# Rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics

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).

## Competition format

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.
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.

## Regatta venue

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.

## Qualification

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. 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. 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

Men's and women's races held on the same days :
| Event↓/Date → | Fri 23 | Sat 24 | Sun 25 | 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. Further revisions were made on 25 July, cancelling racing on 27 July due to Tropical Storm Nepartak hitting parts of Japan.

## Participation
### Events by number of boats entered

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)

* Algeria (2)
* Argentina (2)
* Australia (40)
* Austria (3)
* Belarus (5)
* Belgium (2)
* Benin (1)
* Bermuda (1)
* Brazil (1)
* Canada (29)
* Chile (2)
* China (28)
* Ivory Coast (1)
* Croatia (3)
* Cuba (1)
* Czech Republic (7)
* Denmark (9)
* Dominican Republic (1)
* Egypt (1)
* Estonia (4)
* France (12)
* Germany (24)
* Great Britain (41)
* Greece (4)
* Guatemala (2)
* Hong Kong (1)
* Hungary (1)
* India (2)
* Indonesia (2)
* Iran (1)
* Iraq (1)
* Ireland (13)
* Italy (23)
* Japan (3)
* Kazakhstan (1)
* Kuwait (1)
* Libya (1)
* Lithuania (9)
* Mexico (1)
* Monaco (1)
* Morocco (1)
* Namibia (1)
* Netherlands (35)
* New Zealand (32)
* Nicaragua (2)
* Nigeria (1)
* Norway (7)
* Paraguay (1)
* Peru (1)
* Philippines (1)
* Poland (20)
* Portugal (2)
* Puerto Rico (1)
* Qatar (1)
* Romania (36)
* ROC (10)
* Saudi Arabia (1)
* Serbia (3)
* Singapore (1)
* South Africa (6)
* South Korea (1)
* Spain (6)
* Sudan (1)
* Sweden (1)
* Switzerland (9)
* Chinese Taipei (1)
* Thailand (2)
* Togo (1)
* Trinidad and Tobago (1)
* Tunisia (2)
* Turkey (1)
* Uganda (1)
* Ukraine (2)
* United States (37)
* Uruguay (2)
* Uzbekistan (2)
* Vanuatu (1)
* Venezuela (2)
* Vietnam (2)
* Zimbabwe (1)

## Medalists
### Medal table

| Rank | NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | New Zealand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | Australia | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 | Romania | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | France | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | China | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Italy | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 8 | Canada | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Croatia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Ireland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 | Greece | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Germany | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | ROC | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 15 | Norway | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Poland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Austria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | Denmark | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (18 entries) | Totals (18 entries) | 14 | 14 | 14 | 42 |

### Men’s

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Single sculls details | Stefanos Ntouskos Greece | Kjetil Borch Norway | Damir Martin Croatia |
| Double sculls details | France Hugo Boucheron Matthieu Androdias | Netherlands Melvin Twellaar Stef Broenink | China Liu Zhiyu Zhang Liang |
| Quadruple sculls details | Netherlands Dirk Uittenbogaard Abe Wiersma Tone Wieten Koen Metsemakers | Great Britain Harry Leask Angus Groom Tom Barras Jack Beaumont | Australia Jack Cleary Caleb Antill Cameron Girdlestone Luke Letcher |
| Coxless pair details | Croatia Martin Sinković Valent Sinković | Romania Marius Cozmiuc Ciprian Tudosă | Denmark Frederic Vystavel Joachim Sutton |
| Coxless four details | Australia Alexander Purnell Spencer Turrin Jack Hargreaves Alexander Hill | Romania Mihăiță Țigănescu Mugurel Semciuc Ștefan Berariu Cosmin Pascari | Italy Matteo Castaldo Marco Di Costanzo Matteo Lodo Giuseppe Vicino Bruno Rosetti |
| Coxed eight details | New Zealand Tom Mackintosh Hamish Bond Tom Murray Michael Brake Dan Williamson Phillip Wilson Shaun Kirkham Matt Macdonald Sam Bosworth c | Germany Johannes Weißenfeld Laurits Follert Olaf Roggensack Torben Johannesen Jakob Schneider Malte Jakschik Richard Schmidt Hannes Ocik Martin Sauer c | Great Britain Josh Bugajski Jacob Dawson Thomas George Moe Sbihi Charles Elwes Oliver Wynne-Griffith James Rudkin Thomas Ford Henry Fieldman c |
| Lightweight double sculls details | Ireland Fintan McCarthy Paul O'Donovan | Germany Jonathan Rommelmann Jason Osborne | Italy Stefano Oppo Pietro Ruta |

### Women’s

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Single sculls details | Emma Twigg New Zealand | Hanna Prakatsen ROC | Magdalena Lobnig Austria |
| Double sculls details | Romania Nicoleta-Ancuța Bodnar Simona Radiș | New Zealand Brooke Donoghue Hannah Osborne | Netherlands Roos de Jong Lisa Scheenaard |
| Quadruple sculls details | China Chen Yunxia Zhang Ling Lü Yang Cui Xiaotong | Poland Agnieszka Kobus Marta Wieliczko Maria Sajdak Katarzyna Zillmann | Australia Ria Thompson Rowena Meredith Harriet Hudson Caitlin Cronin |
| Coxless pair details | New Zealand Grace Prendergast Kerri Gowler | ROC Vasilisa Stepanova Elena Oriabinskaia | Canada Caileigh Filmer Hillary Janssens |
| Coxless four details | Australia Lucy Stephan Rosemary Popa Jessica Morrison Annabelle McIntyre | Netherlands Ellen Hogerwerf Karolien Florijn Ymkje Clevering Veronique Meester | Ireland Aifric Keogh Eimear Lambe Fiona Murtagh Emily Hegarty |
| Coxed eight details | Canada Susanne Grainger Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski Madison Mailey Sydney Payne Andrea Proske Lisa Roman Christine Roper Avalon Wasteneys Kristen Kit c | New Zealand Ella Greenslade Emma Dyke Lucy Spoors Kelsey Bevan Grace Prendergast Kerri Gowler Beth Ross Jackie Gowler Caleb Shepherd c | China Guo Linlin Ju Rui Li Jingjing Miao Tian Wang Zifeng Wang Yuwei Xu Fei Zhang Min Zhang Dechang c |
| Lightweight double sculls details | Italy Valentina Rodini Federica Cesarini | France Laura Tarantola Claire Bové | Netherlands Marieke Keijser Ilse Paulis |

## Records

| Event | Round | Name | Nation | Time | Date | Record |
| Men's double sculls | Heats | Melvin Twellaar Stef Broenink | Netherlands | 6:08.38 | 24 July | OR |
| Women's coxless four | Heats | Lucy Stephan Rosemary Popa Jessica Morrison Annabelle McIntyre | Australia | 6:28.76 | 24 July | OR |
| 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 |