Rowing has been part of the Summer Olympics since its debut in the 1900 Games. 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.
London Rowing Club is the second oldest of the non-academic active rowing clubs on the Thames in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1856 by members of the long-disbanded Argonauts Club wishing to compete at Henley Royal Regatta.
Frances Houghton MBE is a 5 time Olympic rower (2000–2016), 4 times World Champion and 3 times Olympic Silver medallist.
Melanie Kok [pronounced "Cook"] is a Canadian rower and neuroscientist. Kok won a bronze team medal in the Women's Lightweight Double Sculls at the 2008 Summer Olympics with Tracy Cameron.
Tracy Stuart Began Rowing in 2000 at the age of 25 by enrolling in the learn to row program, while attending the University of Calgary. Since then, Tracy has been to the starting line 12 times and brought home 9 medals, including a Bronze in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and a gold in the 2010 World Rowing Championships.
Olympia Aldersey is an Australian rower. She is an Australian national champion, a dual Olympian and was a 2019 World Champion in the coxless four. In 2014 she set a world's fastest ever time (6:37.31) in a women's double scull over 2000m, a record which has stood since. She rowed in the Australian women's eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Hannah Every-Hall is an Australian former rower, a national champion, World Champion and Olympian. She is married to Michael Hall and they have a son named Harrison Hall
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.
Patricia Obee is a Canadian rower from Victoria, British Columbia. Obee won a silver at the 2016 Olympics, 2011 World Rowing Championships and 2014 World Rowing Championships in the lightweight women's double sculls.
Huang Wenyi is a female Chinese rower. She is a World and Olympic medallist.
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.
Paul O'Donovan is an Irish lightweight rower. He is an Olympic gold medallist in lightweight double sculls where he set a new world's best time for that event and is a five-time world champion in single and double sculls.
Sophie MacKenzie is a New Zealand Olympic rower and, together with Julia Edward, double world champion in lightweight double sculls.
Julia Edward is a New Zealand rower, a two time world champion in the women's lightweight double sculls.
Rowing Ireland, formerly the Irish Amateur Rowing Union, is the governing body of rowing for Ireland. It is a cross-border organisation administering the sport in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Gary O'Donovan is an Irish rower. Together with his brother Paul he won the gold medal in the lightweight double sculls at the 2016 European Rowing Championships, silver in the same discipline at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and gold at the 2018 World Rowing Championships. He was the flag bearer for Ireland during the closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Genevieve Horton is an Australian rower, a dual Olympian, a junior world champion and an Australian national champion. She competed in the women's double sculls event at the 2016 Summer Olympics and is the 2019 Australian national champion in the women's single scull. She rowed in the Australian women's eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Ursula Grobler is a South African competitive rower who resides in Pretoria, South Africa.
Matthew Dunham is a New Zealand rower.
Georgia Nesbitt is an Australian former representative lightweight rower who made 10 representative appearaances for Australia between 2013 and 2022. She was a seven-time national champion and she won a silver medal at the 2017 World Rowing Championships. In 2022 prior to a serious cycling accident, she competed in Australian Road National championships and had qualified to participate in her age group at the 2023 Ironman World Championships in Helsinki.
