1964 European Rowing Championships

1964 European Rowing Championships
The German eight of the Ratzeburg Rowing Club after winning the final
Venue	Bosbaan
Location	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dates	31 July – 2 August (women) 6–9 August (men)
← 1963 Moscow (women) 1965 Duisburg →

The 1964 European Rowing Championships were rowing championships held on the Bosbaan regatta course in the Dutch capital Amsterdam. Women competed from 31 July to 2 August. Men competed the following week from 6 to 9 August. Men competed in all seven Olympic boat classes (M1x, M2x, M2-, M2+, M4-, M4+, M8+), and women entered in five boat classes (W1x, W2x, W4x+, W4+, W8+). Many of the men competed two months later at the Olympic Games in Tokyo; women would first be allowed to compete at Olympic level in 1976.

FISA, the International Rowing Federation, did not recognise East Germany as a country and insisted on one German team per boat class. The women, where East Germany was the dominant side, held their selection trials at the Olympic regatta course in Grünau in East Berlin on 24 and 25 July 1964. West Germany did not contest the coxed four and coxed eight boat classes, and Karen Ulrich-Wolf won the single scull competition for the west as expected. East Germany won the competition in the remaining two boat classes – double scull and coxed quad scull.

The negotiations about the 1964 rowing competitions for men were even more protracted than usual as not only did a way forward for the 1964 European Rowing Championships had to be found, but rowing at the 1964 Summer Olympics two months later was also on the agenda. The negotiations were led by Willi Daume and Heinz Schöbel, presidents of the national Olympic committees of West and East Germany, respectively. In June 1964, West Germany insisted on one set of selection trials covering both the European and Olympic competitions. The tensions eased when it was agreed on 10 July that there would be separate selection trials for the two international competitions. It was agreed that some boat classes were to compete at a West German regatta course, and the remaining boat classes would meet at an East German venue. Four boats would start per race, with two for each country. The winning country would then be free to nominate rowers of their choice for that boat class, i.e. not necessarily those rowers who had won the race. Compared to the women, the situation was opposite, with West German rowers historically dominant; in 1963, they had won all boat classes.