Tuesday debrief: Magical moments at Paris 2024 Olympic Games regatta

The dust is just starting to settle after eight incredible days of racing in Paris at the 2024 Olympic Regatta. There were so many magical moments, here are just a few of the highlights.

Return of the rowing roar

After the enforced quietness of Tokyo 2020, we were delighted to see thousands of rowing fans return to the grandstands for 2024. The atmosphere at the Vaires-sur-Marne was electric for every minute of the eight days of racing and several rowers commented on the difference that the support makes, particularly those who were able to draw a direct comparison to Tokyo 2020.

“You feel like you’re at the Olympics. I didn’t expect it to feel like that. Personally, I expected it to feel like another world champs, but everybody’s upped their game and the atmosphere’s just unreal”  said Jackie Kiddle, from the New Zealand lightweight women’s double sculls.

Rowing is always better when thousands of spectators are roaring in the stands and pushing their crews to the maximum. The French crews especially, racing on home waters, felt the push from the crowd more than anyone else.

“Of course it’s a boost. You can hear them from very early in the course, that’s not usually the case. We could hear them at 1000 metres and I didn’t know where I was anymore. It’s a feeling we’ve never had before, it’s so cool to live that. When they call over the French boats, you can hear the noise from a long way away. It gives you chills” added France’s Laura Tarantola.

Tales of Tokyo 2020 redemption

There was two significant stories of redemption after huge disappointment for them at Tokyo 2020. In the lightweight women’s double sculls, the final in Tokyo had arguably been one of the closest races of the regatta. It was Emily Craig and Imogen Grant of Great Britain that had been just on the wrong side of the line, missing out on a medal by 0.01 seconds.

Remarkably, they have been unbeaten in that same formation since Tokyo, picking up World and European titles. They looked on track from the offset in Paris and finally became Olympic Champions when they crossed the line 1.72 seconds ahead of Romania.

There was further redemption in the very last race of the Regatta when Germany’s, Olli Zeidler became Olympic Champion in the men’s single sculls. It was one of the big surprises in Tokyo when he missed out on the final altogether and had to race the B Final. In Paris, Zeidler had already demonstrated that he was on track when he set a new Olympic Best Time in the semifinals. He went on to command the medal final, crossing the line over five seconds ahead of the chasing pack. After the race, Zeidler admitted that he “almost quit the sport” after his result in Tokyo. Paris was the best example of never giving up on your dreams.

A splash of Orange in Paris

The Netherlands won an impressive four gold medals, and when they won, they won in style. This was particularly the case for their women’s pair. Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester, who have been rowing in boats together since 2016, looked dominant in all of their races. They won their heat by 4.72 seconds, their semifinal by 4.37 seconds, and the medal final by 4.30 seconds. They were just untouchable, and certainly the most dominant crew of this Paris 2024 Olympic Games regatta.

Their women’s single sculler, Karolien Florijn was also absolutely dominant. Not just in Paris, but throughout the Olympiad, having won two World titles and two European titles in the boat class, and remaining unbeaten since she stepped in the single. Florijn was presented with the “Golden Oar” earlier this year marking her incredible success.

While the Netherlands and Great Britain won the same amount of medals, the “Oranje” will sit atop the medal table with four gold medals. A great accomplishement for the team led by Puck Van Hasselt, Hessel Evertse, Eelco Meenhorst and the whole coaching staff. Not to mention that out of the 17 medals (so far) won by the Dutch delegation in Paris, 8 of them have been coming from rowing…

Historical finishes

Whilst for some nations, it is podium finishes matter, others were rightly celebrating historically high finish positions, and first ever appearances in boat classes. The single sculls is a prime example where 33 nations were represented in the men’s boat class and 32 in the women’s boat class (the imbalance due to Sudan being offered a slot in the men’s single sculls in order to achieve gender equality across the entireity of athlete numbers) and there were multiple historic finishes for nations across these boat classes.

Meanwhile, the women’s eight saw a first ever appearance at the Olympic Games for Italy and Denmark, both crews having come though the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May – where Denmark qualified a full women’s sweep team.

Sibling supremacy 

There was a large number of siblings racing at the Paris 2024 Regatta. Some with each other, others in different boats. Incredibly, 5 pairs of them won medals.

Arguably the most well-known siblings in rowing at the moment – the Sinkovic brothers, Martin and Valent, defended their Olympic Champion title in the men’s pair, in dramatic fashion. By doing so, they became the most decoarted summer Olympians in their country’s young – but rich – history.

Kerri Williams (nee Gowler) raced in the New Zealand women’s four with her sister Jackie, claiming bronze. The crew also contained Phoebe Spoors, with her sister winning gold in the women’s double sculls on the very same day.

Finn Florijn (Netherlands) had already won Olympic gold in style on the first day of finals, racing in the men’s quadruple sculls. His sister, Karolien, then matched his performance on the last day when she won the women’s single sculls, becoming Olympic Champion. Watching her sister race from the mixed zone, Finn admitted being “way more stressed watching her, than racing my own A-Final”, and was the first one to congratulate her when she stepped out of the boat. Way to make their dad, Ronald (who was himself an Olympic Champion in 1996 in Atlanta), very proud.

The final pair of siblings also both won on the last day of competition.  Great Britain was the only nation to win a medal in both the women’s and men’s eight – and both of the boats had a member of the Ford family on board. Emily raced in the women’s eight which win bronze, whilst Tom stroked the men’s eight to Olympic gold. -Perhaps something in the genes?

All change on the medal table

In a short, three year Olympiad, there were many changes on the medal table since Tokyo 2020. One of the biggest comebacks was that of Great Britain, who finished an unusual 14th place in Tokyo 2020 with one silver and a bronze. They were back on form this year, finishing second, with three golds, two silver and three bronze.

Great Britain’s total matched that of the Netherlands, but with the Dutch claiming more gold medals, they were top overall. The final Dutch haul was four gold, three silver and one bronze. Australia, who finished second in Tokyo, dropped to twelfth in Paris, claiming just one bronze medal. Fifteen nations in total will take home medals from Paris compared to 17 from Tokyo. There are no medals staying in the host nation, France, from rowing, matching their worst result since 1992.