Rowing at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's single sculls

The men's single sculls competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place at Lake Lanier, Atlanta, United States of America. The event was held from 21 to 27 July 1996.[1]

Men's single sculls at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Venue	Lake Lanier
Date	July 21 – July 27
Competitors	21 from 21 nations
Medalists
Xeno Müller  Switzerland Derek Porter  Canada Thomas Lange  Germany

Rowing at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Single sculls	men	women
Coxless pair	men	women
Double sculls	men	women
Lwt double sculls	men	women
Coxless four	men
Quadruple sculls	men	women
Eight	men	women
Lwt coxless four	men

The men’s single sculls event at the 1996 Summer Olympics was full of rowing luminaries, but no one candidate stood out as an absolute favorite. The two-time defending Olympic champion, Thomas Lange of Germany, was probably a solid bet, but his only podium finish at the last three World Championships was third in 1993, although he did win the Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta that year. There were, however, three other World Champions in Atlanta: Slovenia’s Iztok Čop, the reigning World Champion who also had a bronze medal from the 1992 Olympic coxless pairs, Canadian Derek Porter, the 1993 World Champion who was also an Olympic champion from the 1988 coxed eights, and Estonia’s Jüri Jaanson, the 1990 World Champion and 1995 winner of the Diamond Challenge Sculls. Also present were Václav Chalupa, Jr. of the Czech Republic, a four-time World and 1992 Olympic runner-up, Sergio Fernandez of Argentina, the reigning Pan American champion, and Xeno Müller of Switzerland, 1994 World runner-up and winner of that year’s Diamond Challenge Sculls.

Müller posted the fastest time in the opening round by five seconds, with the other heats being won by Porter, Lange, and Chalupa. Jaanson, meanwhile, had a surprisingly poor performance in both round one and the repêchage and was eliminated. Müller was somewhat less dominant in the semi-finals, although he was still over two seconds faster than anyone else, while Lange carried his heat and Fernández was eliminated. Müller capped off his excellent performance by winning the final in Olympic record time and earning Switzerland its first Olympic rowing title since 1928, a feat that was also matched in Atlanta by brothers Markus Gier and Michael Gier in the lightweight double sculls. Porter and Lange, meanwhile, were neck and neck just before the finish line, but the Canadian edged out the two-time Olympic champion by 0.27 seconds to capture the silver medal.[1]