalist) Daniel Morelon of France and fifth-place finishers Niels Fredborg of Denmark and Jürgen Geschke of East Germany. Morelon had seven world championships to go with his two Olympic gold medals, and was again the favorite. Anton Tkáč of Czechoslavkia had won the 1974 world championship and was a contender as well.[2]

Antigua and Barbuda and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the men's sprint; East Germany competed separately for the first time. France made its 16th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.

Competition format

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This sprint competition involved a series of head-to-head matches. The 1976 competition featured a smaller field than previous Games, reducing the number of rounds from ten to eight by eliminating the second round and second repechage. The 1976 sprint involved eight rounds: five main rounds (first round, 1/8 finals, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals) as well as two repechages after the first two main rounds; the second repechage was a two-round repechage.[3]

  • First round: The 25 entrants were divided into 12 heats of 2 cyclists each (except the final heat, which had 3). The winner of each heat advanced directly to the 1/8 finals (12 cyclists), while all other cyclists who competed were sent to the first repechage (13 cyclists).
  • First repechage: The 13 cyclists were divided into 6 heats, each with 2 cyclists (again, except the final heat, which had 3). The winner of each heat advanced to the 1/8 finals (6 cyclists), while all others were eliminated (7 cyclists).
  • 1/8 finals: The 18 cyclists who advanced through the first rounds (including repechage) competed in a 1/8 finals round. There were 6 heats in this round, with 3 cyclists in each. The top cyclist in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals (6 cyclists), while the other 2 in each heat went to the second repechage (12 cyclists).
  • Second repechage: This was a two-round repechage. The repechage began with 4 heats of 3 cyclists each. The top cyclist in each heat advanced to the second round, while the other 2 cyclists in each heat were eliminated. The second round of this repechage featured 2 heats of 2 cyclists each, with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals and the losers eliminated.
  • Quarterfinals: Beginning with the quarterfinals, all matches were one-on-one competitions and were held in best-of-three format. There were 4 quarterfinals, with the winner of each advancing to the semifinals and the loser going to the fifth-eighth classification race.
  • Semifinals: The two semifinals provided for advancement to the gold medal final for winners and to the bronze medal final for losers.
  • Finals: Both a gold medal final and a bronze medal final were held, as well as (for the first time) a classification final for fifth through eighth places for quarterfinal losers.

Records

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The records for the sprint are 200 metre flying time trial records, kept for the qualifying round in later Games as well as for the finish of races.

World record   Omar Pkhakadze (URS) 10.61 Mexico City, Mexico 22 October 1967
Olympic record   Leijn Loevesijn (NED) 10.66 Mexico City, Mexico 18 October 1968

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round
Wednesday, 21 July 1976 16:00
16:40
Round 1
First repechage
Thursday, 22 July 1976 15:20
16:15
16:45
17:00
1/8 finals
Second repechage semifinals
Second repechage finals
Quarterfinals
Friday, 23 July 1976 16:30 Semifinals
Saturday, 24 July 1976 15:15 Finals

Results

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First round

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First round heat 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Daniel Morelon   France 11.46 Q
2 Taworn Tarwan   Thailand R

First round heat 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Giorgio Rossi   Italy 11.36 Q
2 Mikhail Kountras   Greece R

First round heat 3

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Jürgen Geschke   East Germany 11.55 Q
2 Vlado Fumić   Yugoslavia R

First round heat 4

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Benedykt Kocot   Poland 11.79 Q
2 Leslie Rawlins   Trinidad and Tobago R

First round heat 5

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Anton Tkáč   Czechoslovakia 11.19 Q
2 Stanley Smith   Barbados R

First round heat 6

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Sergey Kravtsov   Soviet Union 11.16 Q
2 Julio Echevarry   Colombia R

First round heat 7

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Gordon Singleton   Canada 11.44 Q
2 Dimo Angelov Tonchev   Bulgaria R

First round heat 8

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Yoshikazu Cho   Japan 11.21 Q
2 Niels Fredborg   Denmark R

First round heat 9

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Dieter Berkmann   West Germany 11.38 Q
2 Ron Boyle   Australia R

First round heat 10

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Richard Tormen   Chile 11.63 Q
2 Sjaak Pieters   Netherlands R

First round heat 11

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Xavier Mirander   Jamaica 11.45 Q
2 Trevor Gadd   Great Britain R

First round heat 12

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Michel Vaarten   Belgium 11.26 Q
2 Leigh Barczewski   United States R
3 Patrick Spencer   Antigua and Barbuda R

First repechage

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First repechage heat 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Stanley Smith   Barbados 12.34 Q
2 Taworn Tarwan   Thailand

First repechage heat 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Dimo Angelov Tonchev   Bulgaria 11.50 Q
2 Mikhail Kountras   Thailand

First repechage heat 3

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Julio Echevarry   Colombia Q
2 Leslie Rawlins   Trinidad and Tobago DSQ

First repechage heat 4

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Niels Fredborg   Denmark 11.96 Q
2 Ron Boyle   Australia

First repechage heat 5

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Trevor Gadd   Great Britain Q
2 Leigh Barczewski   United States DSQ

First repechage heat 6

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Sjaak Pieters   Netherlands 11.71 Q
2 Vlado Fumić   Yugoslavia
3 Patrick Spencer   Antigua and Barbuda

1/8 finals

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1/8 final 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Daniel Morelon   France 11.29 Q
2 Michel Vaarten   Belgium R
3 Stanley Smith   Barbados R

1/8 final 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Giorgio Rossi   Italy 11.39 Q
2 Richard Tormen   Chile R
3 Dimo Angelov Tonchev   Bulgaria R

1/8 final 3

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Jürgen Geschke   East Germany 11.52 Q
2 Xavier Mirander   Jamaica R
3 Julio Echevarry   Colombia R

1/8 final 4

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Niels Fredborg   Denmark 11.59 Q
2 Dieter Berkmann   West Germany R
3 Benedykt Kocot   Poland R

1/8 final 5

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Anton Tkáč   Czechoslovakia 11.69 Q
2 Gordon Singleton   Canada R
3 Trevor Gadd   Great Britain R

1/8 final 6

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Yoshikazu Cho   Japan 11.28 Q
2 Sergey Kravtsov   Soviet Union R
3 Sjaak Pieters   Netherlands R

Second repechage heats

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Second repechage heat 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Michel Vaarten   Belgium 12.61 Q
2 Julio Echevarry   Colombia
3 Dimo Angelov Tonchev   Bulgaria

Second repechage heat 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Richard Tormen   Chile 11.75 Q
2 Benedykt Kocot   Poland
3 Stanley Smith   Barbados

Second repechage heat 3

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Sergey Kravtsov   Soviet Union 11.31 Q
2 Trevor Gadd   Great Britain
3 Xavier Mirander   Jamaica

Second repechage heat 4

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Dieter Berkmann   West Germany 11.43 Q
2 Sjaak Pieters   Netherlands
3 Gordon Singleton   Canada

Second repechage finals

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Second repechage final 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Dieter Berkmann   West Germany 11.67 Q
2 Richard Tormen   Chile

Second repechage final 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time Notes
1 Sergey Kravtsov   Soviet Union 11.39 Q
2 Michel Vaarten   Belgium

Quarterfinals

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Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes
Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time
1 Daniel Morelon   France 11.69 1 11.15 1 Q
2 Sergey Kravtsov   Soviet Union 2 2 C

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes
Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time
1 Dieter Berkmann   West Germany 2 11.96 1 11.80 1 Q
2 Giorgio Rossi   Italy 12.44 1 2 2 C

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes
Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time
1 Jürgen Geschke   East Germany 12.14 1 12.44 1 Q
2 Yoshikazu Cho   Japan 2 2 C

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes
Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time
1 Anton Tkáč   Czechoslovakia 11.53 1 11.69 1 Q
2 Niels Fredborg   Denmark 2 2 C

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes
Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time
1 Daniel Morelon   France 11.42 1 11.62 1 Q
2 Dieter Berkmann   West Germany 2 2 B

Semifinal 2

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Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Notes
Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time
1 Anton Tkáč   Czechoslovakia 11.24 1 2 11.13 1 Q
2 Jürgen Geschke   East Germany 2 11.65 1 2 B

Finals

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Classification 5–8

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Rank Cyclist Nation Time
5 Sergey Kravtsov   Soviet Union Unknown
6 Yoshikazu Cho   Japan
7 Niels Fredborg   Denmark
8 Giorgio Rossi   Italy

Bronze medal match

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Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3
Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time
  Jürgen Geschke   East Germany 11.35 1 DSQ 2 11.42 1
4 Dieter Berkmann   West Germany 2 1 2

Final

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Rank Cyclist Nation Race 1 Race 2 Race 3
Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time
  Anton Tkáč   Czechoslovakia 10.78 1 2 11.17 1
  Daniel Morelon   France 2 11.58 1 2

Final classification

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Rank Cyclist Nation
  Anton Tkáč   Czechoslovakia
  Daniel Morelon   France
  Jürgen Geschke   East Germany
4 Dieter Berkmann   West Germany
5 Sergey Kravtsov   Soviet Union
6 Yoshikazu Cho   Japan
7 Niels Fredborg   Denmark
8 Giorgio Rossi   Italy
9 Richard Tormen   Chile
Michel Vaarten   Belgium
11 Julio Echevarry   Colombia
Trevor Gadd   Great Britain
Benedykt Kocot   Poland
Sjaak Pieters   Netherlands
15 Dimo Angelov Tonchev   Bulgaria
Xavier Mirander   Jamaica
Gordon Singleton   Canada
Stanley Smith   Barbados
19 Leigh Barczewski   United States
Ron Boyle   Australia
Vlado Fumić   Yugoslavia
Mikhail Kountras   Greece
Leslie Rawlins   Trinidad and Tobago
Taworn Tarwan   Thailand
25 Patrick Spencer   Antigua and Barbuda

References

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  1. ^ "Cycling at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games: Men's Sprint". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  2. ^ "Sprint, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 3, pp. 191–93.
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