# 1981 World Rowing Championships

The 1981 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 1981 at Oberschleißheim Regatta Course in Oberschleißheim near Munich, West Germany.

## Medal summary
### Men's events

| Event: | Gold: | Time | Silver: | Time | Bronze: | Time |
| M1x | West Germany Peter-Michael Kolbe | 7:45.32 | East Germany Rüdiger Reiche | 7:48.90 | United States John Biglow | 7:51.55 |
| M2x | East Germany Klaus Kröppelien (b) Joachim Dreifke (s) | 6:41.99 | Finland Reima Karppinen (b) Pertti Karppinen (s) | 6:44.06 | Norway Rolf Thorsen (b) Alf Hansen (s) | 6:44.61 |
| M4x | East Germany Peter Kersten (b) Karl-Heinz Bußert (2) Uwe Heppner (3) Martin Winter (s) | 6:11.37 | Soviet Union Igor Yarkov (b) Sergey Shevchenko (2) Vladimir Koldishkin (3) Aleksandr Sdravomislov (s) | 6:14.58 | France Denis Gaté (b) Jean-Raymond Peltier (2) Charles Imbert (3) Marc Boudoux (s) | 6:17.45 |
| M2+ | Italy Carmine Abbagnale (b) Giuseppe Abbagnale (s) Giuseppe Di Capua (c) | 7:43.73 | East Germany Karsten Schmeling (b) Jürgen Seyfarth (s) Hendrik Reiher (c) | 7:46.22 | Great Britain Tom Cadoux-Hudson (b) Richard Budgett (s) Adrian Ellison (c) | 7:47.03 |
| M2- | Soviet Union Yuriy Pimenov (b) Nikolay Pimenov (s) | 7:15.06 | Netherlands Willem Jan Atsma (b) Ted Bosman (s) | 7:20.04 | Italy Antonio Baldacci (b) Ezio Pacovich (s) (s) | 7:23.28 |
| M4+ | East Germany Dietmar Schiller (b) Jörg Friedrich (2) Bernd Niesecke (3) Harald Jährling (s) Klaus-Dieter Ludwig (c) | 6:36.88 | United States Andrew Sudduth (b) Thomas Woodman (2) John Everett (3) Fred Borchelt (s) Robert Jaugstetter (c) | 6:39.68 | Soviet Union Viktor Omelyanovich (b) Dimants Krišjānis (2) Dzintars Krišjānis (3) Dzorzes Tikmers (s) Juris Bērziņš (c) | 6:40.52 |
| M4- | Soviet Union Aleksey Kamkin (b) Valeriy Dolinin (2) Aleksandr Kulagin (3) Vitaliy Eliseyev (s) | 6:35.85 | Switzerland Bruno Saile (b) Jürg Weitnauer (2) Hans-Konrad Trümpler (3) Stefan Netzle (s) | 6:41.47 | East Germany Klaus Büttner (b) Hans-Peter Koppe (2) Jens Doberschütz (3) Uwe Gasch (s) | 6:43.07 |
| M8+ | Soviet Union Zigmas Gudauskas (b) Nikolai Solomakhin (2) Vladimir Krilov (3) Viktor Diduk (4) Stasys Narušaitis (5) Jonas Narmontas (6) Jonas Pinskus (7) Ihar Maystrenka (s) Vladimir Nizhegorodov (c) | 6:02.30 | Great Britain Mark Andrews (b) John Bland (2) Colin Seymour (3) Christopher Mahoney (4) Andrew Justice (5) John Pritchard (6) Malcolm McGowan (7) Richard Stanhope (s) Colin Moynihan (c) | 6:04.31 | United States Daniel Lyons (b) John Zevenbergen (2) Thomas Kiefer (3) James McDougall (4) John Phinney (5) Dave Clark (6) Charles Clapp (7) Matthew Labine (s) Seth Bauer (c) | 6:06.13 |
| Lightweight events |||||||
| LM1x | United States Scott Roop | 7:22.90 | Austria Raimund Haberl | 7:25.30 | Canada Brian Thorne | 7:27.16 |
| LM2x | Italy Francesco Esposito (b) Ruggero Verroca (s) | 6:42.17 | United States Paul Fuchs Jr (b) William Belden Sr (s) | 6:44.22 | Denmark Leif Kruse (b) Bjarne Eltang (s) | 6:48.95 |
| LM4- | Australia Graham Gardiner (b) Charles Bartlett (2) Clyde Hefer (3) Simon Gillett (s) | 6:22.32 | Netherlands Peter Van Berkel (b) Richard Helsloot (2) Willem Appeldoorn (3) Paul Paulsen (s) | 6:24.04 | Canada Timothy Turner (b) Edward Gibson (2) Jim Relle (3) Patrick Turner (s) | 6:26.60 |
| LM8+ | Denmark Torben Knudsen Jan Jensen Ivar Mølgaard Arne Højlund Søren Hansson Søren Eriksen Mikael Espersen Bent Fransson Peter Klug-Andersen (c) | 5:58.41 | Italy Franco Pantano Mauro Torta Romano Uberti Lauro Zettin Renzo Borsini Lanfranco Borsini Claudio Castiglioni Leonardo Salani Davide Lanza (c) | 5:59.05 | Spain Fernando Climent Luis Arteaga Leon Carlos Sáez Bernardos José Antonio Expósito Sánchez Francisco Goicoechea García Guillermo Müller Gascón Alberto Molina Castillo José Marti Miranda Fernando Macho (c) | 6:01.03 |

### Women's events

| Event: | Gold: | Time | Silver: | Time | Bronze: | Time |
| W1x | Romania Sanda Toma | 3:54.46 | Great Britain Beryl Mitchell | 3:55.58 | Soviet Union Irina Fetisova | 3:56.99 |
| W2x | Soviet Union Margerita Kokarevitch Antonina Zelikovich | 3:40.65 | East Germany Kerstin Kirst Jutta Hampe | 3:30.11 | Bulgaria Iskra Velinova Anka Bakova | 3:30.21 |
| W4x+ | Soviet Union Tatyana Danilova Olga Kaspina Yelena Khloptseva Larisa Popova Maria Zemskova-Korotkova (c) | 3:19.83 | East Germany Heidi Westphal Birka Brandt-Fengler Cornelia Linse Jutta Ploch Jenny Gerber (c) | 3:21.65 | Romania Aneta Mihaly Valeria Răcilă Sofia Corban Olga Homeghi Ecaterina Oancia (c) | 3:22.89 |
| W2- | East Germany Iris Rudolph Sigrid Anders | 3:45.50 | Canada Elizabeth Craig Tricia Smith | 3:45.77 | Romania Rodica Arba Elena Horvat | 3:50.45 |
| W4+ | Soviet Union Olga Pivovarova Marina Studneva Svetlana Semyonova Raisa Doligoiada Nina Cheremisina (c) | 3:18.75 | East Germany Viola Kestler Silvia Fröhlich-Arndt Marita Sandig-Gasch Romy Saalfeld Kirsten Wenzel (c) | 3:23.95 | United States Susan Tuttle Hope Barnes Shyril O'Steen Harriet Metcalf Nanette Bernadou (c) | 3:27.35 |
| W8+ | Soviet Union Regina Baltutite Irina Teterina Elena Tereshina Nataliya Yatsenko Elena Makushkina Tatyana Shvetsova Nina Umanets Maria Paziun Nina Frolova (c) | 3:07.58 | United States Carol Bower Carol Brown Jeanne Flanagan Patricia Spratlin Kristine Norelius Carie Graves Elizabeth Hills-O'Leary Liz Miles Valerie McClain-Ward (c) | 3:10.32 | Romania Rodica Frîntu Florica Bucur Luminata Furcila Maricica Țăran Cristina Onofrei Maria Naghiu Mariana Zaharia Elena Bondar Elena Dobrițoiu (c) | 3:14.05 |

## Medal table

| Platz | Land | Gold | Silber | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union | 7 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | East Germany | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | Italy | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | United States | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 | Romania | 1 | | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | Denmark | 1 | | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | Australia | 1 | | | 1 |
| 7 | West Germany | 1 | | | 1 |
| 9 | Great Britain | | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 | Netherlands | | 2 | | 2 |
| 11 | Canada | | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 12 | Austria | | 1 | | 1 |
| 12 | Finland | | 1 | | 1 |
| 12 | Switzerland | | 1 | | 1 |
| 15 | Bulgaria | | | 1 | 1 |
| 15 | Spain | | | 1 | 1 |
| 15 | France | | | 1 | 1 |
| 15 | Norway | | | 1 | 1 |
| Summe | Summe | 18 | 18 | 18 | 54 |