Olympic and Paralympic Games—Beijing 2008

James Tomkins - Australian Flag Bearer at the Opening Ceremony

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Our six time Olympian James Tomkins, was given the honour of being the Australian flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony. He was the third rower to have the honour, the first being Bobby Pearce at the Amsterdam Games and then Mervyn Wood who undertook this task at both the Helsinki and Melbourne Games.

This was to be the first Olympic Games under the qualifying system commenced in 1996 where Australia would have crews in every event. The weight of numbers unfortunately did not bring the results expected but did result in three great medals, gold for both the men's double and men's pair, and a silver in the men's four.

The Paralymics produced a silver for the adaptive trunk and arms double scull but our best adaptive performer of recent years, Dominic Monypenny, only managed a sixth placing.

All medals won had their own special features.

The men's pair contained two of Australia's great rowers, Duncan Free from sculling fame and Drew Ginn from "Oarsome Foursome" and 2004 men's pair fame. They were favourites to win the event. However Drew's back, which collapsed before the 2000 Games, again collapsed at this regatta. He was unable to row between heat and semi final and between semi final and final. He survived the final to row a flawless race. He returned to Australia for an operation on his back.

The men's double named their boat "Schinias" as there was unfinished business from the Olympic regatta in 2004. The business was finished satisfactorily with perfect races rowed in heat, semi final and final. A superb result for this determined and well planned double.

The men's four regarded their silver as gold. The primary selected boats were the eight and the pair and these rowers did not fortunately make that selection. However they made their own crew under coach Tim Conrad to cross the line second in a strong and superbly raced final. They also had to qualify the boat at the Poznan qualifying regatta in June 2008.

At the Paralympics, the outstanding combination of Kathryn Ross and the great John MacLean gained a medal in this event. Kathryn was new to this level of competition and John was very experienced but in other sports - the combination worked.

Unlucky to not win a medal was our men's quad. They won their heat in world record time and perhaps inexperience robbed them of a medal winning race. Expect to see more of these scullers in years to come.

Australia placed a great deal of effort and resources into the men's and women's eights but unfortunately did not receive the dividends planned.

The lightweight crews had experience and skill but alas did not medal in the tough Olympic competition.

In summary there were many great results and many promising signs for the future of Australian rowing in these regattas.

Medal Table

Men's Results

Men's Scull
E1: 1st BEL, 2nd SUI, 3rd GRE, 4th ARG, 5th IRI, 6th KEN
E2: 1st NZL, 2nd BRA, 3rd CHI, 4th EST, 5th VEN, 6th CHN
E3: 1st SWE, 2nd GER, 3rd HKG, 4th URU, 5th CMR, 6th HON
E4: 1st CZE, 2nd LTU, 3rd IND, 4th MON, 5th ALG
E5: 1st GBR, 2nd AUS, 3rd MEX, 4th USA, 5th UZB
E6: 1st NOR, 2nd NED, 3rd EGY, 4th TPE, 5th COL
Q1: 1st GER, 2nd GBR, 3rd SUI, 4th CHI, 5th MON, 6th EGY
Q2: 1st NOR, 2nd LTU, 3rd GRE, 4th MEX, 5th BRA, 6th URU
Q3: 1st CZE, 2nd BEL, 3rd AUS, 4th EST, 5th TPE, 6th HKG
Q4: 1st NZL, 2nd SWE, 3rd USA, 4th NED, 5th IND, 6th ARG
SF E/F: 1st IRI, 2nd COL, 3rd UZB, 4th HON
SF E/F: 1st VEN, 2nd CMR, 3rd ALG, 4th KEN
SF C/D: 1st MEX, 2nd CHI, 3rd EGY, 4th IND, 5th TPE, 6th HKG
SF C/D: 1st NED, 2nd EST, 3rd BRA, 4th URU, 5th MON
SF A/B: 1st SWE, 2nd NOR, 3rd BEL, 4th GER, 5th SUI, 6th AUS
SF A/B: 1st CZE, 2nd GBR, 3rd NZL, 4th GRE, 5th USA, 6th LTU
FF: 1st KEN, 2nd HON
FE: 1st VEN, 2nd IRI, 3rd UZB, 4th COL, 5th CMR, 6th ALG
FD: 1st URU, 2nd HKG, 3rd IND, 4th MON, 5th TPE
FC: 1st NED, 2nd BRA, 3rd MEX, 4th CHI, 5th EST, 6th EGY
FB: 1st GER, 2nd LTU, 3rd SUI, 4th GRE, 5th USA, 6th AUS
FA: 1st NOR (Olaf Tufte) 6:59.83, 2nd CZE (Ondrej Synek) 7:00.63, 3rd NZL ( Mahe Drysdale) 7:01.56, 4th BEL 7:03.40, 5th GBR 7:04.47, 6th SWE 7:07.64

Men's Double Scull
E1: 1st NZL, 2nd BLR, 3rd GER, 4th BEL, 5th USA
E2: 1st GBR, 2nd CRO, 3rd EST, 4th RUS, 5th IRQ
E3: 1st AUS, 2nd FRA, 3rd SLO, 4th BUL, 5th CHN
R: 1st RUS, 2nd BEL, 3rd BUL, 4th USA, 5th IRQ
SF A/B: 1st AUS, 2nd SLO, 3rd NZL, 4th CRO, 5th BEL, 6th GER
SF A/B: 1st FRA, 2nd EST, 3rd GBR, 4th BUL, 5th RUS, 6th BLR
FC: 1st USA, 2nd IRQ
FB: 1st BLR, 2nd BEL, 3rd GER, 4th BUL, 5th RUS, 6th CRO
FA: 1st AUS (David Crawshay & Scott Brennan) 6:27.77, 2nd EST (Tonu Endrekson & Juri Jaanson) 6:29.05, 3rd GBR ( Matthew Wells & Stephen Rowbotham) 6:29.10, 4th NZL 6:30.79, 5th FRA 6:33.36, 6th SLO 6:33.96

Men's Quad Scull
E1: 1st AUS, 2nd ITA, 3rd RUS, 4th EST, 5th CZE
E2: 1st POL, 2nd FRA, 3rd BLR, 4th CUB
E3: 1st UKR, 2nd GER, 3rd USA, 4th SLO
R: 1st EST, 2nd CUB, 3rd CZE, 4th SLO
SF A/B: 1st POL, 2nd AUS, 3rd GER, 4th CZE, 5th RUS, 6th BLR
SF A/B: 1st ITA, 2nd USA, 3rd FRA, 4th EST, 5th UKR, 6th CUB
FB: 1st RUS, 2nd UKR, 3rd EST, 4th CZE, 5th BLR, 6th CUB
FA: 1st POL (Konrad Wasielewski, Marek Kolbowicz, Michal Jelinski & Adam Korol) 5:41.33, 2nd ITA (Luca Agamennoni, Simone Venier, Rossano Galtarossa & Simone Raineri) 5:43.57, 3rd FRA (Jonathan Coeffic, Pierre-Jean Peltier, Julien Bahain & Cedric Berrest) 5:44.34, 4th AUS 5:44.68, 5th USA 5:47.64, 6th GER 5:50.96

Men's Pair
E1: 1st FRA, 2nd ITA, 3rd CAN, 4th POL, 5th USA
E2: 1st AUS, 2nd RSA, 3rd GER, 4th GBR, 5th DEN
E3: 1st NZL, 2nd SRB, 3rd CZE, 4th CRO
R: 1st USA, 2nd CRO, 3rd DEN, 4th GBR, 5th POL
SF A/B: 1st CAN, 2nd NZL, 3rd RSA, 4th CZE, 5th FRA, 6th CRO
SF A/B: 1st AUS, 2nd USA, 3rd GER, 4th SRB, 5th ITA, 6th DEN
FC: 1st GBR, 2nd POL
FB: 1st SRB, 2nd CZE, 3rd FRA, 4th DEN, 5th ITA, 6th CRO
FA: 1st AUS (Drew Ginn & Duncan Free) 6:37.44, 2nd CAN (David Calder & Scott Frandsen) 6:39.55, 3rd NZL (Nathan Twaddle & George Bridgewater) 6:44.19, 4th GER 6:47.40, 5th RSA 6:47.83, 6th USA 7:05.58

Men's Four
E1: 1st GBR, 2nd ITA, 3rd USA, 4th CHN, 5th BLR
E2: 1st NED, 2nd NZL, 3rd SLO, 4th CZE
E3: 1st AUS, 2nd GER, 3rd IRL, 4th FRA
R: 1st CZE, 2nd FRA, 3rd BLR, 4th CHN
SF A/B: 1st GBR, 2nd AUS, 3rd FRA, 4th NZL, 5th USA, 6th IRL
SF A/B: 1st SLO, 2nd CZE, 3rd GER, 4th NED, 5th BLR, 6th ITA
FB: 1st NZL, 2nd NED, 3rd USA, 4th IRL, 5th ITA, 6th BLR
FA: 1st GBR (Tom James, Steve Williams, Pete Reed, Andrew Triggs Hodge) 6:06.57, 2nd AUS ( Matt Ryan, Kames Marburg, Cameron McKemzie-McHarg, Francis Hegerty) 6:07.85, 3rd FRA (Julien Despres, Benjamin Rondeau, Germain Chardin, Dorian Mortelette) 6:09.31, 4th SLO 6:11.62, 5th CZE 6:16.56, 6th GER 6:19.63

Men's Eight
E1: 1st CAN, 2nd POL, 3rd NED, 4th AUS
E2: 1st GBR, 2nd USA, 3rd CHN, 4th GER
R: 1st USA, 2nnd AUS, 3rd NED, 4th POL, 5th CHN, 6th GER
FB: 1st CHN, 2nd GER
FA: 1st CAN (Kevin Light, Ben Rutledge, Andrew Byrnes, Jake Wetzel, Malcolm Howard, Dominic Seiterle, Adam Kreek, Kyle Hamilton and cox Brian Price) 5:23.89, 2nd GBR (Alex Partridge, Tom Stallard, Tom Lucy, Richard Eginton, Josh West, Alastair Heathcote, Matt Langridge, Colin Smith and cox Acer Nethercott) 5:25.11, 3rd USA (Beau Hoopman, Matt Schnobrich, Micah Boyd, Wyatt Allen, Daniel Walsh, Steven Coppola, Josh Inman, Bryan Volpenheim and cox Marcus McElhenney) 5:25.34, 4th NED 5:29.26, 5th POL 5:31.42, 6th AUS 5:35.10

Men's Lightweight Double Scull
E1: 1st GBR, 2nd GRE, 3rd GER, 4th JPN, 5th ALG
E2: 1st ITA, 2nd CHN, 3rd AUS, 4th CUB, 5th IND
E3: 1st DEN, 2nd CAN, 3rd HUN, 4th URU, 5th BRA
E4: 1st NZL, 2nd FRA, 3rd POR, 4th HKG, 5th KOR
R1: 1st GER, 2nd AUS, 3rd URU, 4th BRA, 5th HKG, 6th ALG
R2: 1st POR, 2nd CUB, 3rd JPN, 4th HUN, 5th IND, 6th KOR
SF C/D: 1st HUN, 2nd URU, 3rd HKG, 4th KOR
SF C/D: 1st JPN, 2nd BRA, 3rd IND, 4th ALG
SF A/B: 1st GBR, 2nd ITA, 3rd CUB, 4th GER, 5th FRA, 6th CAN
SF A/B: 1st GRE, 2nd DEN, 3rd CHN, 4th NZL, 5th AUS, 6th POR
FD: 1st KOR, 2nd ALG
FC: 1st JPN, 2nd HUN, 3rd URU, 4th HKG, 5th BRA, 6th IND
FB: 1st NZL, 2nd POR, 3rd GER, 4th AUS, 5th FRA, 6th CAN
FA: 1st GBR ( Zac Purchase & Mark Hunter) 6:10.99, 2nd GRE (Dimitrios Mougios & Vasileios Polymeros) 6:11 72, 3rd DEN (Mds Reinholdt Rasmussen & Rasmus Nicholai Quist Hansen) 6:12.45, 4th ITA 6:16.15, 5th CHN 6:16.69, 6th CUB 6:19.96

Men's Lightweight Four
E1: 1st CHN, 2nd GBR, 3rd AUS, 4th NED, 5th EGY
E2: 1st DEN, 2nd CAN, 3rd ITA, 4th USA
E3: 1st GER, 2nd FRA, 3rd POL, 4th IRL
R: 1st IRL, 2nd NED, 3rd USA, 4th EGY
SF A/B: 1st POL, 2nd CAN, 3rd NED, 4th AUS, 5th CHN
SF A/B: 1st DEN, 2nd FRA, 3rd GBR, 4th IRL, 5th ITA, 6th USA
FB: 1st ITA, 2nd CHN, 3rd AUS, 4th IRL, 5th USA
FA: 1st DEN (Thomas Ebert, Morten Joergensen, Mads Christian Kruse Andersen, Eskild Balschmidt Ebbesen) 5:47.76, 2nd POL (Lukasz Pawlowski, Bartlomiej Pawelczak, Milosz Bernatajtys & Pawel Randa) 5:49.39, 3rd CAN (Iain Brambell, Jon Beare, Mike Lewis & Liam Parsons) 5:50.09, 4th FRA 5:51.22, 5th GBR 5:52.12, 6th NED 5:54.06