Rowing
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
VenueSchinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre
Dates14–22 August 2004
Competitors557 from 55 nations

Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place at the Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre and featured 550 competitors taking part in 14 events.[1]

The medals were split among 22 countries, Romania topping the medal table, their women winning 3 golds, with the traditionally strong Germany, Great Britain and Australia picking up four medals in total.

Romania's Elisabeta Lipă won her fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal and fifth overall. Lipă, who was part of Romania's women's eight, won her first in Los Angeles in 1984 followed by gold medals in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004, a record span of 20 years between her first and last gold medal. It was also her eighth overall, which is more than any other rower, having won a silver and a bronze in 1988 and an additional silver in 1992. In winning her medal at age 39, Lipă became the oldest rower to win a gold medal and the oldest athlete in an endurance sport to win a gold medal.

Team USA competes in the lightweight four rowing competition.

Matthew Pinsent also won his fourth consecutive medal, this time without legendary partner Steve Redgrave. The British men's coxless four of Steve Williams, James Cracknell, Ed Coode with Pinsent at stroke narrowly saw off the challenge of the World Champion Canadian crew of Cameron Baerg, Thomas Herschmiller, Jake Wetzel and Barney Williams. It was a dramatic stretch run with the lead literally changing hands with each stroke. (In rowing, the boat will surge depending on where the rowers are during the stroke. Pinsent would later say that he thought they had won because they were in the best part of the stroke when they crossed the line). Great Britain won with a time of 6:06.98, just 8/100ths of a second faster than the Canadians. Pinsent later wept at the medal ceremony.

Matching Lipă's and Pinsent's feat of four consecutive gold medals was German sculler Kathrin Boron in the women's quadruple sculls. She had won the doubles event in Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000 and the quadruple sculls in Atlanta 1996.

Australian James Tomkins, competing in his fifth games at the age of 39, won his third gold medal, and fourth medal overall, teaming with his longtime partner Drew Ginn in the men's pair. Tomkins and Ginn had been part of the straight four that won the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and they had won the 1999 World Championship in the pair, but Ginn had missed the 2000 Sydney Olympics with a severe back injury, and Tompkins had finished third with a new partner Matthew Long in the pair. Tomkins was also the oldest male rower to win an Olympic gold medal, surpassing Steve Redgrave.

Norway's Olaf Tufte won the men's single scull, and Germany's Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski won with women's single scull beating two-time defending Olympic Champion Ekaterina Karsten.

The Romanian women's pair of Georgeta Damian and Viorica Susanu took gold before doubling up to help their eight take gold, giving Damian her fourth Olympic Gold medal having won 2 golds in Sydney in the same disciplines.

The United States won the prestigious men's eight for the twelfth time overall and the first time since 1964. In the second preliminary heat, both the U.S. and Canadian crews broke the previous world best time, with the U.S. winning in 5:19.85, which stood as a world best time until the second World Cup regatta of 2012.[2] The United States would go on to win the final.

Medal summary

Men's events

Games Gold Silver Bronze
Single sculls
Olaf Tufte
 Norway
Jüri Jaanson
 Estonia
Ivo Yanakiev
 Bulgaria
Double sculls
 Sébastien Vieilledent
and Adrien Hardy (FRA)
 Iztok Čop
and Luka Špik (SLO)
 Rossano Galtarossa
and Alessio Sartori (ITA)
Quadruple sculls
 Russia (RUS)
Nikolay Spinyov
Igor Kravtsov
Aleksey Svirin
Sergey Fedorovtsev
 Czech Republic (CZE)
David Kopřiva
Tomáš Karas
Jakub Hanák
David Jirka
 Ukraine (UKR)
Serhiy Hryn
Serhiy Biloushchenko
Oleh Lykov
Leonid Shaposhnikov
Coxless pair
 Drew Ginn
and James Tomkins (AUS)
 Siniša Skelin
and Nikša Skelin (CRO)
 Donovan Cech
and Ramon di Clemente (RSA)
Coxless four
 Great Britain (GBR)
Steve Williams
James Cracknell
Ed Coode
Matthew Pinsent
 Canada (CAN)
Cameron Baerg
Thomas Herschmiller
Jake Wetzel
Barney Williams
 Italy (ITA)
Lorenzo Porzio
Dario Dentale
Luca Agamennoni
Raffaello Leonardo
Coxed eight
 United States (USA)
Jason Read
Wyatt Allen
Chris Ahrens
Joseph Hansen
Matt Deakin
Dan Beery
Beau Hoopman
Bryan Volpenhein
Peter Cipollone (cox)
 Netherlands (NED)
Matthijs Vellenga
Gijs Vermeulen
Jan-Willem Gabriëls
Daniël Mensch
Geert-Jan Derksen
Gerritjan Eggenkamp
Diederik Simon
Michiel Bartman
Chun Wei Cheung (cox)
 Australia (AUS)
Stefan Szczurowski
Stuart Reside
Stuart Welch
James Stewart
Geoff Stewart
Bo Hanson
Mike McKay
Stephen Stewart
Michael Toon (cox)
Lightweight double sculls
 Tomasz Kucharski
and Robert Sycz (POL)
 Frédéric Dufour
and Pascal Touron (FRA)
 Vasileios Polymeros
and Nikolaos Skiathitis (GRE)
Lightweight coxless four
 Denmark (DEN)
Thor Kristensen
Thomas Ebert
Stephan Mølvig
Eskild Ebbesen
 Australia (AUS)
Glen Loftus
Anthony Edwards
Ben Cureton
Simon Burgess
 Italy (ITA)
Lorenzo Bertini
Catello Amarante
Salvatore Amitrano
Bruno Mascarenhas

Women's events

Games Gold Silver Bronze
Single sculls
Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski
 Germany
Ekaterina Karsten
 Belarus
Rumyana Neykova
 Bulgaria
Double sculls
 Georgina Evers-Swindell
and Caroline Evers-Swindell (NZL)
 Peggy Waleska
and Britta Oppelt (GER)
 Sarah Winckless
and Elise Laverick (GBR)
Quadruple sculls
 Germany (GER)
Kathrin Boron
Meike Evers
Manuela Lutze
Kerstin El Qalqili
 Great Britain (GBR)
Alison Mowbray
Debbie Flood
Frances Houghton
Rebecca Romero
 Australia (AUS)
Dana Faletic
Rebecca Sattin
Amber Bradley
Kerry Hore
Coxless pair
 Georgeta Damian
and Viorica Susanu (ROU)
 Katherine Grainger
and Cath Bishop (GBR)
 Yuliya Bichyk
and Natallia Helakh (BLR)
Coxed eight
 Romania (ROU)
Rodica Florea
Viorica Susanu
Aurica Bărăscu
Ioana Papuc
Liliana Gafencu
Elisabeta Lipă
Georgeta Damian
Doina Ignat
Elena Georgescu (cox)
 United States (USA)
Kate Johnson
Samantha Magee
Megan Dirkmaat
Alison Cox
Caryn Davies
Laurel Korholz
Anna Mickelson
Lianne Nelson
Mary Whipple (cox)
 Netherlands (NED)
Froukje Wegman
Marlies Smulders
Nienke Hommes
Hurnet Dekkers
Annemarieke van Rumpt
Annemiek de Haan
Sarah Siegelaar
Helen Tanger
Ester Workel (cox)
Lightweight double sculls
 Constanța Burcică
and Angela Alupei (ROU)
 Daniela Reimer
and Claudia Blasberg (GER)
 Kirsten van der Kolk
and Marit van Eupen (NED)

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Romania (ROU)3003
2 Germany (GER)2204
3 Great Britain (GBR)1214
4 Australia (AUS)1124
5 France (FRA)1102
 United States (USA)1102
7 Denmark (DEN)1001
 New Zealand (NZL)1001
 Norway (NOR)1001
 Poland (POL)1001
 Russia (RUS)1001
12 Netherlands (NED)0123
13 Belarus (BLR)0112
14 Canada (CAN)0101
 Croatia (CRO)0101
 Czech Republic (CZE)0101
 Estonia (EST)0101
 Slovenia (SLO)0101
19 Italy (ITA)0033
20 Bulgaria (BUL)0022
21 Greece (GRE)0011
 South Africa (RSA)0011
 Ukraine (UKR)0011
Totals (23 entries)14141442

See also

  • Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics

References

  1. "Rowing at the 2004 Athens Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 February 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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