Rowing at the Summer Olympics

Rowing at the Summer Olympics has been part of the competition since its debut in the 1900 Summer Olympics. Rowing was on the program at the 1896 Summer Olympics but was cancelled due to bad weather.[1] Only men were allowed to compete until the women's events were introduced at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal which gave national federations the incentive to support women's events and catalysed growth in women's rowing.[2] Lightweight rowing events (which have weight-limited crews) were introduced to the games in 1996. Qualifying for the rowing events is under the jurisdiction of the International Rowing Federation (or FISA, its French acronym). FISA predates the modern Olympics and was the first international sport federation to join the modern Olympic movement.

Rowing at the Summer Olympics
Governing body	FISA
Events	14 (men: 7; women: 7)
Games
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Medalists men women

Events

At the 2016 and other recent Olympics the following 14 events were offered:

• Men: Single sculls, Double sculls, Quadruple sculls, Coxless pair, Coxless four, Eight.
• Lightweight Men: Double sculls, Coxless four
• Women: Single sculls, Double sculls, Quad sculls, Coxless pair, Eight
• Lightweight Women: Double sculls

The lightweight events were threatened in 2002 when the Programme Commission of the IOC recommended that, outside combat sports (boxing & wrestling, but not fencing, shooting, and archery) and weightlifting, there should not be weight-category events. The Executive Board overturned this recommendation and the lightweight rowing has been continued.

To satisfy the IOC's aim for gender equality it has been proposed that from the 2020 Olympics onwards the men's lightweight fours will be removed and the women's coxless fours reintroduced. The IOC accepted that proposal in June 2017.[3]

In the early games (1900 and 1904) there were several other categories of events (Junior, Novice, Association, and Intermediate). A number of other boat classes have made an appearance at several games (sometimes for a long time) but have been subsequently dropped – as recently as the 1990s. The primary loss has been in boats with coxswains, except for the eights, which have always been coxed. These were:

• Men's Coxed Pair (1900–1992)
• Men's Coxed Four (1900–1992)
• Women's Coxed Four (1976–1988)
• Women's Coxed Quad Sculls (1976–1984)
• Men's Coxed Four with Inriggers[4] (1912 only)
• Six-Man Naval Rowing Boats (1906 only)
• 17-Man Naval Rowing Boats (1906 only)

Other non-Olympic boatclasses, which still compete in World Championships, are currently: men's & women's lightweight single sculls, lightweight quadruple sculls and lightweight coxless pair.

Race distances

Today all races are raced over a 2000 m course, but this did not become standard before the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. Before this it was raced over various distances. In Paris in 1900 (1750 m), in St. Louis in 1904 (3218 m), in London in 1908 (2412 m), and again in London in 1948 (1850 m). The 1908 and 1948 were held over the Henley Royal Regatta course.

Women's races were raced over 1,000 meters until 1988 when they were changed to 2,000 meters.[5]

Early games featured match races between two or three boats (in 1952, between four or five boats).

The modern six boat side-by-side format was first adopted at the 1936 Olympic Games, and has been the standard since the 1956 Olympic Games.

Qualification

There is a limited number of crews permitted to race, so the International Rowing Federation holds qualification events in order to determine who competes at the Olympic Games. At the Olympic Games, each National Olympic Committee can only have one boat per event.

The main qualification comes from the previous year's World Rowing Championships. Other qualifying events are called "Continental Qualification Regattas", of which four are held during the year preceding the games - Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Final (open to everyone else). Each year FISA issues details of how many crews qualify at each regatta.

At the World Championships, the top finishing boats guarantee a place for that country - the rowers in the crew can be changed before the games. At the qualification regattas, it is the crew that wins that qualifies for the Olympics, and if members of that crew race in the Olympics they must race in that event.

Medal table

The numbers below are after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	33	32	24	89
2	East Germany (GDR)	33	7	8	48
3	Great Britain (GBR)	31	24	13	68
4	Germany (GER)	23	14	14	51
5	Romania (ROM)	19	10	9	38
6	Soviet Union (URS)	12	20	10	42
7	Australia (AUS)	11	15	14	40
8	New Zealand (NZL)	11	3	10	24
9	Italy (ITA)	10	14	14	38
10	Canada (CAN)	9	17	15	41
11	France (FRA)	8	15	14	37
12	Netherlands (NED)	7	12	12	31
13	Switzerland (SUI)	7	8	9	24
14	Denmark (DEN)	7	5	12	24
15	West Germany (FRG)	4	4	6	14
16	United Team of Germany (EUA)	4	4	1	9
17	Poland (POL)	4	3	11	18
18	Norway (NOR)	3	6	8	17
19	Bulgaria (BUL)	3	4	7	14
20	Finland (FIN)	3	1	3	7
21	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	2	2	7	11
22	Belarus (BLR)	2	1	4	7
23	China (CHN)	1	4	4	9
24	Croatia (CRO)	1	3	1	5
	Czech Republic (CZE)	1	3	1	5
26	Slovenia (SLO)	1	1	3	5
	Yugoslavia (YUG)	1	1	3	5
28	Argentina (ARG)	1	1	2	4
29	South Africa (RSA)	1	1	1	3
	Ukraine (UKR)	1	1	1	3
31	Russia (RUS)	1	0	2	3
32	Belgium (BEL)	0	6	2	8
33	Austria (AUT)	0	3	2	5
34	Estonia (EST)	0	2	1	3
35	Sweden (SWE)	0	2	0	2
36	Uruguay (URU)	0	1	3	4
37	Greece (GRE)	0	1	2	3
	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	2	3
	Lithuania (LTU)	0	1	2	3
40	Ireland (IRL)	0	1	0	1
	Spain (ESP)	0	1	0	1
42	Unified Team (EUN)	0	0	1	1
Totals (42 nations)		255	255	258	768

Rowing medal leaders (by Summer Olympiad)

Games of	Leader	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
France, 1900 Paris	France (FRA)	2	3	1	6
United States, 1904 St. Louis	United States (USA)	5	4	4	13
United Kingdom, 1908 London	Great Britain (GBR)	4	3	1	8
Sweden, 1912 Stockholm	Great Britain (GBR)	2	2	0	4
Belgium, 1920 Antwerp	United States (USA)	3	1	0	4
France, 1924 Paris	United States (USA)	2	1	2	5
Netherlands, 1928 Amsterdam	United States (USA)	2	2	1	5
United States, 1932 Los Angeles	United States (USA)	3	1	0	4
Germany, 1936 Berlin	Germany (GER)	5	1	1	7
United Kingdom, 1948 London	Great Britain (GBR)	2	1	0	3
Finland, 1952 Helsinki	United States (USA)	2	0	1	3
Australia, 1956 Melbourne	United States (USA)	3	2	1	6
Italy, 1960 Rome	United Team of Germany (EUA)	3	1	0	4
Japan, 1964 Tokyo	United States (USA)	2	1	1	4
Mexico, 1968 Mexico City	East Germany (GDR)	2	1	0	3
West Germany, 1972 Munich	East Germany (GDR)	3	1	3	7
Canada, 1976 Montreal	East Germany (GDR)	9	3	2	14
Soviet Union, 1980 Moscow	East Germany (GDR)	11	1	2	14
United States, 1984 Los Angeles	Romania (ROU)	6	2	0	8
South Korea, 1988 Seoul	East Germany (GDR)	8	1	1	10
Spain, 1992 Barcelona	Germany (GER)	4	3	3	10
United States, 1996 Atlanta	Australia (AUS)	2	1	3	6
Australia, 2000 Sydney	Romania (ROU)	3	0	0	3
Greece, 2004 Athens	Romania (ROU)	3	0	0	3
China, 2008 Beijing	Great Britain (GBR)	2	2	2	6
United Kingdom, 2012 London	Great Britain (GBR)	4	2	3	9
Brazil, 2016 Rio de Janeiro	Great Britain (GBR)	3	2	0	5
Japan, 2020 Tokyo		0	0	0	0

Multiple medalists

The table shows those who have won at least 3 gold medals.

Athlete (nation)	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Notes
Elisabeta Lipă  Romania	1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004	5	2	1	8	20 years between first and last gold medal
Steve Redgrave  Great Britain	1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000	5	0	1	6	Gold medals in 1984 (M4+), 1988 (M2- with Andy Holmes), 1992 and 1996 (M2- with Matthew Pinsent) and 2000 (M4-). Only endurance athlete to win Olympic gold at five consecutive games.
Georgeta Damian  Romania	2000, 2004, 2008	5	0	1	6	Won the pair and the eights in both 2000 and 2004, and the pair again in 2008
Doina Ignat  Romania	1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008	4	1	1	6	Part of Romania's three-straight gold medalist eight
Kathrin Boron  Germany	1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008	4	0	1	5	Four straight Olympic golds. Bronze in her final Olympics in the Quadruple Sculls
Viorica Susanu  Romania	1996, 2000, 2004, 2008	4	0	1	5	Won three medals in the women's eight, and two in the pair
Matthew Pinsent  Great Britain	1992, 1996, 2000, 2004	4	0	0	4	Four straight Olympic golds. Won with Steve Redgrave in the pair in 1992 and 1996. In the coxless four in 2000 and in 2004
Jack Beresford  Great Britain	1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936	3	2	0	5	First rower to win a medal at 5 straight Olympics. WWII prevented the opportunity for a sixth medal
Constanța Burcică  Romania	1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008	3	1	1	5	Won three gold medals in the women's lightweight double sculls
Elena Georgescu  Romania	1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008	3	1	1	5	Coxswain of Romania's women's eight
Drew Ginn  Australia	1996, 2004, 2008, 2012	3	1	0	4	Member of the Oarsome Foursome
Eskild Ebbesen  Denmark	1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012	3	0	2	5	Won all his medals in the lightweight coxless four
Marnie McBean  Canada	1992, 1996	3	0	1	4	Along with rowing partner Kathleen Heddle, Canadian with the most gold medals
Kathleen Heddle  Canada	1992, 1996	3	0	1	4	Won all her medals with rowing partner Marnie McBean
James Tomkins  Australia	1992, 1996, 2000, 2004	3	0	1	4	Most medaled Australian rower
John B. Kelly Sr.  United States	1920, 1924	3	0	0	3	First rower to win 3 gold medals. Father of movie star turned princess Grace Kelly
Paul Costello  United States	1920, 1924, 1928	3	0	0	3	First man to win 3 gold medals in the same event, the double sculls. Cousin of John B. Kelly Sr.
Vyacheslav Ivanov  Soviet Union	1956, 1960, 1964	3	0	0	3	Won all his medals in the single sculls
Siegfried Brietzke  East Germany	1972, 1976, 1980	3	0	0	3	First German triple gold medalist. Won in the pair and the coxless four
Pertti Karppinen  Finland	1976, 1980, 1984	3	0	0	3	Won all his medals in the single sculls
Agostino Abbagnale  Italy	1988, 1996, 2000	3	0	0	3	His brothers Carmine and Giuseppe each won 2 gold medals.
Liliana Gafencu  Romania	1996, 2000, 2004	3	0	0	3	Won all three medals in Romania's women's eight
Elle Logan  United States	2008, 2012, 2016	3	0	0	3	Won all three medals in USA women's eight
Pete Reed  Great Britain	2008, 2012, 2016	3	0	0	3	Two wins in coxless four, then in eight
Andrew Triggs Hodge  Great Britain	2008, 2012, 2016	3	0	0	3	Two wins in coxless four, then in eight

Men's events

Event	96	00	04	08	12	20	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	12	16	20	Years
Current program
Single sculls		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	28
Double sculls			•			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	25
Quadruple sculls																		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	11
Coxless pairs			•	•			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	24
Coxless fours			•	•			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	25
Eights		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	28
Lightweight double sculls																							•	•	•	•	•	•	•	7
Past events
Coxed pairs		•				•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•								18
Coxed fours		••			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•								20
Coxed four, with inriggers					•																									1
Lightweight coxless fours																							•	•	•	•	•	•		6
Total	0	5	5	4	4	5	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7

Women's events

Event	96	00	04	08	12	20	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	12	16	20	Years
Current program
Single sculls																		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	12
Double sculls																		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	12
Quadruple sculls																		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	12
Coxless pairs																		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	12
Coxless fours																						•							•	2
Eights																		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	12
Lightweight Double sculls																							•	•	•	•	•	•	•	7
Past events
Coxed fours																		•	•	•	•									4
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7

Nations

Number of rowers from each nation by year of Olympics, starting with 1896 (when none competed due to bad weather) then 1900 through 2016.

Nation	96	00	04	08	12	20	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	12	16	20	Years
Algeria (ALG)																							1	2	1	3	1	2		6
Angola (ANG)																												2		1
Argentina (ARG)							9	9		3	26	9		9	12	9	18	10		7	6	6	22	8	6	2	10	2		19
Australasia (ANZ)					10																									1
Australia (AUS)							10	1	1	12	8	14	26	25	26	11	16	13	16	25	16	28	45	45	45	48	47	29		22
Austria (AUT)					6			2		9	7	4	4	10	7	3	16	3	7	6	5	12	13	8	5			3		19
Azerbaijan (AZE)																											2	2		2
Bahamas (BAH)																												1		1
Belarus (BLR)																							17	10	11	13	5	10		6
Belgium (BEL)		11		10	6	20	15	21		7	4	12	7	5	2	1	5	7		6	8	9	5	4	3	3	1	1		24
Bermuda (BER)																	1											1		2
Bohemia (BOH)					2																									1
Brazil (BRA)						5	2		18	21	2	3	5	5		2	2	7	10	10	10	8	6	1	4	6	4	4		21
Bulgaria (BUL)																5	8	33	52		34	15	5	4	6	3		2		11
Cameroon (CMR)																										1	1			2
Canada (CAN)			9	13	10	5	14	11	16	10	11	15	13	15	16	14	16	46		54	40	27	32	30	32	35	30	26		25
Chile (CHI)												1	3				1			9	2			6	2	2	1	4		10
China (CHN)																				9	11	22	13	10	17	31	18	17		9
Chinese Taipei (TPE)																									2	1	1	1		4
Colombia (COL)																										1				1
Croatia (CRO)																						7	8	13	6	4	5	3		7
Cuba (CUB)											5		9		9	11	7	14	17			3	2	9	7	9	6	7		14
Czech Republic (CZE)																							5	1	16	14	12	10		6
Czechoslovakia (TCH)						15		1		17	4	8	11	22	20	15	21	34	26		17	31								14
Denmark (DEN)					15	1		10		16	25	25	7	16	14	10	12	7	7	10	3	13	13	10	12	10	10	13		22
East Germany (GDR)																26	26	54	55		44									5
Ecuador (ECU)																												1		1
Egypt (EGY)											1	8			16								1	7	2	6	5	2		9
El Salvador (ESA)																										1	2			2
Estonia (EST)										1												7	1	3	7	7	6	4		8
Finland (FIN)					6						5	26	5	12	7	2	3	7	1	3	5	3	2			2				15
France (FRA)		47			17	14	23	26	5	19	22	17	13	16	22	17	18	17	16	23	12	25	21	23	21	21	14	18		25
Germany (GER)		21		3	26			23	16	26		21										53	48	31	48	48	48	35		14
Great Britain (GBR)		1		30	24	10	21	23	15	18	26	23	12	26	8	11	17	31	43	42	30	46	37	36	37	44	47	43		26
Greece (GRE)											8	3	1	6					3	1	7	2	5	4	4	5	10	10		14
Guatemala (GUA)																			2	1										2
Hong Kong (HKG)																						3	1	3	3	4	3	4		7
Honduras (HON)																										1				1
Hungary (HUN)				11	11		7	6		23	9	15	4	9		6	15	8	20		8	8	3	4	6	2	4	3		21
India (IND)																								2	1	3	3	1		5
Independent Olympic Athletes (IOA)																						2								1
Indonesia (INA)																									1			2		2
Iran (IRI)																										2	2	1		3
Iraq (IRQ)																										2		1		2
Ireland (IRL)											9						1	10	11		3	1	6	4	6	9	1	5		12
Italy (ITA)		1		1		6	17	26	20	22	26	26	21	26	18	14	21	15	5	22	27	21	32	28	31	20	20	27		25
Japan (JPN)								6	14	16		5	9	14	26	10	3	9		6	12	13	11	8	4	4	5	4		19
Kazakhstan (KAZ)																								1		3	2	2		4
Kenya (KEN)																									1	1				2
Kuwait (KUW)																					1									1
Latvia (LAT)																						3	4	1						3
Lebanon (LIB)																						1								1
Libya (LBA)																												1		1
Lithuania (LTU)																						8	3	2	2	1	4	10		7
Mexico (MEX)													1	2	3	25	9	1	1	3	2	5	2	5	3	3	2	2		16
Monaco (MON)								5																		1	1			3
Myanmar (MYA)																										1	1			2
Netherlands (NED)		13		4		12	17	21	2	11	6	12		13	17	22	21	24	10	17	16	20	34	33	26	30	32	36		24
Niger (NIG)																											1			1
New Zealand (NZL)						1			11			5	8	1	15	14	19	18		22	12	12	11	6	11	16	26	36		18
Nigeria (NGR)																												1		1
North Korea (PRK)																	6													1
Norway (NOR)				9	24	13				1	14	9		2	5		16	14		12	9	6	11	6	3	1	5	5		19
Pakistan (PAK)																								3						1
Paraguay (PAR)																									2		1	2		3
Peru (PER)														2		3				3					1		1	1		6
Philippines (PHI)																					1			1						2
Poland (POL)							6	14	8	11		10	8	5	11	3	16	22	38		13	15	12	17	23	20	26	26		21
Portugal (POR)											14	9		5			3					2	4			2	2			8
Puerto Rico (PUR)																				1	1									2
Romania (ROU)												9		8	7	14	9	21	33	28	26	32	30	28	17	11	15	18		16
Russia (RUS)																							24	23	19	10	5	4		6
Saar (SAA)												7																		1
Serbia (SRB)																										3	6	4		3
Serbia and Montenegro (SCG)																								6	6					2
Singapore (SIN)																												1		1
Slovakia (SVK)																							2	1	2					3
Slovenia (SLO)																						6	7	8	9	10	2			6
South Africa (RSA)								1		1	5	5		5								9	8	8	2	5	6	12		12
South Korea (KOR)															9					5	28	2	4	3	2	5	4	2		10
Soviet Union (URS)												26	25	25	26	27	26	55	54		53									9
Spain (ESP)		5					10				1	6		18		3			13	10	13	22	11	4	9	1		4		15
Sweden (SWE)					28	6				5	3	16	9	12			1	3	7	8	8	7	9	3	1	2	2	1		19
Switzerland (SUI)						13	11	13		16	19	13		18	8	17	17	4	10	9	7	9	11	11	6	1	8	11		21
Thailand (THA)																								1	1		1	2		4
Togo (TOG)																												1		1
Trinidad and Tobago (TTO)																												1		1
Tunisia (TUN)																								2	1		2	3		4
Turkey (TUR)																						1						2		2
Ukraine (UKR)																							20	12	10	10	21	8		6
United Team of Germany (EUA)													12	26	26															3
Unified Team (EUN)																						47								1
United Arab Republic (UAR)														9																1
United States (USA)		9	35			15	20	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	27	27	26	54		54	53	52	46	48	45	45	44	41		24
Uruguay (URU)									1	8	3	3	2	5	2	5	3	1			1	1			3	3	2	1		16
Uzbekistan (UZB)																									4	1		1		3
Vanuatu (VAN)																												1		1
Venezuela (VEN)																										1		1		2
Vietnam (VIE)																									2		2	2		3
West Germany (FRG)																26	26	44		36	38									5
Zimbabwe (ZIM)																						2				1	2	2		4
Yugoslavia (YUG)										14	21	13	1	12	11		15	7	14	5	10									11
Nations		8	2	8	14	14	14	19	13	24	27	33	25	33	27	29	35	31	25	30	38	45	45	51	55	60	58	69		92
Rowers		108	44	81	186	136	182	245	153	313	310	404	242	410	330	353	440	593	470	447	592	627	608	547	557	555	550	547		10,030
Year	96	00	04	08	12	20	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	12	16	20

Venues

Main article: List of Olympic venues in rowing

See also

• Rowing at the Summer Paralympics
• List of rowing venues - includes Olympic venues and non Olympic venues
• New Zealand rowers at the Summer Olympics

References

1. "History of Rowing at the Olympic Games" (PDF). IOC. March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
2. "Feature: the impact of Olympic inclusion on women's rowing". World Rowing. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
3. "The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games rowing programme announced". World Rowing. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
4. An "inrigger" is a boat with oarlocks attached directly on the gunwale.
5. "Women in rowing". World Rowing. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.

External links

• Olympic Rowing Medalists at HickokSports.com