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Competitive Rowing |
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Modern day rowing is a highly professional and competitive sport which is carried out from school and club level nationally, right through to Olympic level. The body which oversees all of this world-wide is the "Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron" (FISA) in French, or the English equivalent International Federation of Rowing Associations . This group is responsible for the majority of the international regattas such as the world championships and world cup meetings. USRowing is a nonprofit membership organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the national governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States.
There is a large amount of variation between regattas through all the national and international levels, but generally races take place over 2000 meters in 8's (always coxed), 4's (both coxed and coxless), pairs (also coxed and coxless). These categories are known as sweep oar races with each competitor having one oar. Also taking place are sculling races where each competitor has two oars. Scullers either race singly, in a double scull (two rowers), or a quad (four rowers).
Naturally as the sport became more competitive, and the need for faster boats more apparent, the result has been a series of radical changes in the racing boat design. Nowadays there is an accepted standard design for racing boats, but these differ dramatically from those used in early races. To begin with boats were heavy and wide, with fixed seats and oars rested on the side of the boat. The first significant development came in 1846 when Oxford developed outriggers. These allowed the oars to be secured away from the side of the boat, providing more leverage and stability, and therefore leading to the boats themselves becoming narrower and more streamlined.
The next major development was the transition from fixed seats to the sliding ones we have today, this change being implemented by Yale oarsmen in 1870. This was the last significant change to the overall design of the rowing boat, but changes have taken placel, and still do, in terms of materials used and minor changes in shape, all designed at creating more racing speed. Nowadays the boat design is more or less standard and any changes are closely monitored by the world governing body (FISA).
In terms of competition the sport has also come a long way. The first Dagett and Coach race was between single scullers only, but as the years passed more races were founded with increasingly diverse boats being raced. This has culminated in modern regattas which have numerous different racing categories.
The pinnacle of competitive international rowing is obviously the Olympics. Rowing is one of the original Olympic sports with the first modern Olympic games, held in Athens in 1896, due to be its debut. Unfortunately the weather was too rough to hold the event so rowing had to wait until 1900 in Paris for its Olympic debut. Women's rowing debuted at the 1976 Montreal games.
The next biggest event in the international calendar is the World Championship, held every two years, and nationally each country has its own national championships.
