Rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics


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The rowing competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place between 23 and 30 July 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway (Central Breakwater) in Tokyo Bay. Fourteen medal events were contested by 526 athletes (266 men and 260 women --- three of the seven coxes in the women's eights were male).[1]

Rowing

at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad

Rowing pictogram for the 2020 Summer Olympics

VenueSea Forest Waterway
Dates23–30 July 2021
No. of events14
Competitors526 from 79 nations

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The rowing programme featured a total of fourteen events, seven each for both men and women in identical boat classes. This gender equality was suggested by the World Rowing Federation at its February 2017 congress, with the recommendation adopted by the International Olympic Committee in June 2017. This balancing was achieved by deleting the men's lightweight four and adding the women's coxless four boat classes. The women's coxless four previously ran at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics; the only time this boat class was an Olympic event. The changes to the Olympic rowing schedule were the first since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.[2]

Events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics included both disciplines of rowing: sweep rowing, where competitors each use a single oar, and sculling, where they use two placed on opposite sides of the boat. There was also one lightweight (weight restricted) event for each gender: the lightweight double sculls. Sculling events include men's and women's singles, doubles, lightweight doubles, and quads. Sweep events included men's and women's coxless pairs, coxless fours, and eights.[1]

The event took at the Sea Forest Waterway, a new venue constructed specifically for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The water is about 6 metres deep. The course is 2335 meters long and 198 meters wide. Each lane is 12.5 m wide. There were 8 lanes.[3]

A total of 526 quota spots were available. Each qualified nation entered one boat for each of the fourteen events. The majority of the berths were awarded based on the results at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, held in Ottensheim, Austria from 25 August to 1 September 2019.[4] Places were awarded to National Olympic Committees, not to specific athletes, finishing in the top 9 in the single sculls (both men and women), top 5 in the eights, top 8 in the fours and quadruple sculls, top 7 in the lightweight double sculls, and top 11 each in the pairs and double sculls.[5] Further berths were distributed to the nations (and in this case to specific competitors) at four continental qualifying regattas in Asia and Oceania, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, and at a final Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Competition schedule

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Legend
H Heats R Repechage ¼ Quarter-finals ½ Semi-finals F Final
Men's and women's races held on the same days[6][7][8]
Event↓/Date → Fri 23 Sat 24 Sun 25 Mon 26 Tue 27 Wed 28 Thu 29 Fri 30
Men's single sculls
Women's single sculls		 H R ¼/½ ½ F
Men's pair
Women's pair		 H R ½ F
Men's double sculls
Women's double sculls		 H R ½ F
Men's lightweight double sculls
Women's lightweight double sculls		 H R ½ F
Men's four
Women's four		 H R F
Men's quadruple sculls
Women's quadruple sculls		 H R F
Men's eight
Women's eight		 H R F

On 23 July, World Rowing announced changes to the schedule due to forecasted inclement weather for 26 July. All racing originally scheduled for 26 July was moved to 25 July. The eights heats were also moved from 25 to 24 July to accommodate the new schedule.[9] Further revisions were made on 25 July, cancelling racing on 27 July due to Tropical Storm Nepartak hitting parts of Japan.[10]

Events by number of boats entered

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Each event has the same number of boats entered for men and women.

Event Number of boats per gender
Single sculls 32
Pair 13
Double sculls 13
Lightweight double sculls 18
Coxless four 10
Quadruple sculls 10
Eight 7

Participating nations (number of rowers)

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Event Round Name Nation Time Date Record
Men's double sculls Heats Melvin Twellaar
Stef Broenink		   Netherlands 6:08.38 24 July OR[11]
Women's coxless four Heats Lucy Stephan
Rosemary Popa
Jessica Morrison
Annabelle McIntyre		   Australia 6:28.76 24 July OR[b]
Women's double sculls Final Nicoleta-Ancuța Bodnar
Simona Radiș		   Romania 6:41.03 28 July OR
Men's double sculls Final Hugo Boucheron
Matthieu Androdias		   France 6:00.33 28 July OR
Women's coxless four Final Lucy Stephan
Rosemary Popa
Jessica Morrison
Annabelle McIntyre		   Australia 6:15.37 28 July OR
Men's coxless four Final Alexander Purnell
Spencer Turrin
Jack Hargreaves
Alexander Hill		   Australia 5:42.76 28 July OR
Men's quadruple sculls Final Dirk Uittenbogaard
Abe Wiersma
Tone Wieten
Koen Metsemakers		   Netherlands 5:32.03 28 July OR, WR
Women's quadruple sculls Final Chen Yunxia
Zhang Ling
Lü Yang
Cui Xiaotong		   China 6:05.13 28 July OR, WR
Men's lightweight double sculls Semifinal Fintan McCarthy
Paul O'Donovan		   Ireland 6:05.33 28 July OR, WR

Notes

  1. ^ A few hours before the A final Rosetti tested positive to Covid-2019 and was replaced by Di Costanzo. As he had rowed in the heat, he was eligible for a medal.
  2. ^ The Australian women's coxless four rowing team broke the Olympic record for the coxless four event in the Final four days later.

Citations

  1. ^ a b
  2. ^ "IOC confirm gender equality in rowing events for Tokyo 2020 with introduction of women's four". British Rowing. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Championships Junior Rowing World 2019" (PDF). e Organising Championships Junior Rowing World 20. 2019. p. 6. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  4. ^ Mackay, Duncan (7 September 2018). "Linz-Ottensheim awarded 2019 World Rowing Championships". insidethegames.biz. Dunsar Media Company Limited. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Tokyo 2020 – FISA Rowing Qualification System" (PDF). FISA. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  6. ^ "Rowing Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Rowing Regatta of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020" (PDF). www.worldrowing.com. International Rowing Federation. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Olympic Rowing Schedule Changes". row2k.com. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Russian archer faints in Tokyo heat". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Official Communication 3" (PDF). World Rowing. 25 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Results – Race 15" (PDF). olympics.com. 23 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.