Another Olympic and Paralympic cycle has come to an end – some athletes are taking a well-deserved break, and others have jumped right back into racing at the World Rowing Championships and Coastal World Rowing Championships! At JRN, we are still hard at work analysing all of the fantastic results from Paris. First up, let’s take a look at the official medal tables.
A Tale of Two Countries
While Great Britain’s nine-medal haul at the London 2012 Olympics is still the record, the Netherlands and Great Britain each won eight medals in Paris to set the second and third-best totals this century – and they did it at the same Games! With six-medal totals, Great Britain (Beijing 2008) and Germany (Sydney 2000) round out the top five best performances.
(Don’t) Share the Wealth
With Great Britain and the Netherlands winning more than one-third of the total medals (and exactly half of the golds), it is no surprise that Paris had the lowest medal spread in the 2000s era with 16 countries on the podium.
- Tokyo and London had the next-lowest spreads at 18 countries, while Athens had the highest at 23.
- China and France were the two most obvious absences from the Olympic medal table in Paris – both going home empty-handed for the first time since 2004.
- Eight countries won an Olympic title in Paris – tied for the lowest spread (matching London); the highest was Beijing, with 12 separate countries winning gold.
Maiden Medals
- Netherlands won their first medals in the women’s pair and women’s single events and Romania won their first medal in the men’s double; all three were gold!
- Historic bronze medals were won by Ireland – with their first heavyweight men’s medal in the double – and Lithuania, with their first medal in the women’s single.
- New Zealand and Great Britain medalled in the women’s four for the first time.
- Israel won their first medal in PR2 Mix2x, a bronze. The PR3 Mix2x is a new event, so Australia is the first-ever champion and Great Britain and Germany are the first ever silver and bronze medallists.
Paralympic Power
In the Paralympics, Great Britain had the best-ever performance with three golds and one silver, beating their Rio performance (three gold and one bronze) by a 0.12 margin in the PR3 Mix2x! The British team won twelve medals in Paris, surpassing their London total of ten. Paralympic rowing began in 2008, and only five countries have won medals at every Games – GBR, UKR, AUS, CHN, and USA.
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
- Only the top two countries captured three medals in a discipline. The Dutch won a full set of medals in men’s sculling (gold M4x, silver M2x, bronze M1x) while the British won a full set in men’s sweep (gold M8+, silver M2-, bronze M4-).
- The British women and Irish men achieved the same “double double” feat – gold in the Lightweight double and bronze in the Heavyweight double.
Third’s the Charm
Five crews who qualified from the Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualifying Regatta went on to medal at the Olympics/Paralympics – all winning bronze! This includes the USA men’s eight, Great Britain women’s double, both lightweight doubles from Greece, and Israel’s PR2 Mix2x.
Every medal counts equally towards the official Medal Table (in all sports), regardless of how many athletes it takes to win it. However, it is undisputable that winning a medal in a larger boat requires identifying, developing, and sustaining a larger number of elite-level athletes than the smaller boats. This table looks at how many physical medals each country left Paris with as a measure of the size and strength of each nation’s team.
*Paralympic crews are determined by classification rather than by strategic decisions, so they are not included in this section*
Eggs in One Basket
The biggest climber were Canada, who were ranked tenth on the official table but brought home silver medals in the women’s eight to move up to sixth place by total physical medals. The USA also trades places with New Zealand due to the eight and four medals, compared to New Zealand’s wider spread of top athletes across small boats.
Big Dogs
The top three countries from the official table remain the top three – however Great Britain absolutely dominates this tally due to medalling in both the men’s and women’s eights (gold and bronze). They previously achieved this feat in Rio with gold and silver, respectively. Romania remains in third place, and it’s clear that the gap between them and the two most dominant nations is the parity between men’s and women’s medals. The women won four medals (tied with NED, one shy of GBR), while the men won one medal.
Dutch double-Up?
The Netherlands won gold in the women’s pair and women’s four but did not race the women’s eight. The Dutch women won a silver medal in the eight at the 2022 World Rowing Championships, placing between Romania and Canada. The Netherlands crew comprised the pair, four, and double athletes, each winning a silver medal in their smaller crews.
However, the Netherlands did not pursue a women’s eight in 2023 or 2024. Perhaps they were hunting for more gold and decided to specialise in the smaller crews. That strategy converted four 2022 world silver medals into two 2023 world gold medals and finally into two Olympic gold medals (and a close fourth place), but who knows what they may have achieved if they kept trying the double-up strategy.
Row-mania!
The major story of the regatta was the doubling up of the Romanian’s – fully half of the 16 medals brought home by Romania belong to just four athletes!
- Simona Radis, Ancuta Bodnar, Roxana Anghel, and Ioana Vrinceanu join the elite ranks of double-medallists from a single Olympic Games. Each athlete won a silver medal in a small boat (double and pair, respectively) and followed it up with a gold medal in the eight.
- In this century, only six athletes have previously achieved this feat (all female).
- Romanian icons Georgeta Damian-Andrunache and Viorica Susanu have managed it twice (2004/2008), and Doina Ignat once (2000). Kim Brennan (2012) and Kiwis Grace Prendergast and Kerri Williams (2020) are the most recent athletes to win two medals at a single Games.
Lastly, we will look at the nations that achieved a Top Eight ranking in each event and received the Olympic/Paralympic diploma. This table shows the overall strength of the nations, even if they finished off the podium. In Tokyo, the British team was disappointed to win only two medals but had a whopping six fourth-place finishes, laying the groundwork for the eight medals won in Paris (also – eight of those fourth-place athletes came back and won medals in Paris!).
Romania Right Behind
Romania took a step back on the official medal table and total physical medals but were incredibly close to Great Britain’s ranking due to numerous fourth (W4, M2) and fifth (M8, M4) place finishes. Tied for the largest team at twelve crews, nine made it into the A-final! Romania has a very distinctive high-rating style and history of doubling up, and they seem to structure their year differently than many other countries (with a peak at the European Rowing Championships and minimal World Rowing Cup racing). The Paris Olympics demonstrated the podium success of that approach on the women’s side, and their men may be on track to jump to the podium in LA if they can maintain this momentum.
USA Upgrades
After leaving Tokyo without any Olympic medals, the USA got back on track with two medals in Paris. The ranking points also show a strong presence from the non-medalists – only three points behind the mighty four-medal New Zealand team. The men’s four and eight built on their fourth/fifth in the big sweep boats in Tokyo to medals in Paris – can the women do the same for their upcoming home Olympics?
Major Questions for Major Players
Australia does move up from 13th place on the official medal table (one bronze in the women’s pair) to sixth place by rankings, but they severely underperformed by their high standards (and compared to their neighbours NZL, who won four medals with the same number of crews). Five medals at the 2022 World Rowing Championships (one silver, four bronze) were followed by four medals at the 2023 World Rowing Championships (one silver, three bronze), and it seems as though the podium just slipped out of reach in Paris for all but the women’s pair.
The Canadians qualified only two boats for Paris, down from ten in Tokyo, and it is obvious in their ranking points – finishing below non-medalist countries like Spain and France. Both the Canadians and the Australians will hope for a successful next quadrennial to turn things around.
Allez les Bleus!
Looking at rankings also provides the opportunity to talk about the strength of the home team at the Paralympics –
- France was the only nation to qualify a crew in every event, and every one of those crews made it to the A-final! They achieved second place on the Ranking Points table despite being eighth on the Official Medal Table. Ukraine, with two medals and four A-finals, was right behind.
- Nathalie Benoit, who was already a double Paralympic medallist, announced her retirement from the sport following Paris and is going out with a stellar bronze medal (if you haven’t watched the PR1 W1x final…you are missing out!). The French PR3 Mix4+ had a lights-out sprint to snag their second medal.
- While coming away with no Olympic medals for the first time since 2004 must sting, it was incredible to watch the joy from athletes and crowds alike as the French heavyweight women’s double won their heat and as the two French lightweight doubles won their B-finals!
Predictions for LA 2028
How can we use this data to start making predictions for LA 2028? With the races dropping to 1500m, more countries may attempt to double up into the eight. The Netherlands could try to replicate their 2022 success. Italy qualified two eights for Paris for the first time, and Denmark qualified their women’s eight for the first time – but neither country was in the medal hunt. It may be a good strategy for them to build on their eights knowledge but double up their top talent. As for the biggest potential gains – Romania is lurking just behind Great Britain on ranking points and may step fully into the spotlight in LA if they can convert those fourth places into medals. France’s strong Paralympic team may crack into the second or even top medal spot in LA if they can build on their strengths from Paris. Whatever the future holds for these teams, the next four years will make for amazing viewing!
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