If a quota place allocated is not confirmed by the NOC by the deadline for confirmation or is declined by the
NOC, the quota place will be reallocated as follows:
• If the boat qualified through the 2019 FISA World Rowing Championships, the quota place will be
reallocated to the next highest placed boat not yet qualified from the same event at the World
Championships.
• If the boat qualified through a Continental Qualification regatta, the quota place will be reallocated to
the next highest placed boat from an NOC that has not yet qualified a boat for the Olympics, whether
through the World Rowing Championships or the Continental Qualification regatta. Where there are
no further crews to which qualifying places can be allocated, such places shall be added to the
qualifying places in the same event at the Final Qualification regatta.
• If the boat qualified through the FISA Final Qualification Regatta, the quota place will be allocated to
the next highest placed boat in that event.
• Where there are no further crews to which qualifying places can be allocated at the Final Qualification
regatta, these places may be reallocated taking into consideration the following criteria in no particular
order: universality, performance, representation and participation in qualification events. For this
specific purpose, any boat class quota can be transferred to another boat class or gender as long as
the total athlete quota and the total quotas per gender are respected.
Any unused places will be reallocated by the FISA Executive Committee by 7 June 2021 (pending
confirmation of the date of the FOQR).
The decisions of the FISA Executive Committee in this regard will be final.
These were the rules valid for Tokyo.
So, yes, nation can chose the crew.