One more Olympic qualifier for lightweight men

The Coakley brothers, Ireland's new lightweight duo

Originally the top two boats would qualify from this regatta, but now the top three will be on their way to Beijing.

The rationale behind this decision is that if the host nation, China, had not qualified a male and female crew, then two spots would be allocated to them to enter singles. For example if China had qualified male crews (in any event) for the Beijing Olympics, but no women’s crews, they would then be allocated an entry in the women’s single. Since China has qualified both men’s and women’s crews, the pre-allocated spots have become available.

The International Rowing Federation, FISA, looked at which Olympic event should be allocated another qualifying spot. FISA looked at the change in qualification spots between the 2004 Athens Olympics and this year’s Beijing Olympics. The lightweight men’s double had been reduced by one. Given the depth of entries in the lightweight men’s double at this regatta (17 countries have entered) plus the reduction, it was decided to allocate the two open Olympic “seats” to the lightweight men’s double event.

After this morning’s heats, the top three crews going through to the semifinals – the winners of each heat – are Spain, the Czech Republic and New Zealand.