| Date | 19 – 24 July 1976 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Bassin olympique, Île Notre Dame, Montréal, Québec |
| Participants | 72 from 8 countries |
Women’s rowing events were new to the Olympic Games, but they had been contested at the European Championships since 1954 and the World Championships since 1974. The Europeans went extinct after 1973, making the Worlds the best metric through which to predict Olympic success. Thus, as with the rest of the women’s events, East Germany was lauded as the favorite, having won the last two editions of the tournament. The Soviet Union and the United States had been the runners-up in 1974 and 1975 respectively, while Romania had taken bronze on both occasions. The Soviet Union and East Germany won their heats in the opening round but, unlike most of the other events, there was no crew that was clearly dominant. The final, however, was slightly less competitive, with East Germany and the Soviet Union taking gold and silver by a comfortable margin. The race for bronze was more exciting, however, and saw the Americans slide to a slim victory ahead of a strong Canadian squad.
| Date | 19 July 1976 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each heat advanced to the final round. |
| Time | 12:30 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Competitors | NOC | Time | 250 m | 500 m | 750 m | 250-500 m | 500-750 m | 750-1,000 m | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Soviet Union |  URS | 3:00.19 | 46.30 (4) | 1:29.61 (1) | 2:15.56 (1) | 43.31 (1) | 45.95 (1) | 44.63 (1) | Q OB | ||||
| Olga Guzenko • Klavdija Koženkova • Olga Kolkova • Nadezhda Roshchina • Nadezhda Rozgon • Lyubov Talalayeva • Nelli Tarakanova • Yelena Zubko • Olga Pugovskaya | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | 4 | Romania |  ROU | 3:01.80 | 45.31 (2) | 1:30.47 (4) | 2:16.63 (3) | 45.16 (4) | 46.16 (2) | 45.17 (2) | |||||
| Elena Avram • Mărioara Constantin • Aurelia Marinescu • Georgeta Militaru • Iuliana Munteanu • Elena Oprea • Florica Petcu • Filigonia Tol • Aneta Matei | |||||||||||||||
| 3 | 3 | Canada |  CAN | 3:02.27 | 44.95 (1) | 1:29.89 (2) | 2:16.15 (2) | 44.94 (3) | 46.26 (3) | 46.12 (3) | |||||
| Gail Cort • Mazina Delure • Carol Eastmore • Nancy Higgins • Christine Neuland • Susan Antoft • Wendy Pullan • Rhonda Ross • Illoana Smith | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | 2 | West Germany |  FRG | 3:04.14 | 45.72 (3) | 1:30.18 (3) | 2:17.31 (4) | 44.46 (2) | 47.13 (4) | 46.83 (4) | |||||
| Eva Dick • Isolde Eisele • Erika Endriss • Hiltrud Gürtler • Birgit Kiesow • Waltraud Roick • Marianne Weber • Monika Zipplies • Ingrid Huhn-Wagener | |||||||||||||||
| Time | 12:45 |
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| Date | 21 July 1976 — 12:15 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top 4 finishers advanced to the final round. |
| Date | 24 July 1976 |
|---|
| Time | 13:05 |
|---|
| Time | 12:55 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Competitors | NOC | Time | 250 m | 500 m | 750 m | 250-500 m | 500-750 m | 750-1,000 m | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Poland |  POL | 3:32.48 | 52.08 (1) | 1:44.34 (1) | 2:37.19 (1) | 52.26 (1) | 52.85 (1) | 55.29 (2) | |||||
| Anna Brandysiewicz • Bogusława Kozłowska • Barbara Wenta-Wojciechowska • Danuta Konkalec • Róża Data • Mieczysława Franczyk • Maria Stadnicka • Aleksandra Kaczyńska • Dorota Zdanowska | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Netherlands |  NED | 3:35.87 | 53.86 (2) | 1:48.09 (2) | 2:41.48 (2) | 54.23 (2) | 53.39 (2) | 54.39 (1) | |||||
| Karin Abma • Joke Dierdorp • Barbara de Jong • Annette Schortinghuis-Poelenije • Marleen van Rij • Maria Kusters-ten Beitel • Liesbeth Pascal-de Graaff • Loes Schutte • Evelien Koogje | |||||||||||||||
GDR
USA