ACOG - Rowing - IBM

Spectator's Guide to Rowing

Among the most physically demanding sports, rowing at a world-class level requires excellent conditioning. Upper body and leg strength are of equal importance as athletes row 2,000 meters (roughly 1.25 miles) in an average of 6 minutes, depending on the number of athletes per boat. Tracing its history back to the 19th century, the sport is rich in sportsmanship and tradition — coxswains of winning boats are thrown into the water and the prize for the winner is literally the shirt off a competitor's back.

One, two or four athletes enter the sculling events, in which each athlete uses two oars. Rowers each use one oar in the coxless pair, coxless four, lightweight coxless four and the eight events. In these events, sweep oars are positioned alternately on the sides of the boat, or shell — one rower in a sweep oar event would result in a boat going around in circles. In the coxed events, a coxswain steers the boat by pulling on wires attached to the rudder and advises the crew on racing tactics. The eight always carries a coxswain and is a remarkable event to watch; the boat is approximately 62 feet long (roughly the distance from home plate to the pitcher's mound on a baseball field) and moves at nearly 15 mph.

Events

Event Names

In rowing, event names are conventionally abbreviated as follows:

1x Single sculls
2x Double sculls
4x Quadruple sculls
2- Coxless pair
2+ Coxed pair
4- Coxless four
4+ Coxed four
8+ Eight

Lightweight Categories

For the first time in Olympic history, lightweight categories will be part of the Olympic Programme. In rowing, there are two weight categories, lightweight and open weight. Lightweight men cannot weigh more than 72 kg / 160 lbs, and the average weight in the whole boat cannot exceed 69.75 kg / 155 lbs.

Each competitor in the lightweight women's events cannot weigh more than 58.5 kg / 130 lbs, and the average boat weight cannot exceed 56.25 kg / 125 lbs.

Lightweights can row in open events, but open-weight athletes can't row in lightweight events unless they qualify. Lightweights have to weigh in before the event.

Let the Race Begin

At the start, each of the six boats is held by the stern on starting pontoons and the bows are aligned. The AGSO Start, a hydraulic gate apparatus new to the sport, will be used to ensure fair starts. The system holds the bows of the shells until the start command is given.

The rower in the bow seat may raise his or her hand to indicate the crew is ready until the starter conducts a roll call of the crews. After the roll call, the starter raises a red flag, gives the warning command, "attention," and then gives audible and visual signals to start the race. Crews are allowed only one false start, which is called when a crew leaves early or has equipment breakage in the first 100 meters of the race. It is not uncommon for an oar to break, for example.

Following the Rules

As soon as the crews begin, one or two launches follow, carrying a driver and a judge-referee. The primary responsibility of the judge-referee is to ensure that all boats are racing in safe conditions and that every crew has an equal opportunity to win.

Crews are allowed to leave their lanes (in fact, a crew may begin in Lane 1 and finish in Lane 6) as long as their movement doesn't physically endanger the crew or interfere with another crew's opportunity to win.

If a boat is close to interfering with another shell, the judge-referee will call out the crew's name and point a white flag in the direction the boat should move to avoid trouble.

Judge-referees positioned on the finish line tower or platform determine the placing of each boat, with the assistance of timing and photo-finish equipment. "Winning by a bow ball" refers to the 2-inch rubber tip on a shell's bow that is used to indicate the winner in close races where photo-finishes are used.

What to Look For

The four parts to the rowing stroke — catch (blade in water, knees bent, arms forward), drive (legs straight, arms drawn toward body), finish (oar out of the water, blade horizontal), recovery (body forward, blade turned from horizontal to vertical) — should all flow together in one smooth, powerful movement.

In addition, the following are crucial for top rowers:

Training: What's in an Erg?

You've been jamming on the rowing machine at the gym for years now and are inspired to try the real thing. You may not be ready yet.

Yes, it's true that Olympic rowers train on machines, but not the hydraulic ones you use at the gym. Ergometers, more commonly called ergs, are more sophisticated than the average rowing machine. The erg more closely simulates the actual rowing motion. It also has aerobic and strength requirements matched to the requirements of a real shell plus oar-fighting water resistance. Not to mention more linear arm motion (with oars parallel to the water during the finish and recovery). While rowing with an arc will get you from one side of the lake to the other, it won't win you a medal.

A rowing machine at the gym is no substitute for the real thing. Rowers train on ergometers to improve their individual skills, but without picture-perfect teamwork, the boat's not going to make it to the finish, let alone win.

What It's Good For?

Of course rowers use the machines when the weather keeps them off the real thing. They also use them to work on their technique. A coach can be much more hands-on when helping a rower adapt his or her stroke than they can be from the coaching launch. The machines also print out split times and other readouts as feedback to monitor an individual's progress. The key here is "individual." While some machines can be linked together, synchronicity is best improved on the water.

Nevertheless, an erg is responsible for many rowers getting their foot in the door. Coaches use the readouts to determine potential. Make the cut, and coach will take the time to see what you can do in a boat. When looking for stamina, strength and synchronicity, the erg can prove you've got at least two out of three.

This is an official publication of The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Jennifer Knight with information provided by USRowing.


Olympic Factoid
More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined.