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Rowing at the Olympics

travoholic | Sep 1, 2009 |

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Rowing was due to take place in the 1896 Olympics but was cancelled due to bad weather and first appeared in 1900. Women were first allowed to compete at the Montreal 1976 Games and 1996 saw the introduction of lightweight events.

There are currently 14 Olympic rowing events. They are men's quad sculls, double Sculls, single sculls, eight, coxless four, coxless pair and lightweight men's coxless four and double sculls. Women's events include quad sculls, double sculls, single sculls, eight, coxless pairs and lightweight double sculls.

Olympic rowing races take place over a 2000 meter course which has been standard since 1912. Women raced at 1000 meters until 1988 when it was changed to 2000 meters. Each race is between six boats. Rowing boats have traditionally been made from wood but today are constructed out of carbon fiber and plastic. London 2012 Olympic rowing will take place at Eton Dorney and Great Briton, with their strong rowing tradition and home fan advantage are is expected to do very well.

Qualification for rowing at the Olympics is determined by the International Rowing Federation and is usually determined by the previous year's World Rowing Championship or by one of four Continental Qualification Regattas which are held during the year preceding the Olympics. All boats that finish first in the World Rowing Championships are guaranteed a place in the Olympics but the individual rowers can be changed.

Rowing is a competitive sport and no one country truly dominates except for the USA. Great Britain, Germany and Romania are all decorated with lots of medals and the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada and Italy are all fine rowing nations.

Rowing is one of the most popular sports at the Olympics and watching it live is very exciting, especially when your home country is participating. The crowds are filled with fans from many nations and with six boats to a race, friendly rivalries often spring up between fans from different countries. A sunny day spend watching rowing at the Olympics is a great experience and anyone with an opportunity to get tickets should go for it.