| Rowing at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad | |
|---|---|
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| Venue | Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre |
| Dates | 14–22 August 2004 |
| Competitors | 557 from 55 nations |
| Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
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| 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 the2004 Summer Olympics took place at theSchinias 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 strongGermany,Great Britain andAustralia picking up four medals in total.
Romania'sElisabeta Lipă won her fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal and fifth overall. Lipă, who was part of Romania'swomen'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.
Matthew Pinsent also won his fourth consecutive medal, this time without legendary partnerSteve Redgrave. The British men'scoxless four ofSteve Williams,James Cracknell,Ed Coode with Pinsent at stroke narrowly saw off the challenge of the World Champion Canadian crew ofCameron Baerg,Thomas Herschmiller,Jake Wetzel andBarney 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 scullerKathrin Boron in thewomen's quadruple sculls. She had won the doubles event in Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000 and the quadruple sculls in Atlanta 1996.
AustralianJames Tomkins, competing in his fifth games at the age of 39, won his third gold medal, and fourth medal overall, teaming with his longtime partnerDrew Ginn in themen's pair. Tomkins and Ginn had been part of the straight four that won the gold medal at the1996 Atlanta Olympics, and they had won the 1999 World Championship in the pair, but Ginn had missed the2000 Sydney Olympics with a severe back injury, and Tompkins had finished third with a new partnerMatthew Long in the pair. Tomkins was also the oldest male rower to win an Olympic gold medal, surpassing Steve Redgrave.
Norway'sOlaf Tufte won themen's single scull, and Germany'sKatrin Rutschow-Stomporowski won withwomen's single scull beating two-time defending Olympic ChampionEkaterina Karsten.
The Romanianwomen's pair ofGeorgeta Damian andViorica Susanu took gold before doubling up to help theireight take gold, giving Damian her fourth Olympic Gold medal — having won 2 golds in Sydney in the same disciplines.
TheUnited States won the prestigiousmen's eight for the twelfth time overall and the first time since1964. In the second preliminary heat, both the U.S. and Canadian crews broke the previousworld 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.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Romania (ROU) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 |  Germany (GER) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 |  Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 |  Australia (AUS) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 |  France (FRA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
 United States (USA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 7 |  Denmark (DEN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 New Zealand (NZL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Norway (NOR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Poland (POL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Russia (RUS) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 |  Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 13 |  Belarus (BLR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 |  Canada (CAN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Croatia (CRO) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Czech Republic (CZE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Estonia (EST) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Slovenia (SLO) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 19 |  Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 20 |  Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 21 |  Greece (GRE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 South Africa (RSA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Ukraine (UKR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (23 entries) | 14 | 14 | 14 | 42 | |
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