Fans flocked to the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Vaires-sur-Marne on Saturday, still soaked from the rain that had soaked the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday.

The first heats of the single sculls for men and women were completed under calm, but damp conditions.

The first heat was held on Saturday, and with the top three scorers in each heat qualifying to the quarter-finals while the remainder of the runners went into the repechage round, the reigning Olympic champion Stefanos Ntsoukos from Greece finished in second behind New Zealander Thomas Mackintosh.

Simon van Dorp of the Netherlands won the third heat with a time of 6:49.93. Giedrius Beliauskas, a Lithuanian, celebrated his birthday by finishing third in the second heat.

The women's competition saw Australia's Tara Rigney, the current world champion Karolien Fleurijn, and the Netherlands' Karolien Florijn both make it to the quarterfinals.

Emma Twigg, the New Zealand rower who won gold at Tokyo in 2012, has become the first Kiwi to compete at five Olympics.

Elis Ozbay, of Turkey, and Nina Kostanjsek, from Slovenia made history by being the first women to row for their respective countries at the Olympics.

Later on Saturday, the double and quadruple heats will be held.