Further analysis of Olympic regatta in Paris-2024

Did you know that leading rowing nations have shown their own trends in results and key racing indicators? It seems that a balanced approach with simultaneous increases of both stroke rate and EWpS was the most effective way to improve performance.

.An always interesting question is how various countries perform at the regatta and what the reasons behind their successes or failures might be. The main performance indicators in this analysis are:

• The average rowing speed over the race, which determines the final result.
• The average stroke rate (SR) over the race.
• Effective Work per Stroke (EWpS), which reflects the ratio of 1 & 2.

As various countries performed differently the events, it would not be accurate to compare absolute speeds and stroke rates due to variation across different boat types. Therefore, relative speed and stroke rate were derived as the ratio of each finalist’s values to the average values of all crews in Final A. This approach allows for the comparison of relative speeds and stroke rates between countries, as well as with EWpS, which is always relative by definition.

The three most successful countries had nine boats each in Finals A. The Netherlands achieved the best results in terms of medals (4 gold, 8 total) and the highest relative speed (101.0%). The Dutch showed a well-balanced combination of SR (100.7%) and EWpS (100.8%), both slightly above average. The next two best nations demonstrated completely different race indicators. Great Britain (3 gold, 8 total) had the second-highest relative speed (100.7%), achieved with the lowest SR (96.3%) and the highest EWpS (102.0%) among the top 15 countries. Romania (2 gold, 5 total) had the lowest relative speed among the top three (100.3%) and showed the highest SR (105.3%) with the lowest EWpS (98.6%).

How the above indicators have evolved over the years and whether there is any correlation with performance?

We analysed the data over the last three Olympic regattas (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2021, and Paris 2024) for the top eight nations.

Great Britain was one of the top nations in Rio 2016 (5 medals, 8 finalists) but underperformed in Tokyo 2021 (only 2 medals), with a decrease in all indicators. In Paris, the Brits returned to the top (8 medals), increasing their speed through a dramatic rise in EWpS, despite a higher SR.

The Netherlands showed a similar speed pattern to Great Britain but experienced continuous growth in medals (3-5-8). In Paris, the Dutch increased both SR and EWpS, which led to a significant gain in speed and medals.

In contrast, New Zealand achieved the best speed and results (5 medals, 3 gold) in Tokyo with their lowest SR and highest EWpS. In Paris, the Kiwis slightly increased SR, but saw a drop in both EWpS and speed, resulting in one fewer medal and only one gold.

The USA improved their speed to the median level in the last two Olympics, but not their medal count (2-0-2), maintaining a constant SR and slightly increasing EWpS.

Australia experienced a sharp decline in speed and medals (3-2-1), with a drop in EWpS between 2016 and 2021, followed by further declines in all indicators in 2024.

Conversely, Romania improved their results in terms of the number of finalists and medals (1-3-5), but without significant speed growth. This was achieved through a rapid increase in SR in 2021, which was then maintained at the highest level, along with a small increase in EWpS.

Italy has demonstrated consistent results over the last three Olympics (4 finalists, 2-3-2 medals), steadily decreasing SR while increasing EWpS.

Germany has also maintained its number of finalists and medals (3-2-2), but saw a decrease in speed due to lower EWpS, while keeping SR around the median.

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©2024 Dr. Valery Kleshnev