Introduction to Rowing

National Federation
Irish Amateur Rowing Union
Sport HQ
Block 13, Joyce Way
Parkwest Business Park
Nagor Road
Dublin 12              

Tel: (+353 1) 625 1130
Fax: (+353 1) 625 1131

Email:info@rowingireland.ie
Web: http://www.iaru.ie/

Olympic History
Rowing was scheduled to appear in Athens in 1896 but bad weather caused its cancellation. It made its Olympic debut in Paris in 1900. The seating configurations of the boats in the Olympic regatta have changed a number of times since then.
Women’s rowing was introduced at the Olympic at Montreal 1976 and lightweight rowing, for men and women, was introduced at Atlanta 1996.

Technical Details
In Olympic rowing 14 different boat classes are raced, eight sculling events in which two oars are used, one in each hand and six sweep-oared events in which the rower uses one oar with both hands.
The sculling boat classes are the single, the double and the quadruple scull with crews of one, two or four athletes respectively, as well as the lightweight double. The sweep rowing categories include the pair, the four, the lightweight four (for men only) and the eight with coxswain, which is perhaps the most spectacular rowing event of all.
For the lightweight events (the lightweight women’s double and the lightweight men’s double and four) the average weight of a men’s crew must not exceed 70kg with the maximum weight for crew members being 72.5kg, for women the average weight of a crew must not exceed 57kg with the maximum weight for crew members being 59kg. All races cover a distance of 2000 metres.

Rules
Rowing races cover a distance of 2,000m in river, canal or lake-type competition venues in six lanes. Crews qualify through predetermined rounds, namely the preliminary round (heats), the repeat round (repechages), the semi-finals and the finals. The “A” final determines the first six places and the runners-up “B” final determines the next six rankings, namely 7th to 12th positions. The number of rounds per event depends on the number of crews taking part.

The races take place under the supervision of umpires, who are members of the Jury for every event. The jury members are placed at various locations on and off the competition course, such as the starting line, where the races begin under the supervision of the aligner and the starter; along the course of the race in the competition lanes under the supervision of umpires; the finishing line with the finish-line umpire; the identity verification stage of the crews before their embarkation onto the boats; the weighing-in of the athletes; the weighing-in of boats; and, in general, in all areas directly related to the competition, the athletes and their equipment.
Olympic Categories of Boats
There are two categories of rowing competition boats:

Sculling
In which the athletes hold one oar in each hand:
1. Single Scull (one rower) (1x)
2. Double Scull (two rowers) (2x)
3. Quadruple Scull (four rowers) (4x)
4. Lightweight double scull (L2x)

Sweep rowing
In which the athletes use one oar with both hands:
1. Pair (2-)
2. Four (4-)
3. Eight (8+)
4. Lightweight four Men (LM4-)

Athletes categories
In Rowing there are two categories of athletes:
1. Open: (open to all athletes, regardless of their weight)
2. Lightweight: In this category men cannot weigh more than 72.5kg and women cannot exceed 59kg, while the average weight of the crew cannot exceed 70 and 57kg respectively.

Coxswains
The minimum admissible weight of a coxswain, irrespective of boat or event category, is 55kg for men and 50kg for women.

National Federation
Irish Amateur Rowing Union
Sport HQ
Block 13, Joyce Way
Parkwest Business Park
Nagor Road
Dublin 12              

Tel: (+353 1) 625 1130
Fax: (+353 1) 625 1131

Email:info@rowingireland.ie
Web: http://www.iaru.ie/