# Rowing at the 2016 Summer Olympics

The rowing competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 13 August 2016 at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in Lagoa. Fourteen medal events were being contested by 547 athletes, 334 men and 213 women.
For the third Olympics in a row, Great Britain was the most successful nation, topping the medal table with three golds and two silvers. Germany and New Zealand finished equal in second place with two golds and one silver each.

## Competition format

There were eight events for men and six for women. Events included categories for open weight and restricted weight (lightweight) athletes, and two styles of rowing: sweep, where competitors each use a single oar, and sculling, where they used two.
Sculling events included men's and women's singles, doubles, lightweight doubles, and quads. Sweep events were men's and women's pairs and eights, and men's fours and lightweight fours.
Although the size and composition of the 14 Olympic classes remained unchanged from the 2012 format, the number of boats for men had been reduced in the single sculls, quadruple sculls, and eight, spurring a change towards an increased proportion of boats for women in the single sculls, pair, double sculls, and lightweight double sculls.

## Qualification

Each competing nation might qualify one boat for each of the fourteen events. The majority of the qualifying places were awarded based on the results at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, held at Lac d'Aiguebelette, France from August 30 to September 4, 2015. Places are 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, and top 11 in the pairs, doubles, and lightweight doubles, and (only for men) in the coxless four and lightweight four. In the quadruple sculls, the first eight nations will be qualified in the men's event, and the first five in the women's. Further berths were distributed to the nations (and in this case to specific competitors) at four continental qualifying regattas in Asia and Oceania (except for Australia and New Zealand), Africa, Latin America, and Europe (with the additional participation of the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and at a final Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.

## Schedule

After the first day of the competition, many rowers voiced their frustration about the rough conditions on the water. New Zealand rowers Emma Twigg and Mahé Drysdale talked about the regatta being about "survival rather than skill", and Rowing New Zealand lodged an official complaint with the organisers for not postponing the first day when conditions became "unrowable". With the water even more choppy at the start of the second day, that day's rowing was postponed.
Men :
| Event↓/Date → | Sat 6 | Sun 7 | Mon 8 | Tue 9 | Wed 10 | Thu 11 | Fri 12 | Sat 13 |
| Single sculls | H | R | | ¼ | | ½ | | F |
| Pair | H | R | | ½ | | F | | |
| Double sculls | H | R | | ½ | | F | | |
| Lightweight double sculls | | H | R | | ½ | | F | |
| Four | | H | R | | ½ | | F | |
| Quadruple sculls | H | | R | | F | | | |
| Lightweight four | H | R | | ½ | | F | | |
| Eight | | | H | | R | | | F |
Women :
| Event↓/Date → | Sat 6 | Sun 7 | Mon 8 | Tue 9 | Wed 10 | Thu 11 | Fri 12 | Sat 13 |
| Single sculls | H | R | | ¼ | | ½ | | F |
| Pair | | H | R | | ½ | | F | |
| Double sculls | H | R | | ½ | | F | | |
| Lightweight double sculls | | H | R | | ½ | | F | |
| Quadruple sculls | H | | R | | F | | | |
| Eight | | | H | | R | | | F |

## Participation
### Participating nations (number of rowers)

* Algeria (2)
* Angola (2)
* Argentina (2)
* Australia (29)
* Austria (3)
* Azerbaijan (2)
* Bahamas (1)
* Belarus (10)
* Belgium (1)
* Bermuda (1)
* Brazil (4)
* Bulgaria (2)
* Canada (26)
* Chile (4)
* China (17)
* Croatia (3)
* Cuba (7)
* Czech Republic (10)
* Denmark (13)
* Ecuador (1)
* Egypt (2)
* Estonia (4)
* France (18)
* Germany (35)
* Great Britain (43)
* Greece (10)
* Hong Kong (4)
* Hungary (3)
* India (1)
* Indonesia (2)
* Iran (1)
* Iraq (1)
* Ireland (5)
* Italy (27)
* Japan (4)
* Kazakhstan (2)
* Libya (1)
* Lithuania (10)
* Mexico (2)
* Netherlands (36)
* New Zealand (36)
* Nigeria (1)
* Norway (5)
* Paraguay (2)
* Peru (2)
* Poland (26)
* Romania (18)
* Russia (4)
* Serbia (4)
* Singapore (1)
* South Africa (12)
* South Korea (2)
* Spain (4)
* Sweden (1)
* Switzerland (11)
* Chinese Taipei (1)
* Thailand (2)
* Togo (1)
* Trinidad and Tobago (1)
* Tunisia (3)
* Turkey (2)
* Ukraine (8)
* United States (41)
* Uruguay (1)
* Uzbekistan (1)
* Vanuatu (1)
* Venezuela (1)
* Vietnam (2)
* Zimbabwe (2)

### Competitors
## Medal summary
### Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Great Britain | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | Germany | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Australia | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Croatia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | France | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Denmark | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 | Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 13 | Canada | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Ireland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | South Africa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | China | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 16 | Italy | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 16 | Norway | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 19 | Czech Republic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | Estonia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 19 | Romania | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (21 entries) | Totals (21 entries) | 14 | 14 | 14 | 42 |

### Men's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Single sculls details | Mahé Drysdale New Zealand | Damir Martin Croatia | Ondřej Synek Czech Republic |
| Double sculls details | Martin Sinković and Valent Sinković Croatia | Mindaugas Griškonis and Saulius Ritter Lithuania | Kjetil Borch and Olaf Tufte Norway |
| Quadruple sculls details | Germany Philipp Wende Lauritz Schoof Karl Schulze Hans Gruhne | Australia Karsten Forsterling Alexander Belonogoff Cameron Girdlestone James McRae | Estonia Andrei Jämsä Allar Raja Tõnu Endrekson Kaspar Taimsoo |
| Coxless pair details | Eric Murray and Hamish Bond New Zealand | Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling South Africa | Marco Di Costanzo and Giovanni Abagnale Italy |
| Coxless four details | Great Britain Alex Gregory Moe Sbihi George Nash Constantine Louloudis | Australia Will Lockwood Josh Dunkley-Smith Josh Booth Alexander Hill | Italy Domenico Montrone Matteo Castaldo Matteo Lodo Giuseppe Vicino |
| Coxed eight details | Great Britain Paul Bennett Scott Durant Matt Gotrel Matt Langridge Tom Ransley Pete Reed Will Satch Andrew Triggs Hodge Phelan Hill | Germany Maximilian Munski Malte Jakschik Andreas Kuffner Eric Johannesen Maximilian Reinelt Felix Drahotta Richard Schmidt Hannes Ocik Martin Sauer | Netherlands Kaj Hendriks Robert Lücken Boaz Meylink Boudewijn Röell Olivier Siegelaar Dirk Uittenbogaard Mechiel Versluis Tone Wieten Peter Wiersum |
| Lightweight double sculls details | Pierre Houin and Jérémie Azou France | Gary O'Donovan and Paul O'Donovan Ireland | Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli Norway |
| Lightweight coxless four details | Switzerland Lucas Tramèr Simon Schürch Simon Niepmann Mario Gyr | Denmark Jacob Barsøe Jacob Larsen Kasper Winther Jørgensen Morten Jørgensen | France Franck Solforosi Thomas Baroukh Guillaume Raineau Thibault Colard |

### Women's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Single sculls details | Kim Brennan Australia | Genevra Stone United States | Duan Jingli China |
| Double sculls details | Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj Poland | Victoria Thornley and Katherine Grainger Great Britain | Donata Vištartaitė and Milda Valčiukaitė Lithuania |
| Quadruple sculls details | Germany Annekatrin Thiele Carina Bär Julia Lier Lisa Schmidla | Netherlands Chantal Achterberg Nicole Beukers Inge Janssen Carline Bouw | Poland Maria Springwald Joanna Leszczyńska Agnieszka Kobus Monika Ciaciuch |
| Coxless pair details | Helen Glover and Heather Stanning Great Britain | Genevieve Behrent and Rebecca Scown New Zealand | Hedvig Rasmussen and Anne Andersen Denmark |
| Coxed eight details | United States Emily Regan Kerry Simmonds Amanda Polk Lauren Schmetterling Tessa Gobbo Meghan Musnicki Elle Logan Amanda Elmore Katelin Snyder | Great Britain Katie Greves Melanie Wilson Frances Houghton Polly Swann Jessica Eddie Olivia Carnegie-Brown Karen Bennett Zoe Lee Zoe de Toledo | Romania Roxana Cogianu Ioana Strungaru Mihaela Petrilă Iuliana Popa Mădălina Beres Laura Oprea Adelina Boguș Andreea Boghian Daniela Druncea |
| Lightweight double sculls details | Ilse Paulis and Maaike Head Netherlands | Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee Canada | Huang Wenyi and Pan Feihong China |