Rowing has been part of the Summer Olympics since its debut in the 1900 Games. Rowing was on the program at the 1896 Summer Olympics but was cancelled due to bad weather. Only men were allowed to compete until the women's events were introduced at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal which gave national federations the incentive to support women's events and catalysed growth in women's rowing. Lightweight rowing events were introduced to the games in 1996. Qualifying for the rowing events is under the jurisdiction of the World Rowing Federation. World Rowing predates the modern Olympics and was the first international sport federation to join the modern Olympic movement.
The 2014 World Rowing Championships were the 44th edition of the World Rowing Championships and were held from 24 to 31 August 2014 at Bosbaan, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the second occasion on which the event had been held in Amsterdam, or the Netherlands.
The 2015 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 2015 at the Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette-le-Lac in France.
The rowing competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 13 August 2016 at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in Lagoa. Fourteen medal events were being contested by 547 athletes, 334 men and 213 women.
The rowing competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place between 23 and 30 July 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay. Fourteen medal events were contested by 526 athletes.
Rowing at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics was held from 17 to 20 August at the Nanjing Rowing-Canoeing School in Nanjing, China.
Chile competed at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, in Nanjing, China from 16 August to 28 August 2014.
Paraguay competed at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, in Nanjing, China from 16 August to 28 August 2014.
Belarus competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.
The Russian Federation competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was Russia's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics as an independent nation. The nation finished fourth in the medal standings, with 19 gold and 56 total medals, ensuring that Soviet and Russian athletes had never placed below fourth since they started participating in 1952.
This article details the canoeing at the 2016 Summer Olympics qualifying phase. Similar to 2012 format, a qualification system has been set up for both slalom and sprint canoeing at these games. The quotas have already been set for each event by the International Canoe Federation in August 2014.
This article details the qualifying phase for weightlifting at the 2016 Summer Olympics. The competition at these Games includes 260 athletes. Each competing nation is allowed to enter a maximum of 10 competitors, 6 men and 4 women. 2014 and 2015 World Weightlifting Championships are the main qualifying events for the 2016 Olympic games. NOCs achieve qualification places according to their position in the joint team classification by points adding those scored in the 2014 and 2015 World Championships. One continental qualification event is held for each continent in 2016. Only NOCs which have not gained quota places in the Main Qualification Events may obtain quota places.
Rowing competitions at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro were held from 9 to 11 September 2016, at Lagoa Stadium at the Games' Copacabana hub.
Rowing at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics was held from 7 to 10 October. The events took place at the Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires, Argentina, being raced unusual to rowing events in a short sprint over a 500 metre 4 lane course, under the Puente de la Mujer. Racing started with a time trial of 900m + turn to allocate crews to heats. There were two rounds of heats with crews being awarded points based on their ranking in each heat and the accumulated points from the two heats determining progression to the quarter-finals of the singles and semi-finals of the pairs.
Uzbekistan participated at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 6 October to 18 October 2018.
This article details the qualifying phase for rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The majority of the spots were awarded to the National Olympic Committees, not to specific athletes, at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, held in Ottensheim, Austria from 25 August to 1 September 2019. At the World Championships countries qualify boats rather than crews and can make crew changes for the Olympic regatta for qualified boats. Further berths are distributed to the nations at four continental qualifying regattas in Asia and Oceania, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. The last berths were distributed at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta held in Lucerne, Switzerland 15–16 May 2021.
Belarus competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was Belarus' last appearance at the Summer Olympics as Belarus along with Russia was barred from competiting at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris as a result of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was the nation's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.
The rowing competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris ran from 27 July to 3 August at the Stade nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne, National Olympic Nautical Stadium of Île-de-France in Vaires-sur-Marne. The number of rowers competing across fourteen gender-based categories at these Games was reduced from 526 to 502, with an equal distribution between men’s and women’s events. Despite the slight changes in athlete figures, the rowing program for Paris 2024 remained constant from the previous edition as the competition featured an equal number of categories for men and women, with seven each.
502 athletes qualified for rowing at the 2024 Summer Olympics. About two-thirds of the total quota was awarded to the National Olympic Committees, not to specific athletes, at the 2023 World Rowing Championships on 3 to 10 September in Belgrade, Serbia. The remainder of the total quota was attributed to the eligible rowers at each of the four continental qualification regattas in Asia and Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and Europe, and at the final Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
