Rowing Facts
- Rowing is one of the original sports in the modern Olympic Games.
- Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, was a rower.
- Rowers were the third largest U.S. delegation (48 athletes) to the Olympic Games in 2000.
- Eight-oared shells are about 60-feet long - that’s 20 yards on a football field.
- Rowing was the first intercollegiate sport contested in the United States. The first rowing race was between Harvard and Yale in 1852.
- Physiologically, rowers are superb examples of physical conditioning. Cross-country skiers and long distance speed skaters are comparable in terms of the physical demands the sport places on the athletes.
- An eight, which carries more than three-quarters of a ton (1,750 pounds), may weigh as little as 200 pounds. The boats are made of fiberglass composite material.
- Singles may be as narrow as 10 inches across, weigh only 23 pounds, and stretch nearly 27-feet long.
- The first rowing club in the U.S. was the Detroit Boat Club, founded in 1839.
- The first amateur sport organization was a rowing club - Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Navy, founded in 1858.
- From 1920 until 1956, the USA won the gold medal in the men’s eight at every Olympic Games.
- The first national governing body for a sport in the United States was for rowing. Founded as the National Association for Amateur Oarsmen in 1872, it was changed in 1982 to the United States Rowing Association.
- Yale College founded the first collegiate boat club in the U.S. in 1843.
- FISA, the first international sports federation, was founded in 1892.
- Dr. Benjamin Spock, the famous baby doctor, was an Olympic rower in 1924 and won a gold medal in the eight. Gregory Peck rowed at the University of California in 1937.
- Physiologists claim that rowing a 2,000-meter race - equivalent to 1.25 miles - is equal to playing back-to-back basketball games.
- In 1997, Jamie Koven became the first American to win the men’s single sculls at the world championships since 1966.
- In 1999, the U.S. men’s eight won its third consecutive gold medal at the world championships, a first in U.S. history
For more information, check our our Orientation to Rowing
