Baron Pierre de
Coubertin was really fond of Rowing and included it as an Olympic sport in
1896 at the first modern Olympic Games. The weather was bad and those events
had to be cancelled. The first rowing events were actually held for men in
1900 but women were not included until 1976.
Rowing boats used to be made of wood. Today they are made of plastic or fiberglass. They can be 23.5 inches to 24.5 cm wide and 9 yards to 21 yards long. The boats weight between 39 and 211 lbs.
The rowers are also divided into categories by weight. There are two categories of boats in the Olympic games and there will be races for both men and women.
In Sculling the athletes hold two oars, one oar in each hand.
-
Single scull - one rower
-
Double sculls - two rowers
-
Quadruple sculls - four rowers
-
Lightweight double sculls -
In Sweep rowing the athletes use both hands on one oar.
-
Pair
-
Four
-
Eight
-
Lightweight four men
Divided into lanes, Rowing races cover a distance of 1.25 miles in a river, canal or lake. If you have friends in college you may have head them use the word "crew" to describe rowing.
