Historical Results
China is the only bridge nation outside Europe and the United States to win the Venice Cup. Following its third-place breakthrough in 1991, China finished second in 1997 and 2003, and third in 2007, before winning in 2009.
Every Venice Cup tournament has run alongside the Bermuda Bowl except in 1978, which was not a Bermuda Bowl year. Before 1985, however, the Open tournament was more frequent; from that time they have run together in odd years.
United States teams won the first three championships and they have won 10 of 17 including six as one of two USA teams.
The first two "tournaments" were head-on matches between representatives of North America and Europe, like the Bermuda Bowls of 1951 to 1957. The next two were open to one team from every WBF geographic zone. From 1985 the Venice Cup and Bermuda Bowl have run side-by-side in odd years, expanding together from 10 to 22.
Prior to the inaugural Venice Cup, there had been four Olympiad tournaments for women contested 1960 to 1972. The winners had been United Arab Republic, Great Britain, Sweden, and Italy. (After losing the first Venice Cup tournament in 1974, Italy would defend its Olympiad title in 1976 and lose the third Venice Cup in 1978.) (The United States won the first three Venice Cups 1974/76/78 but did not win any early Olympiad tournament.)
| Year, Site, Entries | Medalists | |
|---|---|---|
| 1974
May 20–28 |
1. | USA |
| 2. | Italy |
|
| 1976
May 2–8 |
1. | USA |
| 2. | Great Britain |
|
| 1978
June 17–30 |
1. | USA |
| 2. | Italy |
|
| 3. | Argentina |
|
| 1981
October 19–30 |
1. | Great Britain |
| 2. | USA |
|
| 3. | Brazil |
|
The third and fourth Venice Cup tournaments welcomed one team from each WBF geographic zone. On both occasions there were entries from Europe, North America, South America, and South Pacific; they were joined by Asia in 1978, Central America and the Caribbean in 1981. All of the entries were national teams, listed here by zone.
- 1978: Italy, USA, Argentina, Australia, Philippines
- 1981: Great Britain, USA, Brazil, Australia, Venezuela
Except for USA ahead of Italy in 1979, those were also the final standings. (Under the same rules, there were six teams in the 1979 Bermuda Bowl tournament because Asia and CAC both participated. A second team from Europe was added in 1981.)
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