Olympic Rowing at London 2012: A Look Back

Rowing at the London 2012 Olympics was held at Eton Dorney, beside the Thames west of London, and is remembered as one of the best British Olympic performances in the sport.

The venue

Eton Dorney is a purpose-built rowing and sprint canoe lake in Buckinghamshire, run by Eton College.

It has a straight 2,000 metre course with room for more lanes than the Olympics needed, plus a return channel so that crews can row back without crossing racing lanes. A straight artificial lake gives fairer conditions than a river course, although wind can still help or hurt some lanes. The rowing ran for about a week from late July into early August 2012.

The regatta format

Crews entered a heat, and those who did not qualify directly went to a repechage, a second-chance race. After that came semi-finals for bigger fields, then A and B finals. The race is 2,000 metres, the same distance used since the women’s races were lengthened. See Olympic rowing distances for more.

Britain’s golds

Great Britain won four rowing golds:

• Women’s coxless pair: Helen Glover and Heather Stanning
• Women’s double sculls: Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins
• Women’s lightweight double sculls: Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking
• Men’s coxless four: Pete Reed, Andy Triggs Hodge, Alex Gregory and Tom James

Glover and Stanning’s gold was the first rowing gold of the Games for Great Britain, and widely remembered as Team GB’s first gold of the whole Olympics.

Read the individual stories in Helen Glover, Heather Stanning, Katherine Grainger and Pete Reed.

Other highlights

Greg Searle won a bronze in the men’s eight, 20 years after his Olympic gold in Barcelona. See the Searle brothers.

New Zealand’s pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray won the men’s coxless pair, and Mahe Drysdale won the men’s single sculls.

Germany won the men’s eight and the United States won the women’s eight.

Britain’s Alan Campbell took bronze in the men’s single sculls.

Why it mattered

The regatta showed how much a home crowd and a well-funded programme can lift performance. Rowing is a sport with a small domestic audience in normal years, but the packed grandstands on the Thames valley banks made it feel like a major event. It also helped bring the sport to a new audience, and many clubs saw an increase in interest. Funding for elite programmes in Britain is linked to Olympic medal targets, and the success at home helped sustain support for later cycles.

The atmosphere

Rowing can be hard to follow from the bank, since the finish line is the key moment, so large screens and commentary help spectators at any regatta. Watching on television, the 500 metre splits and stroke rates on screen give the clearest picture of how a race is developing. See how to watch rowing at the Olympics.

What to take from it

• A home Games gives athletes a lift, but crews still have to deliver on the day.
• Small boats, such as pairs and fours, can win medals for countries with deep club systems.
• Success depends on years of preparation. Most winning crews at London had been together or racing at the top for several seasons.

If you want to give rowing a go, our guide to rowing clubs in the UK is a good start, and rowing for beginners covers what to expect.

More

See British rowing at the Olympics and the Olympic rowing hub.