Overview

Rowing is the propelling of a boat using a fixed oar as a lever. In modern sports, rowers race against each other either as individuals or in crews of two, four or eight.

Rowing has been staged at all the editions of the Olympic Games, except in 1896 in Athens. It was, however, on the programme, but a stormy sea compelled the organisers to cancel the events. Women made their debut at the Games in 1976 in Montreal.

The races are divided into sculling and sweep oar. Sculling events use two oars, whilst in sweep the rower holds one. The eight-person crews have a coxswain, who steers the boat and directs the crew, but in all other boats one rower steers by controlling a small rudder with a foot pedal.

There are heavyweight and lightweight divisions and men and women currently compete in six events. These events are the single, double and quadruple sculls, lightweight double scull, the eight and the coxless pair. Men also race in two further events, the coxless four and lightweight coxless four. The Olympic rowing programme introduced lightweight event categories for the first time at the 1996 Atlanta Games. The weight limits vary for men and women: individual women must not weigh more

than 59kg; the average crew weight can be no more than 57kg. Individual men must not weigh more than 72.5kg; the average crew weight can be no more than 70kg.