Yelena Antonova (URS) took bronze in the women's single sculls at Montreal 1976.
Perhaps it's because the passing of an oar through the water happens at variable speeds, depending on strength. Whatever the reason, rowing has always been a race, all the way back to the ancient boating sports practiced by Amenhotep and Virgil.
In 1892, the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron was founded by six nations. FISA is one of the very few international federations that predates the modern Olympic Games, and holds the distinction of being the oldest of the 28 members of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).
Rowing was all set to be a part of the inaugural Summer Games in 1896, but did not go off as planned. The seven scheduled races were scrapped when freezing rain and choppy seas near Athens made rowing impossible, and rescheduling was impossible as it was the last day of competition.
There are two types of competitive rowing, sweep-style (where each rower carries one oar, holding it in two hands), and sculling, a two-oar technique. In sculling, the two oars overlap, requiring competitors to have perfect technique if they don't want to smash their hands up. In some boats, there's a place reserved for a coxswain. Literally translated as "boat authority boy," it's the little one in the back of the boat facing forward, setting the direction of the boat by way of ropes attached to the rudder and barks commands.
Here are some of the boats that are used in international competition, with their specifications. Courses are 2000 meters long for all events.
Despite its relatively early birth as an international sport, rowing was one of the later sports to integrate at the Olympics. Women were brought into the Olympic waters in 1976 at Montreal. Since 1996, "lightweight" sculls were added to the program. This has nothing to do with new space-age carbon fiber boats, it refers to a weight restriction. Men over 160 lbs. are forbidden, as are women over 130 lbs.
Rowing Fun Facts:
- Everybody loves a coxswain. One of the liveliest debates among Olympic historians involves one. At 1900 Paris, a joint Dutch-French team in the coxed pairs brought on a young Frenchman to ride with them, and they won the Olympic championship before he disappeared back into the city. The boy's name and vitals were never written down. But forensic photograph research has placed him at 10 years old, which may just make him the youngest gold medalist ever. He's known as "unknown French boy" in most historical Olympic texts and databases.
- French is the official language of rowing. Before each race, the starter asks Etes-vous prets? (are you ready?) If the response is generally affirmative, the action begins with a hearty Partez!
- The men's eights were an American invitational of sorts during the early years of the Olympics, with the U.S. winning eight gold medals in a row including 10 of the first 12 championships. One of the rowers from those glory days was future baby doctor Benjamin Spock (Paris 1924).
But after Tokyo 1964, the Americans went nine Olympiads without winning an event that used to be their birthright, but started collecting world championships again during the 1990's. Finally, in 2004 at Athens, the U.S. eights made a breakthrough at the Games.
In 2008:
Rowing will take place from August 9 through August 17 (Days 1 to 9), with a rest day on August 15. In all, 14 events will be contested, eight for men and six for women. Winners of heats move on in a tournament-style format, but early losers will have a repechage (second chance) to make their way back up the qualification ladder. All "A" final races, the ones where medals are given out afterwards, will be held on the last two days of competition.
The men's competitions are as follows: single sculls, pairs, fours, quadruple sculls, eights, lightweight double sculls and a lightweight four. Women compete in all events except for regular and lightweight fours.
There will be 206 boats and a total of 548 participating athletes. Each country can enter one boat per event, but nations must qualify via one of three regional championships, the 2007 World Rowing Championships in Germany, or the last-chance regatta that was held in Poland in June.
All-Time Medal Standings:
Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 
East Germany 33 7 7 47 
United States 30 29 21 80 
Great Britain 21 17 8 46 
Germany 18 12 13 43 
Romania 18 10 7 35 
Soviet Union 12 20 9 41 
Italy 10 13 13 36 
Australia 8 7 11 26 
Canada 7 13 12 32 
France 6 11 10 27 
Switzerland 6 8 9 23 
Netherlands 5 11 9 25 
Denmark 5 3 8 16 
New Zealand 5 2 6 13 West Germany 4 5 6 15 
Germany 4 4 2 10 
Finland 3 0 3 6 
Norway 2 7 5 14 
Bulgaria 2 4 8 14 
Poland 2 2 9 13 
Czechoslovakia 2 2 7 11 
Belarus 2 1 2 5 
Yugoslavia 1 1 3 5 
Argentina 1 1 2 4 
Slovenia 1 1 2 4 
Russia 1 0 3 4 
Belgium 0 6 2 8 
Austria 0 3 2 5 
China 0 2 2 4 
Sweden 0 2 0 2 
Uruguay 0 1 3 4 
Hungary 0 1 2 3 
Croatia 0 1 1 2 
Czech Republic 0 1 0 1 
Estonia 0 1 0 1 
Spain 0 1 0 1 
Unified Team 0 0 1 1 
Lithuania 0 0 1 1 
South Africa 0 0 1 1 
Ukraine 0 0 1 } (Photo via 1976 Official Report)
 |
Sportswriter 
