Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's eight

Heats

Heat 1 (August 15)

1. Australia (Stefan Szczurowski, Stuart Reside, Stuart Welch, James Stewart, Geoff Stewart, Boden Hanson, Mike McKay, Steve Stewart, Michael Toon (cox)), 5:23.23 FA
2. Netherlands (Matthijs Vellenga, Gijs Vermeulen, Jan-Willem Gabriëls, Daniël Mensch, Geert Jan Derksen, Gerritjan Eggenkamp, Diederik Simon, Michiel Bartman, Chun Wei Cheung (cox)) 5:25.26 R
3. Germany (Sebastian Schulte, Stephan Koltzk, Jörg Dießner, Thorsten Engelmann, Jan-Martin Broeer, Enrico Schnabel, Ulf Siemes, Michael Ruhe, Peter Thiede (cox)) 5:27.72 R
4. France (Bastien Ripoll, Bastien Gallet, Jean-Baptiste Macquet, Julien Peudecoeur, Donatien Mortelette, Anthony Perrot, Jean-David Bernard, Laurent Cadot, Christophe Lattaignant (cox)) 5:29.55 R
5. Poland (Bogdan Zalewski, Piotr Buchalski, Rafal Hejmej, Dariusz Nowak, Mikolaj Burda, Wojciech Gutorski, Sebastian Kosiorek, Michal Stawowski, Daniel Trojanowski (cox)) 5:30.08 R

Heat 2 (August 15)

The second heat of the Men's Eight was a particularly intense match as the United States pulled ahead of Canada (undefeated since 2001) in the last 500 m. The Canadian Eight was a favourite for the gold, whereas the American Eight had never before been tried internationally. Both boats beat the World's best time for the Men's Eight, and the United States advances directly to the finals while Canada goes to the Repechage.

1. United States (Jason Read, Wyatt Allen, Chris Ahrens, Joseph Hansen, Matt Deakin, Dan Beery, Beau Hoopman, Bryan Volpenhein, Peter Cipollone (cox)) 5:19.85 FA WR
2. Canada (Scott Frandsen, Kevin Light, Ben Rutledge, Kyle Hamilton, Adam Kreek, Andrew Hoskins, Joe Stankevicius, Jeff Powell, Brian Price (cox)) 5:20.46 R
3. Italy (Sergio Canciani, Aldo Tramontano, Marco Penna, Pierpaolo Frattini, Valerio Pinton, Niccolò Mornati, Carlo Mornati, Luca Ghezzi, Gaetano Iannuzzi (cox)) 5:30.16 R
4. Great Britain (Jonno Devlin, Kieran West, Josh West, Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom Stallard, Phil Simmons, Robin Bourne-Taylor, Dan Ouseley, Christian Cormack (cox)) 5:32.26 R

Repechages

Repechage 1 (August 18)

1. Netherlands (Matthijs Vellenga, Gijs Vermeulen, Jan-Willem Gabriëls, Daniel Mensch, Geert Jan Derksen, Gerritjan Eggenkamp, Diederik Simon, Michiel Bartman, Chun Wei Cheung (cox)) 5:31.92 FA
2. France (Bastien Ripoll, Bastien Gallet, Jean-Baptiste Macquet, Julien Peudecoeur, Donatien Mortelette, Anthony Perrot, Jean-David Bernard, Laurent Cadot, Christophe Lattaignant (cox)) 5:34.20 FA
3. Italy (Sergio Canciani, Aldo Tramontano, Marco Penna, Pierpaolo Frattini, Valerio Pinton, Niccolò Mornati, Carlo Mornati, Luca Ghezzi, Gaetano Iannuzzi (cox)) 5:34.56 FB

Repechage 2 (August 18)

1. Canada (Scott Frandsen, Kevin Light, Ben Rutledge, Kyle Hamilton, Adam Kreek, Andrew Hoskins, Joe Stankevicius, Jeff Powell, Brian Price (cox)) 5:32.51 FA
2. Germany (Sebastian Schulte, Stephan Koltzk, Jörg Dießner, Thorsten Engelmann, Jan-Martin Broeer, Enrico Schnabel, Ulf Siemes, Michael Ruhe, Peter Thiede (cox)) 5:33.07 FA
3. Great Britain (Jonno Devlin, Kieran West, Josh West, Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom Stallard, Phil Simmons, Robin Bourne-Taylor, Tom James, Christian Cormack (cox)) 5:34.37 FB
4. Poland (Bogdan Zalewski, Piotr Buchalski, Rafal Hejmej, Dariusz Nowak, Mikolaj Burda, Wojciech Gutorski, Sebastian Kosiorek, Michal Stawowski, Daniel Trojanowski (cox)) 5:36.75 FB

Final A (August 22)

The United States established an early lead. By the 1000 meter mark (halfway), they had a three-second advantage (one length) over Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands who were all battling for second place. In the final 1000 meters, the Netherlands made a run at the United States, finishing 1.3 seconds short. Australia maintained its position three seconds behind the United States while Germany and Canada fell off the pace and France trailed in sixth place. The fifth-place finish was a major disappointment for Canada, the two-time defending World Champions.