With just 51 days to go until the start of the London 2012 Olympics, the British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced today 48 rowers as officially selected to represent Team GB at the Games.

The rowers will compete across 13 of the 14 Olympic boat classes taking place at the Eton Dorney venue this summer. While selections are still to be finalised in the men’s and women’s eights boats, once these are confirmed in due course, the Team GB rowing squad for London 2012 will be 52 strong, including 5 reserves, and will be the largest Great Britain has ever entered to an Olympic Games.

The rowing athletes selected to Team GB today are:

Men’s Pair (Coach: Christian Felkel)

Men’s Four (Coach: Jürgen Grobler)

Men’s Eight (Coaches: John West and Christian Felkel) note: one further rower will be added at a later date

Men’s Single Scull (Coach: Bill Barry)

Men’s Double Scull (Coach: Mark Earnshaw)

Men’s Quadruple Scull (Coach: Mark Banks)

Women’s Pair (Coach: Robin Williams )

Women’s Eight (Coach: Nick Strange) note: eight from the ten rowers listed below will be confirmed as racing in the eight. The two rowers not racing in the eight will be selected as reserves.

Women’s Double Scull (Coach: Paul Thompson)

Women’s Quadruple Scull (Coach: Ade Roberts)

Lightweight Men’s Four (Coach: Rob Morgan)

Lightweight Men’s Double Scull (Coach: Darren Whiter )

Lightweight Women’s Double Scull (Coach: Paul Reedy)

Team GB has a fine Olympic pedigree in rowing, having won 54 medals to date, including 24 gold, making Great Britain the third most successful country in Olympic rowing history. At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Team GB rowers won an outstanding six medals – two gold, two silver and two bronze – to lead the medal table.

The athletes selected today have won multiple Olympic and World Championship titles, including at the 2011 World Championships where Great Britain’s rowers topped the medal table with three Olympic-class gold medals.

Team GB’s women will be aiming to record their first ever Olympic gold medal, with experienced triple Olympic silver medallist Katherine Grainger alongside Anna Watkins leading the women’s medal hopes in the Double Scull event.

Five of the six Olympic champions from Beijing are selected today. Andrew Triggs Hodge, Peter Reed and Tom James will seek to defend their title in the men’s four – this time with Alex Gregory – and Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase will have the opportunity to do the same in the lightweight men’s double scull.

Greg Searle, 40, who won a gold medal two decades ago at the Barcelona 1992 Games in the Men’s coxed pair will row in the Men’s Eight. He will be competing in his fourth Olympic Games and his first since Sydney 2000.

The addition of the rowers brings the total number of athletes officially selected to compete for Team GB at London 2012 to 178 across fourteen sport disciplines: archery, athletics – marathon, badminton, boxing, canoe slalom, fencing, hockey, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, synchronised swimming, table tennis and taekwondo.

The athletes were formally nominated to the BOA for selection to Team GB by British Rowing, the National Governing Body for rowing in the UK. The announcement took place at the Harte and Garter Hotel in Windsor.

Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt said:

Team GB Rowing Team Leader and GB Rowing Team Performance Director David Tanner said:

Katherine Grainger said:

Andrew Triggs Hodge said:

Pete Reed said:

Mark Hunter said: