Olympic and Paralympic Qualification systems for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

As a practical rules update this month we thought that we would spend a few words talking about the Olympic and Paralympic Qualification systems for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Olympic and Paralympic Qualification

How do you increase the number of rowing federations participating in the Olympic and Paralympic Games while at same time the number of athletes available to be credentialed at the Games is being decreased? 

This is the challenge that FISA has faced since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.  With the growing number of athletes, events and sports wanting to compete in the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has placed limits on the overall number of athletes who can compete in the Olympics and in each sport.  The goal for Tokyo Olympic Games is to limit the total credentialed athletes to 10,500 not including the 4 optional sports.  For the 2024 Paris Games this 10,500 limit needs to include the optional sports.  For rowing, this means that the number athletes that can be credentialed been reduced from 602 athletes in Atlanta to 526 athletes in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.  There are similar quotas for the Paralympics in place.  FISA has addressed this challenge through the qualification systems and regional qualifying regattas.

Olympics

For the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, FISA’s qualification system tries to balances excellence, qualification through the 2019 World Rowing Championship, and universality (an important IOC statistic),  through the continental qualification regattas.  The IOC has approved this qualification system. The rest of this article will attempt to explain the qualification process.  Many of us umpires will play a role in this system and an understanding will us carry out the important role that we play.  This is meant to provide a general overview.  The full Olympic Rowing Qualification procedures can be found at:  http://www.worldrowing.com/mm//Document/General/General/13/08/07/Final-2019-02-25-Tokyo2020-QS-Rowing-eng_Neutral.pdf

For the Tokyo Olympic Games, the IOC accepted FISA’s recommendation to have 7 men’s and 7 women’s sports.  

As a side note: in October 2020 FISA will make a recommendation for the events that will be in the 2024 Paris Olympic games.  The IOC will then make a final decision on what rowing events will be included in Paris in December 2020.

In Tokyo the 526 athletes will be divided evenly between the women’s and men’s events.  As the host country, Japan automatically gets an entry in the M1x and the W1x.  4 athlete’s places (in 1x) are also reserved for Tripartite Commission appointments.  These appointments are made by a commission selected by the IOC to increase the reach of the national Olympic committees participating in the Games.

A maximum number of athletes that can come from each Federation has also been established

FISA divided the overall athlete quota over the events.  For each of the events, the quotas are broken down into boats that qualify for the Olympics at the 2019 World Rowing Championship and a final qualification regatta which will take place in Lucerne SUI in May 2020.  For the single scull (M1x & W1x) and the lightweight double sculls (LM2x & LW2x) a part of the quota was further allocated to continental qualification regattas to increase universal representation at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

2019 World Rowing Championships qualifications were open to all.  The top placed crews in each event qualified the boats for the National Olympic Committee (NOC).  The crews qualified the boats in the event for the NOC.  However, the athletes that raced in the World Rowing Championships can be changed before Tokyo Olympic Games.

Please notice the use of the NOC.  Entries in qualification events are made in the name of the NOC and the qualification to participate in the Olympics belongs to the NOC and the national rowing federation acts under its NOC. 

The Continental Qualification Regattas provide opportunities for additional NOC’s to qualify boats for the Tokyo Olympics.  While in principle they are open to all NOC’s, there are restrictions on who can qualify:

–          A Federation is representing the NOC and the NOC must be a member of the appropriate Continental Olympic Group

–          A Federation that qualified 2 more boats at the 2019 World Rowing Championship cannot participate in a continental qualification regatta

–          An NOC can only enter one entry per event

–          If an NOC has qualified in an event at the 2019 World Rowing Championship they cannot enter the same event at a continental qualification regatta.

–          An NOC can only qualify one boat at a continental qualifier with the following rules:

o   If two or more boats from an NOC meet the qualifying requirements, then only the highest ranked boat will qualify;

o   If an NOC has not qualified a boat at the 2019 World Rowing Championship and has boats finish in first place in two events at the continental qualifier the NOC can qualify both boats.  If they place first in more than two events, the NOC has to decide on which two events it will accept to qualify for the Olympic Games.

o   If an NOC has qualified one boat at the 2019 World Rowing Championship and places first in one or more events at a continental qualification regatta, the NOC must decide which one of the continental events it will qualify for the Olympic Games

–          The same athletes that row in the continental qualification regatta must row in the boats in the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The final Olympic Qualification Regatta will take place in Lucerne SUI 17-19 May 2020.  Any NOC can enter in any event that they have not already qualified. There are no limitations to the number of events an NOC can qualify at the final Qualification Regatta.  The same athletes rowing in the final qualification regatta must row in the Tokyo Olympic Games.

After each of the qualification regattas, FISA will publish a list of the qualified boats.  The NOC must indicate that they will use the qualified boats within 14 days of the date of publishing of the list.  If an NOC does not accept a qualifying boat, the qualifying position will go to the next highest placed boat in the regatta where the unused qualification was made.

For more information: http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2020-olympic-games-regatta/event-information

Paralympics

The Paralympics face the same challenges as the Olympics with a growing number of athletes and events.  Therefore, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has created quotas for the Paralympics.  For rowing the quota is 96 athletes and entries for the qualification regattas must be done through the National Paralympic Committees (NPC). The NPC also owns the qualified position.  This quota is broken down as follows:

This quota does not include the coxswains.  Coxswains can be of either female or male.

To be eligible for selection, a Paralympic athlete must have competed in an official FISA competition between January 1, 2018 and June 7, 2020.  The athlete must also have a confirmed sport classification appropriate for the event they will compete in.

The Paralympic events are:

PR1 M1x

PR1 W1x

PR2 Mix 2x

PR3 Mix 4+

Like the Olympic Qualification system, the Paralympic Qualification system includes qualification at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, Continental Qualification Regattas and a final Qualification Regatta.

The Bipartite Commission will award the final 4 female and 4 male qualification positions.  The host country is allocated 2 female and 2 male athlete positions.  If the host country has already qualified athletes through the normal qualification processes, the 2 “reserved” positions will be reallocated by the Bipartite Commission

There are special requirements that exist with the continental qualification regattas:

–          An NPC that qualified any boat at the 2019 World Rowing Championship cannot participate in the continental qualification regatta.

–          An NPC can only qualify one boat at a continental qualification regatta.  If an NPC has more than on boat that finishes in a qualifying position, then the highest ranked boat will be qualified.  If the boats have the same ranking then the NPC will select which one will receive the qualification.

–          If an NPC does not accept a qualification, then it will go to the next highest crew in the event.

There are no restrictions on the number of crews an NPC can qualify at the 2019 World Rowing Championship and the Final Qualification Regattas.

The above is a summary of the Paralympic Qualification system for general information.  For specific questions or more information, the full procedure which can be found at: http://www.worldrowing.com/mm//Document/General/General/13/82/08/ParalympicGames2020QualificationGuide-Rowing_Neutral.pdf