Rowing at the 1900 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed pair

The men's coxed pair was one of the competitions in the Rowing at the 1900 Summer Olympics events in Paris. It was held on 25 August and 26 August 1900. 7 boats, involving 22 rowers from 3 nations, competed.[1] The event was won by a mixed team; Minerva Amsterdam's Dutch crew replaced its coxswain with a local French boy for the final. François Brandt and Roelof Klein were the rowers, with Hermanus Brockmann the cox in the semifinals; the French cox is unknown. Second and third places both went to French boats; Société nautique de la Marne (Lucien Martinet, René Waleff, and an unknown cox) took silver while Rowing Club Castillon (Carlos Deltour, Antoine Védrenne, and cox Raoul Paoli) earned bronze.

Men's coxed pair
at the Games of the II Olympiad
A coxed pair race in 1900
VenueSeine
DatesAugust 25–26
Competitors22 from 3 nations
Winning time7:34.2
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Minerva Amsterdam
 Mixed team
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Société nautique de la Marne
 France
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Rowing Club Castillon
 France
1920 →

Background

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This was the first appearance of the event. Rowing had been on the programme in 1896 but was cancelled due to bad weather. The men's coxed pair was one of the original four events in 1900, but was not held in 1904, 1908, or 1912. It returned to the programme after World War I and was held every Games from 1924 to 1992, when it (along with the men's coxed four) was replaced with the men's lightweight double sculls and men's lightweight coxless four.[2]

Competition format

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The coxed pair event featured three-person boats, with two rowers and a coxswain. It was a sweep rowing event, with the rowers each having one oar (and thus each rowing on one side). The tournament featured two rounds: semifinals and a final. There were two semifinals, each with 3 or 4 boats; the top two in each advanced to the final. The final was a four-boat race.[2]

The distance for each race was 1750 metres, rather than the 2000 metres which was becoming standard even at the time (and has been used in the Olympics since 1912, except in 1948).[3]

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Saturday, 25 August 1900 14:45 Semifinals
Sunday, 26 August 1900 15:30 Final

Results

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Semifinals

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The top two boats in each semifinal advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

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Rank Boat Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Société Nautique de la Marne Lucien Martinet
René Waleff
Unknown   France 6:47.4 Q
2 Minerva Amsterdam François Brandt
Roelof Klein
Hermanus Brockmann[note 1]   Netherlands 6:56.0 Q
Stade Français Louis Roche
Gordon Love
Unknown   France DNF

Semifinal 2

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Rank Boat Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Rowing Club Castillon Carlos Deltour
Antoine Védrenne
Raoul Paoli   France 6:33.4 Q
2 Cercle Nautique de Reims Pierre Ferlin
Mathieu
Unknown   France 7:00.0 Q
3 Royal Club Nautique de Gand Prosper Bruggeman
Maurice Hemelsoet
Unknown   Belgium 7:00.4
4 Club Nautique de Dieppe Henri Delabarre
Robert Gelée
Unknown   France 7:04.0

Final

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François Brandt (left), Roelof Klein and their coxswain, an unknown French boy, after the coxed pair final at the 1900 Olympics

In the semifinals, the Dutch team had been coxed by Hermanus Brockmann, who weighed 60 kg. They saw that the French teams made use of young light-weighted boys of about 25 kg, and decided to switch coxswains to reduce weight, recruiting a young Parisian boy for the job. In the final, the Dutch team took the lead from the start. In the end, the French team came very close, but the Dutch team won a tight race with the French boat sent by the Marne society.[4]

Rank Boat Rowers Coxswain Nation Time
  Minerva Amsterdam François Brandt
Roelof Klein
Unknown   Mixed team 7:34.2
  Société Nautique de la Marne Lucien Martinet
René Waleff
Unknown   France 7:34.4
  Rowing Club Castillon Carlos Deltour
Antoine Védrenne
Raoul Paoli   France 7:57.2
4 Cercle Nautique de Reims Pierre Ferlin
Mathieu
Unknown   France 8:01.0

Results summary

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Rank Boat Rowers Coxswain Nation Semifinals Final
  Minerva Amsterdam François Brandt
Roelof Klein
Hermanus Brockmann (semi)
Unknown (final)
  Mixed team 6:56.0 7:34.2
  Société Nautique de la Marne Lucien Martinet
René Waleff
Unknown   France 6:47.4 7:34.4
  Rowing Club Castillon Carlos Deltour
Antoine Védrenne
Raoul Paoli   France 6:33.4 7:57.2
4 Cercle Nautique de Reims Pierre Ferlin
Mathieu
Unknown   France 7:00.0 8:01.0
5 Royal Club Nautique de Gand Prosper Bruggeman
Maurice Hemelsoet
Unknown   Belgium 7:00.4 Did not advance
6 Club Nautique de Dieppe Henri Delabarre
Robert Gelée
Unknown   France 7:04.0
Stade Français Louis Roche
Gordon Love
Unknown   France DNF

Notes

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  1. ^ Brockmann was the coxswain for the Dutch team in the semifinal, but not in the final, in which an unknown French boy participated as the coxswain.[4] Brockmann is considered a gold medallist by the IOC and is listed in that organization's medal database.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Rowing at the 1900 Paris Summer Games: Men's Coxed Pairs". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Coxed Pairs, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Why Do We Race 2000m? The History Behind the Distance". World Rowing. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  4. ^ a b Heijmans, Jeroen (24 June 2007). "Nederlands goud (1)" [Dutch gold (1)]. Sportgeschiedenis.nl (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
  5. ^ "Paris 1900 pair-oared shell with coxswain men Results - Olympic rowing". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
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