1978 World Rowing Championships | |
---|---|
![]() Logo of the 1978 World Rowing Championships | |
Venue | Lake Karapiro |
Location | Cambridge, New Zealand |
Dates | 30 October – 5 November |
Nations | 28 |
The 1978 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 October to 5 November at Lake Karapiro near Cambridge, New Zealand. [1] [2] [3] Twenty-eight countries were represented at the regatta. In the history of the World Rowing Championships, 1978 was the only year when the lightweight rowing championships were not held in conjunction with the open men and women event; the lightweight events had already been held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in August.
Lake Karapiro was formed in 1947 through a hydroelectric project on the Waikato River. It was soon recognised as the best rowing venue in New Zealand, and was used for the 1950 British Empire Games. [4] World rowing championships had been held since 1962 by FISA, the World Rowing Federation, [4] and in 1974 New Zealand was provisionally awarded the 1978 world event. [5] Don Rowlands, who had won rowing medals at British Empire and Commonwealth Games in the 1950s and would later become chairman of the 1978 World Rowing Championships organising committee, had lobbied for the event to come to New Zealand; prior to 1978, the event had always been held in the Northern Hemisphere. He found a supporter in Thomas Keller, the president of FISA. There was also some curiosity amongst the rowing fraternity how a small island nation from the South Pacific managed to win gold medals at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics, in men's coxed four and men's eight, respectively. [4] [5] But it was not until the 1976 Summer Olympics that 1978 event was confirmed, which left only two years to organise the event. [5]
The entire event was organised by volunteers; the organising committee had no people in employment. [5] Cyril Hilliard was the secretary of the organising committee. [6] Volunteer labour erected a grandstand; all built with scaffolding. As Rowlands was a marine engineer, he designed the starting pontoon himself [4] and the construction was carried out by James Hill, a former Olympic rower who was a joiner by trade. Hill also built the start and finish towers. [7] A company donated 13 kit houses, and these were used as offices. [5] Catering for the competitors was done by the New Zealand Army. It is estimated that in total, close to 100,000 spectators attended the four days of racing. [4] Keller called it afterwards "the greatest regatta in living memory". [4] Former British rower Dickie Burnell, who worked at Karapiro as a correspondent for The Times , labelled the event "the greatest show on water". [5]
Twenty-eight countries were represented by their rowers in 140 boats, and this was the largest international sports competition that the country had organised up to that time. [8] [9] The event made a profit of NZ$155,000, which was used to fund a rowing foundation. [4]
Medallists at the 1978 World Rowing Championships were:
In the single sculls and coxless pair boat classes, the first three boats from each heat qualified for the semi-final, and three further semi-finalists were determined via a repechage. In all other boat classes, the first from each heat qualified for the final, with the other finalists determined via a repechage. [9]
In the history of the World Rowing Championships, 1978 was the only year when the lightweight rowing championships were not held in conjunction with the open men and women event. The 1978 FISA Lightweight Championships were held in Copenhagen, Denmark, during August. [18]
There were six boats nominated in the coxless pair and they went to the final without heats. In all other boat classes, the winner of each heat qualified for the final and all other finalists were determined via a repechage. [9]
New Zealand officials had expected their men to win three or four medals, and Rowlands stated that he expected the men's eight to win gold. In the end, the bronze won by New Zealand's eight was the host's only medal. [25] This table does not include the lightweight events. [26]
single sculls | pair (coxless) | coxed pair | double sculls | four (coxless) | coxed four | quad sculls | quad sculls (coxed) | eight (coxed) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men's | M1x [10] | M2- [11] | M2+ [12] | M2x [13] | M4- [14] | M4+ [15] | M4x [16] | M8+ [17] | |
Women's | W1x [19] | W2- [20] | W2x [21] | W4+ [22] | W4x+ [23] | W8+ [24] |
The medal table excludes the lightweight events.
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 8 | 3 | 0 | 11 |
2 | ![]() | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
3 | ![]() | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
4 | ![]() | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
5 | ![]() | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
6 | ![]() | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
7 | ![]() | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
![]() | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
![]() | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
10 | ![]() | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
11 | ![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
![]() | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Totals (17 entries) | 14 | 14 | 14 | 42 |
The Soviet Union were disqualified in the final of the women's coxed four. [27]
Six men's teams and only one women's team from Great Britain competed at the championships. [28] [29]
Event | Notes | |
M1x | Tim Crooks | 5th in B final |
---|---|---|
M2- | Jim Clark & John Roberts | Silver medal |
M2+ | N/A | no entry |
M2x | Chris Baillieu & Michael Hart | Silver medal |
M4- | Martin Cross, David Townsend, Ian McNuff, John Beattie (London RC) | Bronze medal |
M4+ | N/A | no entry |
M4x | Allan Whitwell, Eric Sims, Charles Wiggin, Malcolm Carmichael | 4th in B final |
M8+ | Lenny Robertson, Allan Whitwell, Henry Clay, Malcolm McGowan, Campbell, Gordon Rankine, Robert Milligan, Colin Seymour, Robert Lee (cox) | eliminated in repechage |
W1x | N/A | no entry |
W2- | N/A | no entry |
W2x | Pauline Hart & Astrid Ayling | 1st in B final |
W4+ | N/A | no entry |
W4x+ | N/A | no entry |
W8+ | N/A | no entry |
Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars, one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.
Conrad Christian Robertson is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic Gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The 2010 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 31 October to 7 November 2010 on Lake Karapiro near Cambridge, New Zealand. The annual week-long rowing regatta was organised by FISA. Usually held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer, they were held later in the year in the southern hemisphere. In non-Olympic years the regatta is the highlight of the international rowing calendar.
The 2011 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 28 August to 4 September 2011 at Lake Bled, adjoining the Slovenian city of Bled. The annual week-long rowing regatta is organized by World Rowing Federation (FISA), and held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer. In non-Olympic Games years the regatta is the highlight of the international rowing calendar, and in the year prior to the Olympics it is the main qualification event for the following year's Olympics.
Richard Scott Chambers is a British rower, and is the brother of fellow rower Peter Chambers. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the silver medal in the lightweight men's four.
Eric Gordon Murray is a retired New Zealand rower and gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympic Games, as well as at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. He won six consecutive World Rowing Championship gold medals in the coxless pair plus two other gold medals in the coxless four and coxed pair. In 2012 an 2014 he set two world best times in the coxless pair and coxed pair respectively, which as of 2021 still stand as the world's best in those boat classes.
The 2015 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 2015 at the Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette-le-Lac in France.
The rowing competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 13 August 2016 at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in Lagoa. Fourteen medal events were being contested by 547 athletes, 334 men and 213 women.
Geoffrey Raymond Horan is a retired New Zealand rower.
The 1974 World Rowing Championships was the fourth World Rowing Championships. It was held from 4 to 8 September 1974 and from 29 August to 1 September 1974 on the Rotsee in Lucerne, Switzerland. The event was significantly extended from the 1970 edition, with the addition of both women's and lightweight men's events. Six women boat classes were added, three lightweight men classes, plus quad scull for men, increasing the number of boat classes from seven in 1970 to seventeen in 1974. This was also the last World Championships held on a quadrennial cycle – from this point, World Championships were held annually.
The 1975 World Rowing Championships was the fifth World Rowing Championships. It was held from 21 to 30 August at Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre in Nottingham, England, United Kingdom.
The 1977 World Rowing Championships was the 6th World Rowing Championships. The championships were held from 19 to 28 August 1977 on the Bosbaan rowing lake in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The 1987 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 29 to 30 August 1987 in Copenhagen, Denmark while it was "outrageously windy".
The 2017 World Rowing Championships were the 47th edition of the World Rowing Championships that were held from 24 September to 1 October 2017 in Sarasota, Florida.
The 1978 FISA Lightweight Championships were held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 3 to 6 August 1978. In the history of the World Rowing Championships, 1978 was the only year when the lightweight rowing championships were not held in conjunction with the open men and women event. The lightweight finals were raced on 6 August. The event was held at Lake Bagsværd. In 1978, a fourth boat class was added to the event: Lightweight double scull.
Ian John Wilson is a retired British lightweight rower who competed for Great Britain.
Stuart Wilson is a retired British lightweight rower. He became world champion in the lightweight men's four at the 1979 World Rowing Championships. He moved to Australia in 1982 and competed for his adopted country at the 1984 World Rowing Championships.
The 2018 World Rowing Championships were the World Rowing Championships held at the regatta course in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The event was held from 9 to 16 September. Events held were men and women's open class, lightweight class, and para-rowing.
Phoebe Spoors is a New Zealand rower. From Christchurch, she was an unused reserve in the New Zealand women's eight at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in which her elder sister Lucy won a silver medal. In an unusual career progression for a New Zealand rower, she never represented the country as an age-group rower but joined the national team after several years in the United States for fulltime rowing at the University of Washington combined with tertiary study.