This was the 28th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Games in 1896 (when bad weather forced the cancellation of all rowing events) but has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1900.
The German eight won all three World Championships held in this event after the 2016 Games.
No nations made their debut in the event, with all 7 qualifying places going to nations that have previously competed. The United States qualified and made their 25th appearance, most among nations.
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) has been limited to a single boat in the event since 1920. There are 7 qualifying places in the men's eight:[2]
5 from the 2019 World Championship (Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Australia, and the United States)
2 from the final qualification regatta (New Zealand and Romania)
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed many of the events for qualifying for rowing.
Competition format
This rowing event features nine-person boats, with eight rowers and a coxswain. It is a sweep rowing event, with the rowers each having one oar (and thus each rowing on one side). The competition consists of multiple rounds. The course uses the 2000 metres distance that became the Olympic standard in 1912.[3]
For the first time at the Olympics, the coxswain position was open to any gender.[4]
The competition used the three-round, single-final format used (unexpectedly) in 2016, when the number of teams was reduced from the expected 8 to 7 due to Russia's exclusion in the doping scandal. For 2020, the 7-boat field was deliberate. There were two heats, with the winner of each advancing directly to the final and the remaining five boats competing in the repechage. The top four in the repechage also advanced to the final; only the last-place boat was eliminated (with an overall rank of 7th place). The final determined the medals as well as 4th to 6th places.
Schedule
The competition was held over six days. Times given are session start times; multiple rowing events might have races during a session.[1]
