Pertti Karppinen
Ekaterina Karsten
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Ekaterina Karsten leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Pertti Karppinen at #6 and Ekaterina Karsten at #9.
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The case for Pertti Karppinen
Three consecutive Olympic golds in the men's single, at Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984. He raced on into 1988. The single is the only Olympic boat in which the result cannot be shared, and doing it three times in a row had been done before, by Ivanov, and has not become ordinary since. Karppinen's case is that narrowness: no eight to lean on, no partner to make the middle thousand easier, three Games as the first boat.
The case for Ekaterina Karsten
Two Olympic golds in the women's single, at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, then silver in 2004 and 2008 and bronze in 2012. Five Olympic medals in the event that offers nowhere to hide. The golds are fewer than Boron's or Lipă's. The years on the podium are the argument: five Games, five medals, in the single. A list that only promotes undefeated crews underrates a sculler who stayed in the medals while the rest of the field changed.