Rowing, sometimes 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 oarlocks, 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.
The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA. It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the international rowing calendar.
Rowing at the Summer Olympics has been part of the competition since its debut in the 1900 Summer Olympics. Rowing was on the program at the 1896 Summer Olympics but was cancelled due to bad weather. Only men were allowed to compete until the women's events were introduced at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal which gave national federations the incentive to support women's events and catalysed growth in women's rowing. Lightweight rowing events were introduced to the games in 1996. Qualifying for the rowing events is under the jurisdiction of the World Rowing Federation. World Rowing predates the modern Olympics and was the first international sport federation to join the modern Olympic movement.
The men's coxed pair was one of the competitions in the Rowing at the 1900 Summer Olympics events in Paris. It was held on 25 August and 26 August 1900. 7 boats, involving 22 rowers from 3 nations, competed. The event was won by a mixed team; Minerva Amsterdam's Dutch crew replaced its coxswain with a local French boy for the final. François Brandt and Roelof Klein were the rowers, with Hermanus Brockmann the cox in the semifinals; the French cox is unknown. Second and third places both went to French boats; Société nautique de la Marne took silver while Rowing Club Castillon earned bronze.
Ian Andrew Wright is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Wright has won 31 national titles during his career. After his rowing career ended, he became a coach and his Swiss lightweight men's four team won gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He is now Australia's head rowing coach announced in September 2016. He immediately coached the Australian men's four to a gold medal at the 2017 world rowing championships.
The men's coxed pair event was part of the rowing programme at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on 28 and 29 August 1920. It was the second appearance of the event, which had previously been held only at the inaugural rowing competitions in 1900. Four boats, each from a different nation, competed. The event was won by the Italian boat in that nation's debut in the event, with Ercole Olgeni and Giovanni Scatturin the rowers and Guido De Felip the coxswain. France's crew took silver, the second consecutive silver for France. Switzerland earned bronze.
The men's coxed pair event was part of the rowing programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. The competition, the third appearance of the event, was held from 14 to 17 July 1924 on the river Seine. Five teams, each from a different nation, competed, for a total of 15 rowers and coxswains. The event was won by Switzerland, with rowers Édouard Candeveau and Alfred Felber and coxswain Émile Lachapelle. The two Swiss rowers had earned bronze in 1920 with a different cox. Defending champion Italian rowers Ercole Olgeni and Giovanni Scatturin took silver, this time with Gino Sopracordevole as their cox. Candeveau, Felber, Olgeni, and Scatturin were the first four men with multiple medals in the event. The United States' debut in the event netted a bronze medal for rowers Leon Butler and Harold Wilson and cox Edward Jennings.
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. 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.
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich took place from 27 August to 2 September at the Olympic Regatta Course in Oberschleißheim. There were 21 boats from 21 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by East German crew Wolfgang Gunkel, Jörg Lucke, and coxswain Klaus-Dieter Neubert; it was the first medal in the event for East Germany as a separate nation. Czechoslovakia (silver) and Romania (bronze) also won their first medals in the men's coxed pair.
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles took place are at Long Beach Marine Stadium on 13 August. Competition consisted of a single round. There were 4 boats from 4 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by the United States, its first victory in the event. Coxswain Edward Jennings had also been on the bronze medal team in 1924, making him the fifth man with multiple medals in the coxed pair. The American rowers were Charles Kieffer and Joseph Schauers. Silver went to Poland, in its coxed pair debut. France earned bronze.
The rowing competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place between 23 and 30 July 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay. Fourteen medal events were contested by 526 athletes.
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin took place at Grünau on the Langer See. It was held from 12 to 14 August. There were 12 boats from 12 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. It was twice the highest number of boats that had previously competed in an Olympic tournament. The event was won by the German team, rowers Gerhard Gustmann and Herbert Adamski and coxswain Dieter Arend, in the nation's debut in the event. Italy earned its first medal in the event since 1924 with silver by Almiro Bergamo, Guido Santin, and cox Luciano Negrini. France extended its podium streak to three Games with bronze by Marceau Fourcade, Georges Tapie, and cox Noël Vandernotte.
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London took place at Henley-on-Thames, London. It was held from 5 to 9 August. There were 9 boats from 9 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by the Danish team, rowers Finn Pedersen and Tage Henriksen and coxswain Carl-Ebbe Andersen; it was the first medal in the men's coxed pair for Denmark. Italy won its second consecutive silver medal, with Giovanni Steffè, Aldo Tarlao, and cox Alberto Radi. Hungary also earned its first medal in the event, a bronze for Antal Szendey, Béla Zsitnik, and cox Róbert Zimonyi. The French three-Games pre-war podium streak ended.
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics took place at Meilahti, Finland. It was held from 20 to 23 July. There were 15 boats from 15 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by French team Raymond Salles, Gaston Mercier, and coxswain Bernard Malivoire; it was the nation's first victory in the event. Germany, which had won the event in 1936 but had been excluded from the 1948 Games after World War II, took silver. Sweden, the defending champions, had an all-new crew of Svend Ove Pedersen, Poul Svendsen, and cox Jørgen Frantzen; they took bronze.
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics took place at Lake Wendouree near Ballarat, Australia, from 23 to 27 November. There were 8 boats from 8 nations, with each nation limited to one boat in the event. The event was won by the American crew, rowers Arthur Ayrault and Conn Findlay and coxswain Kurt Seiffert. It was the first victory in the event for the United States since 1932 and second overall, matching Switzerland for most among nations at that point. The United Team of Germany took silver in its debut. The Soviet Union earned its first medal in the event, with Ihor Yemchuk, Heorhiy Zhylin, and Vladimir Petrov (cox) taking bronze.
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1960 Summer Olympics took place at took place at Lake Albano, Italy. It was held from 31 August to 3 September. There were 18 boats from 18 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The three nations on the podium were the same as those in 1956, though in a different order. The event was won by the United Team of Germany, with Bernhard Knubel and Heinz Renneberg rowing with Klaus Zerta the coxswain. Zerta is the youngest confirmed male gold medalist in Olympic history at 13 years and 283 days, just beating Hans Bourquin by 9 days. The 1900 men's coxed pair gold-medal-winning coxswain may have been younger, but the identities and ages of most coxswains in that event, including the gold medalist, are not known. The Soviet Union, bronze in 1956, took silver this time with Antanas Bagdonavičius, Zigmas Jukna, and Igor Rudakov. Defending champions the United States took bronze; Conn Findlay was the only man from the 1956 podium to return, this time with Richard Draeger as his rowing partner and Kent Mitchell the coxswain.
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics took place at Notre Dame Island Olympic Basin, Canada. It was held from 18 to 25 July. There were 13 boats from 13 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. The event was won by Harald Jährling, Friedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich, and Georg Spohr of East Germany, the nation's second consecutive victory in the event. The Soviet Union earned that nation's first medal in the event since 1960 with their silver. The Czechoslovakian brothers Oldřich Svojanovský and Pavel Svojanovský became the 8th and 9th men to win multiple medals in the event, adding a bronze to 1972 silver with new cox Ludvík Vébr.
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place at Lake of Banyoles, Spain. It was held from 28 July to 2 August. There were 16 boats from 16 nations, with each nation limited to one boat in the event. The event was won by brothers Greg and Jonny Searle and coxswain Garry Herbert of Great Britain, the nation's first victory in the event. It was the third consecutive Games with brothers winning as the rowers; Italy's Carmine Abbagnale and Giuseppe Abbagnale had won in 1984 and 1988. They, along with longtime cox Giuseppe Di Capua, took silver this year, becoming the only crew to win three medals together in the event. Bronze went to Romanians Dimitrie Popescu, Nicolae Țaga, and cox Dumitru Răducanu. Popescu and Răducanu had been on the 1984 silver medal team, making them the 16th and 17th—and final—men to earn multiple medals in the event.
The coxed four was a rowing event held at the Summer Olympics. The event was first held for men at the second modern Olympics in 1900. It was not held in 1904 or 1908. It returned in 1912 with two versions: the standard one as well as one with inriggers. It continued to be held for men until it was removed from the programme following the 1992 Games, at which point it and the men's coxed pair were replaced with the men's lightweight double sculls and men's lightweight coxless four. The women's event was added when women's rowing was added to the Olympic programme in 1976. It was held each year through 1988, when it was replaced with the women's coxless four.
Great Britain 
