Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Rowing
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
VenueSchinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre
Dates14 August–22 August
Competitors557 from 55 nations
Rowing at the
2004 Summer Olympics
Single sculls   men   women
Coxless pair men women
Double sculls men women
Lwt double sculls men women
Coxless four men
Quadruple sculls men women
Eight men women
Lwt coxless four men

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.

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.[1] The United States would go on to dominate the final.

Medal summary

Men's events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Single sculls
 Olaf Tufte
Norway (NOR)
 Jüri Jaanson
Estonia (EST)
 Ivo Yanakiev
Bulgaria (BUL)
Double sculls
 France (FRA)
Sébastien Vieilledent
Adrien Hardy
 Slovenia (SLO)
Luka Špik
Iztok Čop
 Italy (ITA)
Rossano Galtarossa
Alessio Sartori
Lightweight
double sculls
 Poland (POL)
Tomasz Kucharski
Robert Sycz
 France (FRA)
Frédéric Dufour
Pascal Touron
 Greece (GRE)
Vasileios Polymeros
Nikolaos Skiathitis
Quadruple sculls
 Russia (RUS)
Nikolai Spinev
Igor Kravtsov
Alekseij Svirin
Sergej Fedorovtsev
 Czech Republic (CZE)
David Kopriva
Tomas Karas
Jakub Hanak
David Jirka
 Ukraine (UKR)
Sergij Grin
Sergij Bilushchenko
Oleg Lykov
Leonid Shaposhnikov
Coxless pair
 Australia (AUS)
Drew Ginn
James Tomkins
 Croatia (CRO)
Siniša Skelin
Nikša Skelin
 South Africa (RSA)
Donovan Cech
Ramon di Clemente
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
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
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
Geoffrey Stewart
Boden Hanson
Mike McKay
Stephen Stewart
Michael Toon (cox)

Women's events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Single sculls
 Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski
Germany (GER)
 Ekaterina Karsten
Belarus (BLR)
 Rumyana Neykova
Bulgaria (BUL)
Double sculls
 New Zealand (NZL)
Georgina Evers-Swindell
Caroline Evers-Swindell
 Germany (GER)
Peggy Waleska
Britta Oppelt
 Great Britain (GBR)
Sarah Winckless
Elise Laverick
Lightweight
double sculls
 Romania (ROU)
Constanţa Burcică
Angela Alupei
 Germany (GER)
Daniela Reimer
Claudia Blasberg
 Netherlands (NED)
Kirsten van der Kolk
Marit van Eupen
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
 Romania (ROU)
Georgeta Damian
Viorica Susanu
 Great Britain (GBR)
Katherine Grainger
Cath Bishop
 Belarus (BLR)
Yuliya Bichyk
Natallia Helakh
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)

Medal table

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
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 Belarus (BLR)0112
 Netherlands (NED)0123
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

See also

References