Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's single sculls

Men's single sculls at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Venue	Han River Regatta Course
Date	19–24 September
Competitors	22 from 22 nations
Winning time	6:58.65
Medalists
Thomas Lange  East Germany Peter-Michael Kolbe  West Germany Eric Verdonk  New Zealand

The men's single sculls competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place at Han River Regatta Course, South Korea. The event was held from 19 to 24 September. It was the 20th appearance of the event, which had been held at every Olympic Games since the introduction of rowing in 1900. NOCs were limited to one boat apiece; 22 sent a competitor in the men's single sculls. Thomas Lange of East Germany won the event, denying Pertti Karppinen a record fourth-straight win and starting a two-Games winning streak (and three-Games medal streak) of his own.

Background

Due to boycotts in 1980 and 1984, this was the first time since 1976 that all of the strongest rowing nations were present. The single sculls field included Finland's Pertti Karppinen (three-time defending gold medalist in 1976, 1980, and 1984), East Germany's Thomas Lange (then-current world champion, in his first Olympic appearance), and West Germany's Peter-Michael Kolbe (silver medalist behind Karppinen in 1976 and 1984, and five-time world champion). Andrew Sudduth of the United States had won a silver medal in 1984 in the eight; Dirk Crois of Belgium similarly changed events from 1984, when he took silver in double sculls. Other Olympic veterans were France's Pascal Body (5th in quadruple sculls in 1984), Brazil's Denis Marinho (7th in coxed four in 1984), and Puerto Rico's Juan Felix (10th in this event in 1984).

Schedule

Date	Round
September 19	Heats
September 21	Repechage
September 22	Semifinals
September 23	Final B
September 24	Final A

Competition format

The competition consisted of three main rounds (heats, semifinals, and finals) as well as a repechage. The 22 boats were divided into four heats for the first round, with 5 or 6 boats in each heat. The winning boat in each heat (4 boats total) advanced directly to the semifinals. The remaining 18 boats were placed in the repechage. The repechage featured four heats of 4 or 5 boats each, with the top two boats in each heat (8 boats total) advancing to the semifinals and the remaining 10 boats (4th and 5th placers in the repechage) being eliminated. The 12 semifinalist boats were divided into two heats of 6 boats each. The top three boats in each semifinal (6 boats total) advanced to the "A" final to compete for medals and 4th through 6th place; the bottom three boats in each semifinal were sent to the "B" final for 7th through 12th.

All races were over a 2000 metre course.

Heats

The winner in each heat advanced directly to the semi-finals. The remaining rowers must compete in the repechage round for the remaining spots in semi-finals.

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Thomas Lange	East Germany	7:03.25	Q
2	Andrew Sudduth	United States	7:05.61	R
3	Peter-Michael Kolbe	West Germany	7:12.35	R
4	Kajetan Broniewski	Poland	7:13.77	R
5	Henk-Jan Zwolle	Netherlands	7:29.68	R
6	Juan Felix	Puerto Rico	7:55.46	R

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Hamish McGlashan	Australia	7:25.26	Q
2	Jesús Posse	Uruguay	7:37.92	R
3	Jüri Jaanson	Soviet Union	7:41.28	R
4	Masahiro Sakata	Japan	7:43.67	R
5	Gordon Henry	Canada	7:51.83	R
6	Edgardo Maerina	Philippines	8:54.90	R

Heat 3

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Eric Verdonk	New Zealand	7:18.69	Q
2	Pascal Body	France	7:26.12	R
3	Dirk Crois	Belgium	7:34.74	R
4	Giovanni Calabrese	Italy	7:45.02	R
5	Denis Marinho	Brazil	7:48.33	R

Heat 4

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Fredrik Hultén	Sweden	7:12.98	Q
2	Pertti Karppinen	Finland	7:24.72	R
3	Arnold Jonke	Austria	7:30.45	R
4	Im Gyeong-seok	South Korea	7:39.94	R
5	Waleed Al-Mohamed Abdulmuhsin	Kuwait	8:05.35	R

Repechage

Two fastest rowers in each repechage advanced to semi-finals.

Repechage 1

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Pertti Karppinen	Finland	7:14.91	Q
2	Henk-Jan Zwolle	Netherlands	7:16.23	Q
3	Dirk Crois	Belgium	7:19.94
4	Masahiro Sakata	Japan	7:26.66

Repechage 2

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Jüri Jaanson	Soviet Union	7:04.04	Q
2	Kajetan Broniewski	Poland	7:04.39	Q
3	Pascal Body	France	7:05.80
4	Waleed Al-Mohamed Abdulmuhsin	Kuwait	8:15.16

Repechage 3

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Peter-Michael Kolbe	West Germany	7:12.27	Q
2	Jesus Posse	Uruguay	7:17.43	Q
3	Denis Marinho	Brazil	7:22.84
4	Im Gyeong-seok	South Korea	7:46.40
5	Edgardo Maerina	Philippines	8:27.02

Repechage 4

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Andrew Sudduth	United States	7:05.52	Q
2	Giovanni Calabrese	Italy	7:12.93	Q
3	Arnold Jonke	Austria	7:18.29
4	Juan Felix	Puerto Rico	7:18.77
5	Gordon Henry	Canada	7:37.48

Semifinals

Three fastest rowers in each semifinal advanced to the final, while the others to the small final.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Thomas Lange	East Germany	6:58.65	QA
2	Andrew Sudduth	United States	6:59.70	QA
3	Eric Verdonk	New Zealand	7:11.98	QA
4	Jesus Posse	Uruguay	7:27.43	QB
5	Henk-Jan Zwolle	Netherlands	7:30.45	QB
6	Jüri Jaanson	Soviet Union	7:32.51	QB

Semifinal 2

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Peter-Michael Kolbe	West Germany	7:01.76	QA
2	Hamish McGlashan	Australia	7:03.40	QA
3	Kajetan Broniewski	Poland	7:03.90	QA
4	Fredrik Hulten	Sweden	7:04.36	QB
5	Giovanni Calabrese	Italy	7:23.69	QB
6	Pertti Karppinen	Finland	7:32.78	QB

Final B

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time
7	Pertti Karppinen	Finland	7:34.47
8	Jüri Jaanson	Soviet Union	7:35.09
9	Fredrik Hulten	Sweden	7:40.07
10	Giovanni Calabrese	Italy	7:43.31
11	Jesus Posse	Uruguay	7:44.18
12	Henk-Jan Zwolle	Netherlands	7:44.92

Final A

Rank	Rower	Nation	Time	Notes
	Thomas Lange	East Germany	6:49.86	OB
	Peter-Michael Kolbe	West Germany	6:54.77
	Eric Verdonk	New Zealand	6:58.66
4	Hamish McGlashan	Australia	7:01.43
5	Kajetan Broniewski	Poland	7:03.67
6	Andrew Sudduth	United States	7:11.45

Sources

• The Official Report of the Games of the XXIV Olympiad Seoul 1988 Volume Two (PDF) (PDF). pp. 516–517.