Billions around the globe will tune in to watch the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as it gets underway in France this week. As usual, rowing will kick off in the first week of the Games and will run until August 4th. If you are new to the sport, have only ever tried the indoor variant, or just want to know more about one of the modern Olympics’ longest-standing sports, here is our beginner’s guide to Olympic rowing and how to enjoy watching it.
Background
Rowing has been staged at every Games since making its debut on the Olympic programme at the 1900 Games, also in Paris, after the rowing event at the 1896 Games was cancelled due to bad weather. Competitive rowing has existed as a sport for around 200 years, born out of the rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge universities on the River Thames after the first Boat Race in 1829 - a race that continues to be watched by hundreds of thousands on the banks of the Thames each year, with many millions more globally via television and internet.
How it works
Olympic rowing is divided into events by boat type, ranging from singles to eight-person boats plus coxswain. Women’s rowing was first included in the Olympic rowing schedule at Montreal in 1976, and this year, for the first time, there will be an equal number of male and female athletes racing in an equal number of events.
These events are:
- Men’s and Women’s Singles (abbreviated to 1x)
- Men’s and Women’s Doubles (2x)
- Men’s and Women’s Lightweight Doubles (Lwt 2x)
- Men’s and Women’s Pairs (2-)
- Men’s and Women’s Fours (4-)
- Men’s and Women’s Quads (4x)
- Men’s and Women’s Eights (8+)
Regardless of the event, the Olympic rowing distance is always 2,000m, raced between six lanes.
All these events fall under one of two disciplines: sculling and sweep. Sculling is where each rower has a pair of oars - one for each hand. Sweep rowing has each rower pulling on a single oar with both hands. Singles, Doubles and Quads are all sculling events and Pairs, Fours and Eights are sweep rowing.
Only the Eights have coxswains who steer the boat – all the other events are coxless, with rowers responsible for steering their own boat.
There is one more caveat – lightweights. All but one event for each gender is open weight. However, there is a Lightweight Double event offered for both men and women. The lightweight category for men requires that crews have an average weight of 70kg or lighter, and no rower may weigh over 72.5kg; for female crews, the maximum average weight is 57kg, and no rower may weigh over 59kg.
Regardless of the event, the Olympic rowing distance is always 2,000m, raced between six lanes. The 2,000m Olympic distance was chosen by rounding down the 2,112m Henley Royal Regatta distance – the sports oldest regatta, running since 1885. Henley is 2,112m because that is the longest straight over which two racing lanes can be run on the Thames in Henley. Coincidentally, when the IOC was formed, its governance was based on the Henley Royal Regatta Stewards.
Each event has its own progression criteria from heats to finals, depending on the size of the entry. The Single events field 32 entries for each gender while the eights field only seven each. The Single Scullers will race through heats, repechages, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, whereas the Eights will face only a heat, repechage and final.
All events include a repechage — a round of racing after the heats that essentially allows losing boats a second chance to qualify for the quarter-finals, semi-finals or finals.
Qualification to the Olympics is based on performances at the World Rowing Championships and Continental Qualification regattas in the year leading to the Olympics.
Team GB in Paris
After a disappointing medal haul of just one silver and one bronze at the Tokyo Games, Team GB is set for a strong comeback in Paris 2024. Every British boat heads to Paris with a genuine shot at gold. Pay special attention to the British crews that triumphed at the 2023 World Rowing Championships: Women's Quadruple Sculls (4x), Lightweight Women's Double Sculls (2x), Men's Eight (8+), and Men's Four (4-). Also, keep an eye out for two-time Olympic champion Helen Glover, who aims for her third Olympic title in the Women's Four (4-) and will serve as the joint flag bearer for Team GB at the opening ceremony.
Watch the Olympic rowing action on the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, located just outside of Paris, from July 27th to August 4th.
