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.
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.
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.
Lightweight rowing is a category of rowing where limits are placed on the maximum body weight of competitors. According to the International Rowing Federation (FISA), this weight category was introduced "to encourage more universality in the sport especially among nations with less statuesque people".
The rowing competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games in London were held from 28 July to 4 August 2012, at Dorney Lake which, for the purposes of the Games venue, was officially termed Eton Dorney. Fourteen medal events were contested by 550 athletes, 353 men and 197 women.
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.
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 Russian Federation competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was Russia's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics as an independent nation. The nation finished fourth in the medal standings, with 19 gold and 56 total medals, ensuring that Soviet and Russian athletes had never placed below fourth since they started participating in 1952.
Rowing competitions at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro were held from 9 to 11 September 2016, at Lagoa Stadium at the Games' Copacabana hub.
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.
Saiyidah Aisyah Mohamed Rafa’ee, commonly known as Aisyah, is a Singaporean rower. She placed 23rd in the women's single sculls event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, making her Singapore's first Olympic rower.
This article details the qualifying phase for rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The majority of the spots were awarded to the National Olympic Committees, not to specific athletes, at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, held in Ottensheim, Austria from 25 August to 1 September 2019. At the World Championships countries qualify boats rather than crews and can make crew changes for the Olympic regatta for qualified boats. Further berths are distributed to the nations at four continental qualifying regattas in Asia and Oceania, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. The last berths were distributed at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta held in Lucerne, Switzerland 15–16 May 2021.
Belarus competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was Belarus' last appearance at the Summer Olympics as Belarus along with Russia was barred from competiting at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris as a result of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was the nation's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.
Bulgaria competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. Bulgarian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympics from 1924 onwards, except for three occasions: the 1948 Summer Olympics in London because of the nation's instigation in World War II, and the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles because of the worldwide Great Depression and Soviet boycott, respectively.
Ukraine competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. It was the nation's eighth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era and the first since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A total of 140 athletes competed amid the Russian invasion, the lowest number in the history of Ukraine's participation in the games.
Iran competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. Since the nation's return in 1948 after having made their debut in 1900, Iranian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games except for Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, citing political reasons. This was the nation's 19th appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Rowing competitions at the 2023 Pan American Games will be held between October 21 and 25, 2023 at the Laguna Grande in San Pedro de La Paz, Chile.
502 athletes qualified for rowing at the 2024 Summer Olympics. About two-thirds of the total quota was awarded to the National Olympic Committees, not to specific athletes, at the 2023 World Rowing Championships on 3 to 10 September in Belgrade, Serbia. The remainder of the total quota was attributed to the eligible rowers at each of the four continental qualification regattas in Asia and Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and Europe, and at the final Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Judo competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris took place from 27 July to 3 August at Grand Palais Éphémère in Champ de Mars. The number of judokas competing across fourteen weight categories at these Games has been reduced from 393 in Tokyo 2020 to 372, with an equal distribution between men and women.
This article details the qualifying phase for taekwondo at the 2024 Summer Olympics. The competition at these Games will comprise a total of 128 taekwondo fighters coming from their respective NOCs; each can enter a maximum of eight taekwondo fighters, with one in each bodyweight category and four for each gender.
