Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's single sculls
Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Tim Maeyens Belgium 7:16.60 Q
2 André Vonarburg Switzerland 7:26.21 Q
3 Ioannis Christou Greece 7:29.86 Q
4 Santiago Fernández Argentina 7:38.87 Q
5 Mohsen Shadi Iran 7:48.24 SE/F
6 Matthew Lidaywa Mwange Kenya 8:16.09 SE/F
Results -- Heats
Men's single sculls competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held between August 9 and 16, at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. This rowing event is a single scull event, meaning that each boat is propelled by a single rower. The scull portion means that the rower uses two oars, one on each side of the boat; this contrasts with sweep rowing in which each rower has one oar and rows on only one side (not feasible for singles events). The competition consists of multiple rounds. Finals were held to determine the placing of each boat; these finals were given letters with those nearer to the beginning of the alphabet meaning a better ranking. Semifinals were named based on which finals they fed, with each semifinal having two possible finals. During the first round six heats were held. The top four boats in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals, while all others were relegated to the E/F semifinals. The quarterfinals were the second round for rowers still competing for medals. Placing in the quarterfinal heats determined which semifinal the boat would race in. The top three boats in each quarterfinal moved on to the A/B semifinals, with the bottom three boats going to the C/D semifinals. Six semifinals were held, two each of A/B semifinals, C/D semifinals, and E/F semifinals.