Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics

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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.

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.
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 quad. She had won the doubles event in Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000 and the quad 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 long time 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 is the oldest male rower to win an Olympic gold medal.

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 record, with the U.S. setting the mark at 5:19.85, the fastest recorded 2,000 meter time in history. The United States would go on to dominate the final.

Contents

[edit] Medal summary

[edit] Men's events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Single sculls
details
Norway Olaf Tufte
Norway (NOR)
Estonia Jüri Jaanson
Estonia (EST)
Bulgaria Ivo Yanakiev
Bulgaria (BUL)
Double sculls
details
France France (FRA)
Sébastien Vieilledent
Adrien Hardy
Slovenia Slovenia (SLO)
Luka Špik
Iztok Čop
Italy Italy (ITA)
Rossano Galtarossa
Alessio Sartori
Lightweight
double sculls
details
Poland Poland (POL)
Tomasz Kucharski
Robert Sycz
France France (FRA)
Fréderic Dufour
Pascal Touron
Greece Greece (GRE)
Vasileios Polymeros
Nikolaos Skiathitis
Quadruple sculls
details
Russia Russia (RUS)
Nikolai Spinev
Igor Kravtsov
Alekseij Svirin
Sergej Fedorovtsev
Czech Republic Czech Republic (CZE)
David Kopriva
Tomas Karas
Jakub Hanak
David Jirka
Ukraine Ukraine (UKR)
Sergij Grin
Sergij Bilushchenko
Oleg Lykov
Leonid Shaposhnikov
Coxless pair
details
Australia Australia (AUS)
Drew Ginn
James Tomkins
Croatia Croatia (CRO)
Sinisa Skelin
Niksa Skelin
South Africa South Africa (RSA)
Donovan Cech
Ramon di Clemente
Coxless four
details
Great Britain Great Britain (GBR)
Steve Williams
James Cracknell
Ed Coode
Matthew Pinsent
Canada Canada (CAN)
Cameron Baerg
Thomas Herschmiller
Jake Wetzel
Barney Williams
Italy Italy (ITA)
Lorenzo Porzio
Dario Dentale
Luca Agamennoni
Raffaello Leonardo
Lightweight
coxless four
details
Denmark Denmark (DEN)
Thor Kristensen
Thomas Ebert
Stephan Moelvig
Eskild Ebbesen
Australia Australia (AUS)
Glen Loftus
Anthony Edwards
Ben Cureton
Simon Burgess
Italy Italy (ITA)
Lorenzo Bertini
Catello Amarante
Salvatore Amitrano
Bruno Mascarenhas
Coxed eight
details
United States United States (USA)
Jason Read
Wyatt Allen
Chris Ahrens
Joseph Hansen
Matt Deakin
Dan Beery
Beau Hoopman
Bryan Volpenhein
Peter Cipollone (cox)
Netherlands Netherlands (NED)
Matthijs Vellenga
Gijs Vermeulen
Jan-Willem Gabriels
Daniël Mensch
Geert Jan Derksen
Gerritjan Eggenkamp
Diederik Simon
Michiel Bartman
Chun Wei Cheung (cox)
Australia Australia (AUS)
Stefan Szczurowski
Stuart Reside
Stuart Welch
James Stewart
Geoff Stewart
Boden Hanson
Mike McKay
Steve Stewart
Michael Toon (cox)

[edit] Women's events

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

[edit] Medal table

 Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Romania Romania (ROM) 3 0 0 3
2 Germany Germany (GER) 2 2 0 4
3 Great Britain Great Britain (GBR) 1 2 1 4
4 Australia Australia (AUS) 1 1 2 4
5 France France (FRA) 1 1 0 2
United States United States (USA) 1 1 0 2
7 Denmark Denmark (DEN) 1 0 0 1
New Zealand New Zealand (NZL) 1 0 0 1
Norway Norway (NOR) 1 0 0 1
Poland Poland (POL) 1 0 0 1
Russia Russia (RUS) 1 0 0 1
12 Belarus Belarus (BLR) 0 1 1 2
Netherlands Netherlands (NED) 0 1 2 3
14 Canada Canada (CAN) 0 1 0 1
Croatia Croatia (CRO) 0 1 0 1
Czech Republic Czech Republic (CZE) 0 1 0 1
Estonia Estonia (EST) 0 1 0 1
Slovenia Slovenia (SLO) 0 1 0 1
19 Italy Italy (ITA) 0 0 3 3
20 Bulgaria Bulgaria (BUL) 0 0 2 2
21 Greece Greece (GRE) 0 0 1 1
South Africa South Africa (RSA) 0 0 1 1
Ukraine Ukraine (UKR) 0 0 1 1

[edit] See also