Rowing at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Dates 28 July – 4 August 2012
Medal Events 14

Rowing at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place at Dorney Lake, known as Eton Dorney during the Games, a private man-made lake owned by Eton College, where the Games’ sprint canoe events were also held. The majority of the spots, awarded to the NOCs rather than individual athletes, were based off of the results of the 2011 World Championships and the event lineup, eight for men and six for women, remained the same as it had been since 1996. Great Britain improved upon their success in Beijing, where it was the most successful nation in rowing, and was far and away the dominant force at its home Olympics, winning nine medals overall, four of which were gold. Three of those went to women’s teams, making it the first time the nation’s women had won Olympic rowing gold. British boats reached 13 of 14 finals with the sole exception being the women’s single sculls where there was no entry. New Zealand was a respectable runner-up in the medal count, with five total, three of which were gold. The Kiwi successes included the coxless pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond who were amongst the most dominant victors not just in this sport, but of the whole Games. Kim Crow of Australia was a force in the women’s events as, with silver in the double scull and bronze in the single, she was the only rower at the regatta to win more than one medal. Another notable victory was that of South Africa’s Sizwe Ndlovu who, as part of his nation’s lightweight coxless four, became the first black African Olympic rowing champion.

Crowds at the rowing venue were unusually large and noisy, which created an effect known as the “Dorney Roar” most noticeably when a home crew was in contention. This reached a crescendo during the final of the women’s double sculls where home favourite Katherine Grainger won her first Olympic title after three successive silver medals.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Single Sculls, Men Olympic 28 July – 3 August 2012 33 33
Double Sculls, Men Olympic 28 July – 2 August 2012 26 13
Coxless Pairs, Men Olympic 28 July – 3 August 2012 26 13
Quadruple Sculls, Men Olympic 28 July – 3 August 2012 52 13
Coxless Fours, Men Olympic 30 July – 4 August 2012 52 13
Eights, Men Olympic 28 July – 1 August 2012 72 8
Lightweight Double Sculls, Men Olympic 29 July – 4 August 2012 40 20
Lightweight Coxless Fours, Men Olympic 28 July – 2 August 2012 52 13
Single Sculls, Women Olympic 28 July – 4 August 2012 28 28
Double Sculls, Women Olympic 30 July – 3 August 2012 20 10
Quadruple Sculls, Women Olympic 28 July – 1 August 2012 32 8
Coxless Pairs, Women Olympic 28 July – 1 August 2012 20 10
Eights, Women Olympic 29 July – 2 August 2012 63 7
Lightweight Double Sculls, Women Olympic 29 July – 4 August 2012 34 17
549 (353/196) 58 (52/39)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Single Sculls, Men Mahé DrysdaleNZL Ondřej SynekCZE Alan CampbellGBR
Double Sculls, Men New ZealandNZL ItalyITA SloveniaSLO
Coxless Pairs, Men New ZealandNZL FranceFRA Great BritainGBR
Quadruple Sculls, Men GermanyGER CroatiaCRO AustraliaAUS
Coxless Fours, Men Great BritainGBR AustraliaAUS United StatesUSA
Eights, Men GermanyGER CanadaCAN Great BritainGBR
Lightweight Double Sculls, Men DenmarkDEN Great BritainGBR New ZealandNZL
Lightweight Coxless Fours, Men South AfricaRSA Great BritainGBR DenmarkDEN
Single Sculls, Women Mirka KnapkováCZE Fie Udby ErichsenDEN Kim CrowAUS
Double Sculls, Women Great BritainGBR AustraliaAUS PolandPOL
Quadruple Sculls, Women UkraineUKR GermanyGER United StatesUSA
Coxless Pairs, Women Great BritainGBR AustraliaAUS New ZealandNZL
Eights, Women United StatesUSA CanadaCAN NetherlandsNED
Lightweight Double Sculls, Women Great BritainGBR People's Republic of ChinaCHN GreeceGRE

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Great Britain GBR 4 2 3 9
New Zealand NZL 3 0 2 5
Germany GER 2 1 0 3
Denmark DEN 1 1 1 3
Czechia CZE 1 1 0 2
United States USA 1 0 2 3
South Africa RSA 1 0 0 1
Ukraine UKR 1 0 0 1
Australia AUS 0 3 2 5
Canada CAN 0 2 0 2
Croatia CRO 0 1 0 1
France FRA 0 1 0 1
Italy ITA 0 1 0 1
People's Republic of China CHN 0 1 0 1
Greece GRE 0 0 1 1
Netherlands NED 0 0 1 1
Poland POL 0 0 1 1
Slovenia SLO 0 0 1 1