This was the 29th 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.
New Zealand won the event at the 2020 Olympics. Great Britain won the 2023 and 2022 World Championships, having earned a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics. At the 2024 World Rowing Cup II in May, Great Britain won by less than a second to the United States.[1] These two nations did not compete in the World Rowing Cup III in June, the last major international regatta before the Olympics.[2]
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:[3][4]
5 from the World Championships (Great Britain, Netherlands, Australia, Romania, and Germany)
2 from the final qualification regatta (United States and Italy)
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.[5]
Beginning at the 2020 Olympics, the coxswain position has been open to any gender.[6]
There are 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 advance to the final; only the last-place boat will be eliminated (with an overall rank of 7th place). The final determines the medals as well as 4th to 6th places.
Schedule
The competition is scheduled over six days. Times given are session start times; multiple rowing events might have races during a session.[7]
