Dates August 25–27 Start date 1900 Venue Seine | Competitors 50 from 4 nations Location Seine, France | |
The coxed fours was one of the competitions in the Rowing at the 1900 Summer Olympics events in Paris. The competition was plagued by controversy involving which boats should advance to the final. In one of the most unusual decisions in Olympic history, two separate finals were held for the event, each of which are still considered Olympic championships by the International Olympic Committee. The crew of all six boats to compete in the two finals are Olympic medallists.
The coxed fours event was held on 25 August, 26 August and 27 August 1900. 10 boats, involving 50 rowers from 4 nations, competed.
Semifinals
Initially, the top boat in each semifinal plus the runner-up in the third semifinal (which had four boats instead of the three boats competing in each of the other two), were to advance. Following protests which ensued after the runner-up in the second semifinal and the third-place boat in the third semifinal each posted better times than the winner of the first, the qualification rules for the final were altered. Eventually, the six boats were broken into two groups and competed in separate finals. The runners-up in semifinals 2 and 3 as well as the third-place boat in semifinal 3 competed in the first final, while the three semifinal winners competed in the second.