Both Great Britain and Italy had gone through the qualifying rounds without defeat and as the luck of the draw would have it, these two teams met in the first round with Italy losing 66-58, the smallest possible losing margin. (In the finals -fewer than 8 IMPs would have counted as a tie). France defeated Spingold 1, 100-71, while Spingold 2 took three of the four victory points in a winning tie against Vanderbilt 1, 69-65.
In the second round, Italy lost another close match to Spingold 1, 92-81. Meanwhile, Spingold two upset France, 69-61 and Great Britain soundly defeated Vanderbilt 1, 105-39.
The third round saw Spingold 2 owning seven victory points and meeting the twice-beaten Italy. Spingold 2 appeared to carry the best U.S. hopes of victory, but Italy returned to form to win 91-54. Great Britain continued undefeated besting Spingold 1, 76-36, and France made it an all losing day for the U.S. by defeating Vanderbilt 1, 100-71.
Great Britain entered round four having won 12 straight, including three wins worth 12 Victory Points in the play-offs. However, unlucky match 13 saw them lose to France, 60-39. Spingold 1 went ahead of Spingold 2 with a win that gave them a total of 8 Victory Points to the losers 7 and Vanderbilt 1 won its first final match defeating the now-out-of –it Italians, 96-65.
France and Great Britain entered the final round tied with 12 VPs each, but with Great Britain leading on quotient.
In the final round, Spingold 2 knocked Britain out of any chance for the title by holding them to a winning tie, 88-84, leaving Britain with a total of 15 VPs. France easily won their match and the Olympiad when they took 4 VPs in their match against Italy winning by a score so large it more than covered Britain’s quotient advantage had the victory points ended in a tie. Vanderbilt 1 defeated Spingold 1 and took the bronze.
The final standings were:
France – 16 VPs
Great Britain – 15 VPs
Vanderbilt 1 – 9 VPs
Spingold 2 – 8 VPs
Spingold 1 – 8 VPs
Italy – 4 VPs
Allinger partnered by Mathe is all smiles while playing Trezel (l) and Jais (r) during the one final match France lost