Rowing at the Summer Olympics

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

• 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 and 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.

Today all races are raced over a 2000m course, but this did not become standard before the Stockholm Olympics in 1912 (except for London 1948, where the course was 1850m). Before this, it was raced over various distances: the course in Paris in 1900 was 1750m, in St. Louis in 1904 it was 3218m, and in London in 1908 it was 2414m. The 1908 and 1948 events were held over the Henley Royal Regatta course.

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

Early games featured match races between two or three boats, until the modern six boat side-by-side format was first adopted at the 1936 Olympic Games. With the exception of the 1952 Olympic Games (races between four or five boats), it has been the standard since.

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.

The numbers below are after the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[6]

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	25	14	70
4	Germany (GER)	23	16	14	53
5	Romania (ROM)	20	12	9	41
6	New Zealand (NZL)	14	5	10	29
7	Australia (AUS)	13	15	16	44
8	Soviet Union (URS)	12	20	10	42
9	Italy (ITA)	11	14	16	41
10	Canada (CAN)	10	17	16	43
11	France (FRA)	8	15	13	36
12	Netherlands (NED)	7	14	14	35
13	Switzerland (SUI)	7	8	9	24
14	Denmark (DEN)	7	5	13	25
15	Poland (POL)	4	4	11	19
16	West Germany (FRG)	4	4	6	14
17	United Team of Germany (EUA)	4	4	1	9
18	Norway (NOR)	3	7	8	18
19	Bulgaria (BUL)	3	4	7	14
20	Finland (FIN)	3	1	3	7
21	China (CHN)	2	4	6	12
22	Croatia (CRO)	2	3	2	7
23	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	2	2	7	11
24	Belarus (BLR)	2	1	4	7
25	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
	Greece (GRE)	1	1	2	4
30	Ireland (IRL)	1	1	1	3
	South Africa (RSA)	1	1	1	3
	Ukraine (UKR)	1	1	1	3
33	Russia (RUS)	1	0	2	3
34	Mixed team (ZZX)	1	0	0	1
35	Belgium (BEL)	0	6	2	8
36	Austria (AUT)	0	3	3	6
37	Estonia (EST)	0	2	1	3
38	ROC	0	2	0	2
	Sweden (SWE)	0	2	0	2
40	Uruguay (URU)	0	1	3	4
41	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	2	3
	Lithuania (LTU)	0	1	2	3
43	Spain (ESP)	0	1	0	1
44	Russian Empire (RU1)	0	0	1	1
	Unified Team (EUN)	0	0	1	1
Totals (45 entries)		268	268	272	808

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 medalled 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
Hamish Bond  New Zealand	2012, 2016, 2020	3	0	0	3	Two wins in coxless pair, then in eight

Number of rowers from each nation by year of Olympics, starting with 1896 (when none competed due to bad weather) then 1900 through 2020.

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	2	7
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	2	20
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	40	22
Austria (AUT)					6			2		9	7	4	4	10	7	3	16	3	7	6	5	12	13	8	5			3	3	20
Azerbaijan (AZE)																											2	2		2
Bahamas (BAH)																												1		1
Belarus (BLR)																							17	10	11	13	5	10	5	7
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	2	25
Benin (BEN)																													1	1
Bermuda (BER)																	1											1	1	3
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	1	22
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	29	26
Chile (CHI)												1	3				1			9	2			6	2	2	1	4	2	11
China (CHN)																				9	11	22	13	10	17	31	18	17	28	10
Colombia (COL)																										1				1
Ivory Coast (CIV)																													1	1
Croatia (CRO)																						7	8	13	6	4	5	3	3	8
Cuba (CUB)											5		9		9	11	7	14	17			3	2	9	7	9	6	7	1	15
Czech Republic (CZE)																							5	1	16	14	12	10	7	7
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	9	23
Dominican Republic (DOM)																													1	1
East Germany (GDR)																26	26	54	55		44									5
Ecuador (ECU)																												1		1
Egypt (EGY)											1	8			16								1	7	2	6	5	2	1	10
El Salvador (ESA)																										1	2			2
Estonia (EST)										1												7	1	3	7	7	6	4	4	9
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	12	26
Germany (GER)		21		3	26			23	16	26		21										53	48	31	48	48	48	35	24	15
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	41	27
Greece (GRE)											8	3	1	6					3	1	7	2	5	4	4	5	10	10	4	15
Guatemala (GUA)																			2	1									2	3
Hong Kong (HKG)																						3	1	3	3	4	3	4	1	8
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	1	22
India (IND)																								2	1	3	3	1	2	6
Independent Olympic Athletes (IOA)																						2								1
Indonesia (INA)																									1			2	2	3
Iran (IRI)																										2	2	1	1	4
Iraq (IRQ)																										2		1	1	3
Ireland (IRL)											9						1	10	11		3	1	6	4	6	9	1	5	13	13
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	23	26
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	1	5
Kenya (KEN)																									1	1				2
Kuwait (KUW)																					1								1	2
Latvia (LAT)																						3	4	1						3
Lebanon (LIB)																						1								1
Libya (LBA)																												1	1	2
Lithuania (LTU)																						8	3	2	2	1	4	10	9	8
Mexico (MEX)													1	2	3	25	9	1	1	3	2	5	2	5	3	3	2	2	1	17
Monaco (MON)								5																		1	1		1	4
Morocco (MAR)																													1	1
Myanmar (MYA)																										1	1			2
Namibia (NAM)																													1	1
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	35	25
New Zealand (NZL)						1			11			5	8	1	15	14	19	18		22	12	12	11	6	11	16	26	36	32	19
Nicaragua (NCA)																													2	1
Niger (NIG)																											1			1
Nigeria (NGR)																												1	1	2
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	7	20
Pakistan (PAK)																								3						1
Paraguay (PAR)																									2		1	2	1	4
Peru (PER)														2		3				3					1		1	1	1	7
Philippines (PHI)																					1			1					1	3
Poland (POL)							6	14	8	11		10	8	5	11	3	16	22	38		13	15	12	17	23	20	26	26	20	22
Portugal (POR)											14	9		5			3					2	4			2	2		2	9
Puerto Rico (PUR)																				1	1								1	3
Qatar (QAT)																													1	1
Romania (ROU)												9		8	7	14	9	21	33	28	26	32	30	28	17	11	15	18	36	17
Russia (RUS)																													10	1
Russia (RUS)																							24	23	19	10	5	4		6
Saar (SAA)												7																		1
Saudi Arabia (KSA)																													1	1
Serbia (SRB)																										3	6	4	3	4
Serbia and Montenegro (SCG)																								6	6					2
Singapore (SIN)																												1	1	2
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	6	13
South Korea (KOR)															9					5	28	2	4	3	2	5	4	2	1	11
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	6	16
Sudan (SUD)																													1	1
Sweden (SWE)					28	6				5	3	16	9	12			1	3	7	8	8	7	9	3	1	2	2	1	1	20
Switzerland (SUI)						13	11	13		16	19	13		18	8	17	17	4	10	9	7	9	11	11	6	1	8	11	9	22
Chinese Taipei (TPE)																									2	1	1	1	1	5
Thailand (THA)																								1	1		1	2	2	5
Togo (TOG)																												1	1	2
Trinidad and Tobago (TTO)																												1	1	2
Tunisia (TUN)																								2	1		2	3	2	5
Turkey (TUR)																						1						2	1	3
Uganda (UGA)																													1	1
Ukraine (UKR)																							20	12	10	10	21	8	2	7
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	37	25
Uruguay (URU)									1	8	3	3	2	5	2	5	3	1			1	1			3	3	2	1	2	17
Uzbekistan (UZB)																									4	1		1	2	4
Vanuatu (VAN)																												1	1	2
Venezuela (VEN)																										1		1	2	3
Vietnam (VIE)																									2		2	2	2	4
West Germany (FRG)																26	26	44		36	38									5
Zimbabwe (ZIM)																						2				1	2	2	1	5
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	80	113
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	526	10,556
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