Rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics


The rowing competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will take place between 23 and 30 July 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay. Fourteen medal events will be contested by 526 athletes.

Competition format

Unlike the program's format in 2016, rowing features a total of 14 events. Events include, but are not limited to categories for open weight and restricted weight athletes, and two styles of rowing: sweep, where competitors each use a single oar, and sculling, where they use a double placed on opposite sides of the boat.
Sculling events include men's and women's singles, doubles, lightweight doubles, and quads. Sweep events include men's and women's coxless pairs, coxless fours, and eights.
On 9 June 2017, the International Rowing Federation welcomed the decision of the International Olympic Committee to approve the changes of the Olympic rowing program to achieve gender equality. Hence, the women's coxless four replaced the men's lightweight coxless four from the previous Games, the most significant change made to the rowing program after 24 years.

Regatta venue

The event will take place at a new venue constructed specifically for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The water is about 6 metres deep. The course is 2335 meters long and 198 meters wide. Each lane is 12.5 m wide. There are 8 lanes.

Qualification

Each nation might qualify one boat for each of the fourteen events. The majority of the berths will be awarded based on the results at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, held in Ottensheim, Austria from 25 August to 1 September 2019. Places are awarded to National Olympic Committees, not to specific athletes, finishing in the top 9 in the single sculls, top 5 in the eights, top 8 in the fours and quadruple sculls, top 7 in the lightweight double sculls, and top 11 each in the pairs and double sculls. Further berths will be distributed to the nations at four continental qualifying regattas in Asia and Oceania, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, and at a final Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Competition schedule

Medalists

Men’s

Women’s