World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation, is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who succeeded Denis Oswald at a ceremony held in Lucerne in July 2014.
The United States sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. A total of 213 U.S. competitors took part in 18 sports; the only 2 sports Americans did not compete in were soccer 5-a-side and 7-a-side. The American delegation included 16 former members of the U.S. military, including 3 veterans of the Iraq War. Among them were shot putter Scott Winkler, who was paralyzed in an accident in Iraq, and swimmer Melissa Stockwell, a former United States Army officer who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb in the war.
Emma Kimberley Twigg is a New Zealand rower. A single sculler, she was the 2014 world champion and won gold in her fourth Olympics in Tokyo in July 2021. Previous Olympic appearances were in 2008, 2012, and 2016. She has retired from rowing twice, first for master-level studies in Europe in 2015 and then after the 2016 Olympics, disappointed at having narrowly missed an Olympic medal for the second time. After two years off the water, she started training again in 2018 and won silver at the 2019 World Rowing Championships. Since her marriage in 2020, she has become an outspoken advocate for LGBT athletes. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Twigg won gold in the woman's single scull. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Twigg won Silver in the same event.
Kathryn Ross is an Australian Paralympic rower. She is a four-time world champion who has participated at four Paralympics from 2008 to 2020, winning a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. She set a world's best time in the PR2 1X event at the 2019 World Rowing Championships.
Jessica Gallagher is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier, track and field athlete, tandem cyclist and rower. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, where she won a bronze medal in the women's giant slalom visually impaired.
Gavin Bellis is an Australian Paralympic rower. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in rowing and with Kathryn Ross won gold medals at the 2013, 2014 and 2015 World Rowing Championships. He partnered Ross at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Erik Horrie is an Australian wheelchair basketball player and a five-time world champion rower. He was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team. Switching to rowing in 2011, he made an immediate impact in the sport, first winning the NSW State Rowing Championships and then the National Rowing Championships in Adelaide. He has won silver medals at the 2012, 2016, 2020 Summer Paralympics and a bronze at the 2024 Summer Paralympics. He won gold medals at the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 World Rowing Championships. Horrie has selected for the 2024 Paris Paralympics - his fourth Games.
Kara Michelle Kohler is an American female crew rower. She won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the quadruple sculls event. She also has a World Championship gold medal in the coxless four and a World Championship bronze in the single sculls.
Oksana Oleksandrivna Masters is an American multi-sport Paralympic athlete from Louisville, Kentucky. Having primarily specialized in rowing and cross-country skiing, she won the first ever United States medal in trunk and arms mixed double sculls at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. She was also a part of the U.S. Nordic skiing team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Paralympics. She won two Paralympic medals in 2014 and five Paralympic medals in 2018, including two gold. She switched to para-cycling after the 2012 Paralympics and competed at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics, winning two gold medals at the latter. She competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, winning a gold medal in Biathlon – Women's 6 kilometres, sitting.
Rebecca Marie Murray is an American wheelchair basketball player and member of the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team. She is a three-time Parapan American Games gold medalist in 2007, 2011 and 2023. In 2010, she won two more gold medals at IWBF World Championship and at U25 World Championship in 2011.
The United States competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places the team qualified were for three athletes in sailing events. They also qualified athletes in archery, goalball, shooting, swimming, and wheelchair basketball.
Jacqueline "Jacqui" Kapinowski is a two-time American Paralympian who competed in wheelchair curling at the 2010 Winter Paralympics and in rowing at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Angela Madsen was an American Paralympian sportswoman in both rowing and track and field. In a long career, Madsen moved from race rowing to ocean challenges before switching in 2011 to athletics, winning a bronze medal in the shot put at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. Madsen and teammate Helen Taylor were the first women to row across the Indian Ocean. She died in June 2020 while attempting a solo row from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
Karen Van Nest is a Canadian Paralympic archer and shooter. She is a Parapan American Games medalist and has competed in six Paralympic Games.
Birgit Lovise Røkkum Skarstein is a Norwegian Paralympic athlete and social entrepreneur who competes in pararowing and para cross-country skiing. She is a Paralympic champion and silver medallist, six-time world champion and four-time European champion in single sculls. Skarstein has won a total of twelve World Championships medals, eight in rowing and four in cross-country skiing, and holds the world best time in women's single sculls.
The United States competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
Alexandra Viney is an Australian Paralympic rower. She was a member of the PR3 Mix 4+ at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Gemma Wollenschlaeger is an American pararower. She represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Saige Harper is an American pararower. She represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
