Getting the Specifics on Schinias - Athens Olympics

Athens 2004 finishes with the men’s eight
© Dominik Keller

The day after the finals of the 2004 Athens Olympic Regatta the wind began to blow.

Ever since the Olympic test regatta last year in August showed images of boats sinking in rough water the talk of the Athens regatta venue was all about preparing for rough water and strong tail winds. Coaches worked frantically with boat builders to design ways to keep water out. Athletes made sure they were prepared by practicing in all weather conditions.

It was all to no avail.

Despite some wind early on in the regatta, the expected meltemi did not stick around and the two days of finals were not only calm, but a light head wind contradicted all expectations.

At the start of the regatta 55 nations took to the 2,000 metre course. At the end of the regatta 22 nations celebrated medal wins. This is up from the 2000 Olympics when 16 nations left with hardware.

Sitting on top of the medal table were the three gold medal champions Romania. Their women’s squad dominated the women’s pair, eight and the lightweight women’s double in a repeat performance of the Sydney Olympics with the pair and lightweight double containing the same athletes.

Following closely behind Romania, Germany took home two golds and two silver medals also won solely by their women’s squad. Great Britain followed the medal tally with one gold, two silvers and a bronze.

Arriving for the first time to the medals table, the Greeks showed the advantage of home crowd support by winning the first ever rowing medal for Greece. 

Following the 131 race action, over 100 journalists daily sent out reports for the world to see. With them 35 regular photographers brought the stories alive with nearly three times this number clicking away on finals day.

Then behind the scenes 747 volunteers covered the regatta course in a sea of Athens 2004 tee-shirts and blue shorts with 202 paid staff seeing the project through from start to finish. On top of this around 120 security keep a conspicuous as well as a subtle presence throughout the venue.

Lining the grandstands were 4,000 spectators rising to 10,500 for finals day with a further 1,600 FISA ticket holders viewing the races from the opposite side of the course.

And with hot summer temperatures recorded into the high 30s degree Celsius, around the boat park the heat kept water consumption up at about 4,800 half litre bottles per day.

 Photo finishes were recorded in a number of finals events causing tense moments as crews sat exhausted on the water waiting for the final verdict to their medal chances. To view the photo finish photos click here.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) heard an appeal from the Canadian Olympic Committee after Canada’s men’s pair was excluded from the event for interference when their oars clashed with the South Africans blade. The appeal was rejected and the ruling by CAS can be viewed here.