Rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

This article details the qualifying phase for rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics (postponed to 2021[2] due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The majority of the spots will be awarded to the NOCs, not to specific athletes, at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, held in Ottensheim, Austria from 25 August to 1 September 2019.[3] At the World Championships countries qualify boats rather than crews and can make crew changes for the Olympic regatta for qualified boats. Further berths are distributed to the nations at four continental qualifying regattas in Asia and Oceania, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, the latter being the final Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland. At these further regattas the rowers who qualify the boats have to row in these boats at the Olympics.

All qualifying NOCs are limited to one berth per event, and only NOCs with fewer than two berths from the World Championships may compete in the continental qualifying regattas. Host nation Japan will be automatically granted a berth each in the men's and women's single sculls, in case the nation fails to qualify for any rowing event at the various regattas.[1]

Timeline

Event	Date	Venue
2019 World Rowing Championships	25 August – 1 September 2019	Ottensheim[3]
African Continental Qualification Regatta	10–12 October 2019	Tunis[4]
Americas Continental Qualification Regatta	4–6 March 2021[5]	Rio de Janeiro[5]
European Continental Qualification Regatta	5–7 April 2021[6]	Varese
Asian & Oceania Continental Qualification Regatta	5–7 May 2021[7]	Tokyo[7]
Final Qualification Regatta	16–18 May 2021[8]	Lucerne

Qualification summary

Nation	Men							Women							Crews	Athletes
Nation	M1x	M2-	M2x	LM2x	M4-	M4x	M8+	W1x	W2-	W2x	LW2x	W4-	W4x	W8+	Crews	Athletes
Algeria				X											1	2
Australia		X			X	X	X		X	X		X		X	8	36
Austria								X							1	1
Belarus		X									X				2	4
Belgium				X											1	2
Benin	X														1	1
Canada		X						X	X	X		X		X	6	20
China			X			X		X	X	X			X		6	15
Ivory Coast	X														1	1
Croatia	X	X													2	3
Czech Republic	X									X					2	3
Denmark	X											X			2	5
Egypt	X														1	1
France		X	X							X	X				4	8
Germany	X		X	X		X	X						X		6	22
Great Britain			X		X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	10	41
Greece									X						1	2
Ireland			X	X				X	X						4	7
Italy	X	X		X	X	X			X	X	X		X		9	23
Libya	X														1	1
Lithuania	X		X							X					3	5
Morocco								X							1	1
Namibia								X							1	1
Netherlands	X		X		X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X		10	33
Nigeria								X							1	1
New Zealand	X	X	X					X	X	X	X		X	X	9	25
Norway	X			X		X									3	7
Poland			X	X	X	X						X	X		6	20
Romania		X	X		X				X	X	X	X			7	18
Serbia		X													1	2
South Africa		X													1	2
Spain		X		X					X						3	6
Switzerland			X		X			X							3	7
Togo								X							1	1
Tunisia											X				1	2
Uganda								X							1	1
United States					X		X	X	X	X		X	X	X	8	35
Zimbabwe	X														1	1
Total: 37 NOCs	14	11	11	8	8	8	5	14	11	11	8	8	8	5	130	366

Men's events

Single sculls

Event	#	Nation	Qualified rower
Host nation (if required)	—	Japan
2019 World Rowing Championships	1	Germany
	2	Denmark	Sverri Sandberg Nielsen
	3	Netherlands
	4	Czech Republic
	5	Lithuania
	6	Norway
	7	New Zealand
	8	Croatia
	9	Italy
Asian & Oceania Qualification Regatta	1
	2
	3
	4
	5
African Qualification Regatta	1	Egypt
	2	Zimbabwe
	3	Benin
	4	Ivory Coast
	5	Libya
Americas Qualification Regatta	1
	2
	3
	4
	5
European Qualification Regatta	1
	2
	3
Final Qualification Regatta	1
Final Qualification Regatta	2
Tripartite Invitation	1
Tripartite Invitation	2
Total	Up to 32

Double sculls

Event	#	Nation
2019 World Rowing Championships	1	China
	2	Ireland
	3	Poland
	4	Romania
	5	Switzerland
	6	Great Britain
	7	Netherlands
	8	New Zealand
	9	France
	10	Germany
	11	Lithuania
Final Qualification Regatta	1
Final Qualification Regatta	2
Total	13

Lightweight double sculls

Event	#	Nation
2019 World Rowing Championships	1	Italy
	2	Spain
	3	Poland
	4	Ireland
	5	Germany
	6	Norway
	7	Belgium
Asian & Oceania Qualification Regatta	1
	2
	3
African Qualification Regatta	1	Algeria
Americas Qualification Regatta	1
	2
	3
European Qualification Regatta	1
European Qualification Regatta	2
Final Qualification Regatta	1
Final Qualification Regatta	2
Total	18

Quadruple sculls

Event	#	Nation
2019 World Rowing Championships	1	Italy
	2	Netherlands
	3	Poland
	4	Germany
	5	Australia
	6	China
	7	Norway
	8	Great Britain
Final Qualification Regatta	1
Final Qualification Regatta	2
Total	10

Coxless pair

Event	#	Nation
2019 World Rowing Championships	1	Croatia
	2	Italy
	3	Spain
	4	New Zealand
	5	Australia
	6	France
	7	Serbia
	8	Canada
	9	South Africa
	10	Romania
	11	Belarus
Final Qualification Regatta	1
Final Qualification Regatta	2
Total	13

Coxless four

Event	#	Nation
2019 World Rowing Championships	1	Poland
	2	Romania
	3	Great Britain
	4	Italy
	5	United States
	6	Australia
	7	Netherlands
	8	Switzerland
Final Qualification Regatta	1
Final Qualification Regatta	2
Total	10

Eight

Event	#	Nation
2019 World Rowing Championships	1	Germany
	2	Netherlands
	3	Great Britain
	4	Australia
	5	United States
Final Qualification Regatta	1
Final Qualification Regatta	2
Total	7

Women's events