Press Release: London 2012 Olympic Rowing Regatta - Rowing announces draw

The draw was made during a meeting of team managers and officials at the Eton Dorney Olympic rowing venue near London, Great Britain. The Olympic Rowing Regatta starts on 28 July and continues through to 4 August 2012.

The draw is the means to place all of the crews in the 14 Olympic boat classes into heats. The FISA Seeding Panel seeds the top crews so that they are spread out among the heats and the remaining crews are then randomly placed into the remaining racing lanes. The FISA Seeding Panel assesses the most recent performances of the crews, then places the two top crews in each heat. The lane choice for all crews is random.

On the first day of racing, 28 July, nine events will be staged. Tough racing is expected in the heats of the Blue Riband men's eight. A first-place finish in each of the two heats will be needed to earn a direct path to the final. Heat two is featuring an incredibly talented line-up: both the World Champion German crew and last year's silver medallists, Great Britain, will be racing each other. They will also be up against the reigning Olympic Champions and World Best Time holders Canada.

The heats of another Blue Riband event, the men's single sculls, are also scheduled for the first day of racing at the Olympic Rowing Regatta. Six heats are on the programme of the men's single sculls with the top three finishing boats in each heat progressing to the quarterfinals. Reigning Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway will be up against reigning World Champion and World Best Time holder Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. These two scullers will race each other in heat four.

Fast times are expected as the weather at the Eton Dorney regatta course for the first day of racing is predicting tail wind conditions and temperatures of about 20 degrees Celsius.

Heats will continue for the remaining five boat classes on 29 and 30 July 2012.

To view the start lists, please click here.

To view the full list of entries for the Olympic Rowing Regatta, please click here.    

Results and detailed athlete biographies will be accessible in the World Rowing Database as well as on the World Rowing Mobile Platform.

For regular features, daily race reports and the photo gallery go to www.worldrowing.com.