By Jaya & Jean
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.
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.
This page was last edited December 02, 2005.
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