Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Dates 19 – 25 September 1988
Medal Events 14

Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics was held at the Misari Regatta in Hanam, which had been built for the 1986 Asian Games. As the first Olympics since 1976 not to experience a major boycott, it boasted a record 38 participant nations in the rowing events, including Kuwait, who took part in the sport for the first and, as of 2012, only time by sending Waleed Al-Mohamed Abdulmuhsin to the men’s single sculls. Edgardo Maerina also helped his nation, the Philippines, make an inaugural appearance through the men’s single sculls. East Germany, who had been absent from the previous Olympics due to the Soviet-led boycott, returned to its position at the top of the medal table by winning 8 of the 14 fourteen events; Italy, with victories in the men’s quadruple sculls and coxed pairs, was the only other nation to earn more than one gold medal. Romania medaled in seven events, coming in as runner-up four times, and no other nation captured more than three medals total.

The 1988 program replaced the women’s coxed quadruple sculls with the coxless quadruple sculls, but otherwise remained the same as it had been since the introduction of women’s events in 1976, although the women’s races were now contested over 2000 metres (like the men), rather than 1000. China, who had made its Olympic rowing début in the previous edition, surprised spectators by winning its first medals: silver and bronze in the women’s coxed fours and eights respectively. There were numerous multiple medalists in Seoul: Andy Holmes and Steven Redgrave won the coxless pairs event and also took bronze in the coxed pairs, the Chinese silver medal-winning crew from the coxed fours were all members of the coxed eights lineup that took bronze, and every member of the Romanian runner-up coxed eights squad had earned a medal in another discipline, either bronze in the coxed fours or, in the case of Rodica Arba and Olga Homeghi-Bularda, gold in the coxless pairs.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Single Sculls, Men Olympic 19 – 24 September 1988 22 22
Double Sculls, Men Olympic 19 – 24 September 1988 34 17
Quadruple Sculls, Men Olympic 20 – 25 September 1988 52 13
Coxless Pairs, Men Olympic 19 – 24 September 1988 37 18
Coxed Pairs, Men Olympic 20 – 25 September 1988 42 14
Coxless Fours, Men Olympic 20 – 25 September 1988 61 15
Coxed Fours, Men Olympic 19 – 24 September 1988 71 14
Eights, Men Olympic 20 – 25 September 1988 90 10
Single Sculls, Women Olympic 20 – 25 September 1988 13 13
Double Sculls, Women Olympic 19 – 24 September 1988 21 10
Quadruple Sculls, Women Olympic 20 – 25 September 1988 41 10
Coxless Pairs, Women Olympic 19 – 24 September 1988 20 10
Coxed Fours, Women Olympic 19 – 24 September 1988 55 10
Eights, Women Olympic 20 – 25 September 1988 65 7
593 (399/194) 38 (37/20)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Single Sculls, Men Thomas LangeGDR Peter-Michael KolbeFRG Eric VerdonkNZL
Double Sculls, Men NetherlandsNED SwitzerlandSUI Soviet UnionURS
Quadruple Sculls, Men ItalyITA NorwayNOR East GermanyGDR
Coxless Pairs, Men Great BritainGBR RomaniaROU YugoslaviaYUG
Coxed Pairs, Men ItalyITA East GermanyGDR Great BritainGBR
Coxless Fours, Men East GermanyGDR United StatesUSA West GermanyFRG
Coxed Fours, Men East GermanyGDR RomaniaROU New ZealandNZL
Eights, Men West GermanyFRG Soviet UnionURS United StatesUSA
Single Sculls, Women Jutta BehrendtGDR Anne MardenUSA Magdalena GeorgievaBUL
Double Sculls, Women East GermanyGDR RomaniaROU BulgariaBUL
Quadruple Sculls, Women East GermanyGDR Soviet UnionURS RomaniaROU
Coxless Pairs, Women RomaniaROU BulgariaBUL New ZealandNZL
Coxed Fours, Women East GermanyGDR People's Republic of ChinaCHN RomaniaROU
Eights, Women East GermanyGDR RomaniaROU People's Republic of ChinaCHN

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
East Germany GDR 8 1 1 10
Italy ITA 2 0 0 2
Romania ROU 1 4 2 7
West Germany FRG 1 1 1 3
Great Britain GBR 1 0 1 2
Netherlands NED 1 0 0 1
Soviet Union URS 0 2 1 3
United States USA 0 2 1 3
Bulgaria BUL 0 1 2 3
People's Republic of China CHN 0 1 1 2
Norway NOR 0 1 0 1
Switzerland SUI 0 1 0 1
New Zealand NZL 0 0 3 3
Yugoslavia YUG 0 0 1 1