Rowing at 2024 Paris Olympics: How it works, Team USA stars, what else to know
Here's what you need to know about rowing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
When did rowing become an Olympic sport?
Men’s rowing debuted at the 1900 Paris Olympics; women’s rowing was added in 1976 at the Montreal Games. From 1976 to 2016, there were eight men’s Olympic events and only six women’s events. For the second consecutive Olympic Games, there will be rowing parity, with both men and women competing in seven events.
How does Olympic rowing work?
Rowing, also known as crew, has both men and women's events in the Summer Olympics. Each race takes place on a 2,000-meter course, usually on a river. Tweleve of the events are open weight – which means athletes can weigh anything – and the other two are lightweight double sculls, where men must weigh less than 160 pounds and women must weigh less than 130.
The seven rowing events are: single sculls; double sculls; lightweight double sculls; quadruple sculls; coxless pairs; coxless fours and eights (with a coxswain). A coxswain is the athlete who steers the boat and calls out strokes. In sculling, each rower uses both a left-and right-side oar. In pairs, fours and eights, each rower only operates a left- or ride-side oar.
Who are the top Team USA athletes in rowing?
At the Tokyo Games, for the first time ever, USA Rowing did not bring home a single medal. The athletes below have the best shot at doing so in Paris:
Kara Kohler: 2012 bronze in quadruple sculls, has since moved to single sculls.
Billy Bender and Oliver Bub: Surprising winners in the men’s pair at the U.S. Olympic trials, they finished almost three seconds ahead of second place.
Jessica Thoennes and Azja Czajkowski: Theonnes is an Olympic vet, finishing fourth in the women’s eight in Tokyo; now she’s working with Czaikowski, a 23-year-old California native who has next to no senior international experience. The women's pair dominated at the Trials, winning by seven seconds.
What's the international landscape in Olympic rowing?
The athlete to watch is 27-year-old Oliver Zeidler of Germany, whose grandfather and aunt were both Olympic medalists. Zeidler has no prior Olympic experience but has won three consecutive world championships and all three 2023 World Cups in the single sculls.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rowing at 2024 Paris Olympics: How it works, what to know
