Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's single sculls

Men's single sculls at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Medalists
Olaf Tufte  Norway Ondřej Synek  Czech Republic Mahé Drysdale  New Zealand

Men's single sculls competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held between August 9 and 16, at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.

This rowing event is a single scull event, meaning that each boat is propelled by a single rower. The "scull" portion means that the rower uses two oars, one on each side of the boat; this contrasts with sweep rowing in which each rower has one oar and rows on only one side (not feasible for singles events). The competition consists of multiple rounds. Finals were held to determine the placing of each boat; these finals were given letters with those nearer to the beginning of the alphabet meaning a better ranking. Semifinals were named based on which finals they fed, with each semifinal having two possible finals.

During the first round six heats were held. The top four boats in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals, while all others were relegated to the E/F semifinals.

The quarterfinals were the second round for rowers still competing for medals. Placing in the quarterfinal heats determined which semifinal the boat would race in. The top three boats in each quarterfinal moved on to the A/B semifinals, with the bottom three boats going to the C/D semifinals.

Six semifinals were held, two each of A/B semifinals, C/D semifinals, and E/F semifinals. For each semifinal race, the top three boats moved on to the better of the two finals, while the bottom three boats went to the lesser of the two finals possible. For example, a second-place finish in an A/B semifinal would result in advancement to the A final.

The fourth and final round was the Finals. Each final determined a set of rankings. The A final determined the medals, along with the rest of the places through 6th. The B final gave rankings from 7th to 12th, the C from 13th to 18th, and so on. Thus, to win a medal rowers had to finish in the top four of their heat, top three of their quarterfinal, and top three of their A/B semifinal to reach the A final.

Schedule

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Date	Time	Round
Saturday, August 9, 2008	14:50-15:50	Heats
Monday, August 11, 2008	16:10-16:50	Quarterfinals
Monday, August 11, 2008	17:40-18:00	Semifinals E/F
Wednesday, August 13, 2008	15:10-15:30	Semifinals C/D
Wednesday, August 13, 2008	15:50-16:10	Semifinals A/B
Wednesday, August 13, 2008	17:10-17:20	Final F
Friday, August 15, 2008	14:20-14:30	Final E
Friday, August 15, 2008	14:40-14:50	Final D
Friday, August 15, 2008	15:00-15:10	Final C
Friday, August 15, 2008	17:00-17:10	Final B
Saturday, August 16, 2008	15:50-16:00	Final A

Results

Heats

• Qualification Rules: 1-4->Q, 5..->SE/F

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Tim Maeyens	Belgium	7:16.60	Q
2	André Vonarburg	Switzerland	7:26.21	Q
3	Ioannis Christou	Greece	7:29.86	Q
4	Santiago Fernández	Argentina	7:38.87	Q
5	Mohsen Shadi	Iran	7:48.24	SE/F
6	Matthew Lidaywa Mwange	Kenya	8:16.09	SE/F

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Mahé Drysdale	New Zealand	7:28.80	Q
2	Anderson Nocetti	Brazil	7:35.52	Q
3	Oscar Vasquez	Chile	7:39.58	Q
4	Andrei Jämsä	Estonia	7:48.24	Q
5	Dhison Hernández	Venezuela	7:54.52	SE/F
-	Zhang Liang	China	DNS

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Lassi Karonen	Sweden	7:14.64	Q
2	Marcel Hacker	Germany	7:26.71	Q
3	Law Hiu Fung	Hong Kong	7:45.96	Q
4	Leandro Salvagno	Uruguay	7:52.53	Q
5	Paul Etia Ndoumbe	Cameroon	7:59.26	SE/F
6	Norberto Bernárdez Ávila	Honduras	9:01.27	SE/F

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Ondřej Synek	Czech Republic	7:23.94	Q
2	Mindaugas Griskonis	Lithuania	7:28.05	Q
3	Bajrang Lal Takhar	India	7:39.91	Q
4	Mathias Raymond	Monaco	7:51.69	Q
5	Chaouki Dries	Algeria	7:57.65	SE/F

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Alan Campbell	Great Britain	7:14.98	Q
2	Peter Hardcastle	Australia	7:17.74	Q
3	Patrick Loliger	Mexico	7:22.55	Q
4	Ken Jurkowski	United States	7:25.13	Q
5	Ruslan Naurzaliev	Uzbekistan	7:58.43	SE/F

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Olaf Tufte	Norway	7:20.20	Q
2	Sjoerd Hamburger	Netherlands	7:27.05	Q
3	Ali Ibrahim	Egypt	7:43.70	Q
4	Wang Ming-Hui	Chinese Taipei	7:46.83	Q
5	Rodrigo Ideus	Colombia	7:56.85	SE/F

Quarterfinals

• Qualification Rules: 1-3->SA/B, 4..->SC/D

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Marcel Hacker	Germany	6:48.85	SA/B
2	Alan Campbell	Great Britain	6:52.74	SA/B
3	André Vonarburg	Switzerland	7:02.29	SA/B
4	Oscar Vasquez	Chile	7:06.61	SC/D
5	Mathias Raymond	Monaco	7:11.66	SC/D
6	Ali Ibrahim	Egypt	7:24.77	SC/D

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Olaf Tufte	Norway	6:53.59	SA/B
2	Mindaugas Griskonis	Lithuania	6:54.47	SA/B
3	Ioannis Christou	Greece	6:58.28	SA/B
4	Patrick Loliger	Mexico	7:04.30	SC/D
5	Anderson Nocetti	Brazil	7:23.68	SC/D
6	Leandro Salvagno	Uruguay	7:26.85	SC/D

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Ondřej Synek	Czech Republic	6:50.23	SA/B
2	Tim Maeyens	Belgium	6:52.70	SA/B
3	Peter Hardcastle	Australia	7:00.09	SA/B
4	Andrei Jämsä	Estonia	7:05.48	SC/D
5	Wang Ming-Hui	Chinese Taipei	7:17.08	SC/D
6	Law Hiu Fung	Hong Kong	7:29.21	SC/D

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Mahé Drysdale	New Zealand	6:50.18	SA/B
2	Lassi Karonen	Sweden	6:50.40	SA/B
3	Ken Jurkowski	United States	6:53.26	SA/B
4	Sjoerd Hamburger	Netherlands	6:57.24	SC/D
5	Bajrang Lal Takhar	India	7:19.01	SC/D
6	Santiago Fernández	Argentina	7:27.60	SC/D

Semifinals E/F

• Qualification Rules: 1-3->FE, 4..->FF

Semifinal E/F 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Mohsen Shadi	Iran	7:20.34	FE
2	Rodrigo Ideus	Colombia	7:29.71	FE
3	Ruslan Naurzaliev	Uzbekistan	7:35.12	FE
4	Norberto Bernárdez Ávila	Honduras	8:29.65	FF

Semifinal E/F 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Dhison Alexander Hernandez	Venezuela	7:18.85	FE
2	Paul Etia Ndoumbe	Cameroon	7:29.68	FE
3	Chaouki Dries	Algeria	7:34.84	FE
4	Matthew Lidaywa Mwange	Kenya	7:49.17	FF

Semifinals C/D

• Qualification Rules: 1-3->FC, 4..->FD

Semifinal C/D 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Patrick Loliger	Mexico	7:15.53	FC
2	Oscar Vasquez	Chile	7:17.17	FC
3	Ali Ibrahim	Egypt	7:20.73	FC
4	Bajrang Lal Takhar	India	7:23.00	FD
5	Wang Ming-Hui	Chinese Taipei	7:23.75	FD
6	Law Hiu Fung	Hong Kong	7:32.61	FD

Semifinals C/D 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Sjoerd Hamburger	Netherlands	7:10.06	FC
2	Andrei Jämsä	Estonia	7:16.38	FC
3	Anderson Nocetti	Brazil	7:18.78	FC
4	Leandro Salvagno	Uruguay	7:32.83	FD
5	Mathias Raymond	Monaco	7:33.06	FD
	Santiago Fernández	Argentina	DNS

Semifinals A/B

• Qualification Rules: 1-3->FA, 4..->FB

Semifinal A/B 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Lassi Karonen	Sweden	6:57.28	FA
2	Olaf Tufte	Norway	6:58.23	FA
3	Tim Maeyens	Belgium	6:59.65	FA
4	Marcel Hacker	Germany	7:03.05	FB
5	André Vonarburg	Switzerland	7:14.64	FB
6	Peter Hardcastle	Australia	7:32.79	FB

Semifinal A/B 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Ondřej Synek	Czech Republic	7:03.57	FA
2	Alan Campbell	Great Britain	7:05.24	FA
3	Mahé Drysdale	New Zealand	7:05.57	FA
4	Ioannis Christou	Greece	7:06.02	FB
5	Ken Jurkowski	United States	7:11.52	FB
6	Mindaugas Griskonis	Lithuania	7:20.32	FB

Finals

Final F

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Matthew Lidaywa Mwange	Kenya	7:52.59
2	Norberto Bernárdez Ávila	Honduras	8:32.22

Final E

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Dhison Alexander Hernandez	Venezuela	7:05.12
2	Mohsen Shadi	Iran	7:06.54
3	Ruslan Naurzaliev	Uzbekistan	7:09.98
4	Rodrgio Ideus	Colombia	7:18.61
5	Paul Etia Ndoumbe	Cameroon	7:21.34
6	Chaouki Dries	Algeria	7:32.82

Final D

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Leandro Salvagno	Uruguay	7:04.13
2	Law Hiu Fung	Hong Kong	7:06.17
3	Bajrang Lal Takhar	India	7:09.73
4	Mathias Raymond	Monaco	7:14.27
5	Wang Ming-Hui	Chinese Taipei	7:16.28

Final C

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Sjoerd Hamburger	Netherlands	6:58.71
2	Anderson Nocetti	Brazil	7:01.54
3	Patrick Loliger	Mexico	7:03.97
4	Oscar Vasquez	Chile	7:07.02
5	Andrei Jämsä	Estonia	7:19.60
6	Ali Ibrahim	Egypt	7:26.06

Final B

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Marcel Hacker	Germany	7:07.82
2	Mindaugas Griskonis	Lithuania	7:09.23
3	André Vonarburg	Switzerland	7:13.07
4	Ioannis Christou	Greece	7:17.74
5	Ken Jurkowski	United States	7:22.75
6	Peter Hardcastle	Australia	7:27.34

Final A

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Olaf Tufte	Norway	6:59.83
	Ondřej Synek	Czech Republic	7:00.63
	Mahé Drysdale	New Zealand	7:01.56
4	Tim Maeyens	Belgium	7:03.40
5	Alan Campbell	Great Britain	7:04.47
6	Lassi Karonen	Sweden	7:07.64

External links

• NYT Olympic Report