Rowing (sport)

Rowing is a speed sport in narrow wooden or composite boats, where the athlete sits on a sliding seat above the water level and faces backwards, using oars operating as levers of the second type to move the boat. Outriggers are used to increase the leverage of the oars. The outriggers must be fixed to the boat. We distinguish between rowing or sweep rowing (one oar per rower) and sculling (two oars per rower). Rowing boats can be coxed (steered by a coxswain) or coxless.

The first rowing races, in the second half of the 18th century were races between watermen on the River Thames in England. Subsequently, rowing became extremely popular as an amateur sport, often with thousands of spectators for events. From the first University Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge on the River Thames, student rowing has become increasingly popular. In the Anglosaxon world, there is also a sizeable school rowing community.

Rowing today is governed by the FISA, the International Federation of Rowing Associations. At World Championship level, sculling races include quadruple sculls (four rowers), double sculls (two rowers) and singles (one rower), rowing races include the coxed eight (or eight), coxed and coxless fours and coxless pairs (occasionally coxed pairs are rowed). Men's and women's rowing are about equally popular. There are lightweight men's (<72.5kg) and lightweight women's (<57.5kg) races. Races are held over 2000 metres. Strong rowing nations include the UK, the USA, France, Germany, Australia. Well-known rowers of the recent years include Sir Steve Redgrave (GB), who won Olympic golds in five successive Olympics in the coxless pair and the coxless four, Rob Waddell (NZ) and Xeno Muller(CH), opponents in the single sculls, Ekaterina Karsten (BLR) in women's single sculls, Katrin Boron (D) in women's double sculls and quadruples.

Rowing is unusual in the demands it places on competitors. The standard race distance of 2,000m is long enough to have a large endurance element, but short enough (typically 5.5 to 7.5 minutes) to feel like a sprint. This means that rowers have some of the highest power outputs of athletes in any sport. At the same time the motion involved in the sport compresses the rowers lungs, limiting the amount of oxygen available to them. This requires rowers to tailor their breathing to the stroke, typically inhaling and exhaling twice per stroke, unlike most other sports such as cycling where competitors can breathe freely.

The relative obscurity of rowing has helped it develop an introspective atmosphere, where long hours, early mornings on the river, and the physical pain of the event are the price of being a part of the rowing community. The intense focus of top rowers on their sport is unusual even by the standard of similarly excellent competitors in other sports.

One piece of equipment commonly used when training for rowing, the 'indoor rower' or 'erg', has become popular as a sport in its own right.