Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place at the Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre and featured 550 competitors taking part in 14 events.
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.
Silken Suzette Laumann, is a Canadian champion rower.
Deborah Kirsty Bruwer is an English rower, noteworthy for winning silver medals in the quadruple sculls at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.
Allar Raja is an Estonian rower. He is a member of rowing club SK Kalev located in Pärnu.
Kaspar Taimsoo is an Estonian rower. He is a four time Olympian and four time European champion. He is a member of Viljandi Rowing Club.
Douglas Turnbull Hamilton is a Canadian Olympic medallist rower.
Martin Sinković is a Croatian rower. He is the younger brother of fellow rower Valent Sinković, with whom he has won three Olympic gold medals. The brothers are the most decorated Croatian Summer Olympians in history and won gold medals in the double sculls at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the coxless pair at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the coxless pair at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Sinković won the silver medal in the quadruple sculls at the 2012 Summer Olympics with his brother, David Šain and Damir Martin. He is a six-time world champion, twice in quadruple sculls, double sculls and coxless pair each, and seven-time European champion, with four titles in double sculls and three titles in coxless pair. Sinković is also a two-time U23 world champion in quadruple sculls with his brother, Šain and Martin.
Valent Sinković is a Croatian rower. He is the older brother of fellow rower Martin Sinković, with whom he has won three Olympic gold medals. The brothers are the most decorated Croatian Summer Olympians in history and won gold medals in the double sculls at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the coxless pair at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the coxless pair at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Sinković won the silver medal in the quadruple sculls at the 2012 Summer Olympics with his brother, David Šain and Damir Martin. He is a six-time world champion, twice in quadruple sculls, double sculls and coxless pair each, and seven-time European champion, with four titles in double sculls and three titles in coxless pair. Sinković is also a two-time U23 world champion in quadruple sculls with his brother, Šain and Martin.
Stephan Krüger is a German rower.
Alexandra Hagan is an Australian Olympic representative rower. She competed in the Australian women's eight at London 2012 and was again selected in the eight for Rio 2016. She competed and won bronze at World Rowing Championships in 2013.
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 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.
Switzerland competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Swiss athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, except for a partial boycott of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne as a protest to the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The Swiss team consisted of 104 athletes, 59 men and 45 women, across seventeen sports.
Vladislav Vadimovich Ryabtsev is a Russian rower. Competing in quadruple sculls he won the European title in 2015 and placed eighth at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was disqualified from competing at the 2016 Olympics in the quadruple sculls after his teammate Sergey Fedorovtsev failed a drug test in 2016, but subsequently allowed to compete in the Games when Russia was allowed to rearrange their eligible oarsmen into the one remaining crew.
Pascal Lussier is a Canadian rower. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in the men's double sculls event.
John Storey is a New Zealand rower. He competed at the Olympics in 2012 and 2016, and won a world championship title in double scull in 2017 alongside Chris Harris. Storey announced his retirement from international rowing in April 2021.
Nathan Flannery is a New Zealand rower who started with the sport in 2006. He qualified in 2016 to row in the New Zealand's men's quadruple scull. At the Olympic qualifying regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, in May 2016—the last chance to qualify for the 2016 Olympics—they came third behind teams from Russia and Canada, and thus did not qualify. After a positive doping test returned by Russian crew member Sergey Fedorovtsev, the Russian team was disqualified by the world rowing federation and the New Zealand team was assigned an Olympic quota spot. For the competition in Rio, Flannery replaced Robbie Manson in the bow. The other two team mates are George Bridgewater and Jade Uru.
Saiyidah Aisyah Mohamed Rafa’ee, commonly known as Aisyah, is a Singaporean rower. She placed 23rd in the women's single sculls event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, making her Singapore's first Olympic rower.
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