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.
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.
Thomas Ulsrud was a Norwegian curler from Oslo. He won a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, one World Curling Championship, two European Curling Championships, and fourteen Norwegian titles. He was also known for being the skip of the team that competed while wearing colourful harlequin trousers at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Team Ulsrud's combined showmanship and sportsmanship became iconic and contributed to reviving worldwide interest in curling since then. In 2024, he was posthumousely inducted into the World Curling Hall of Fame.
Olha Hennadiivna Kharlan, also known as Olga Kharlan, is a Ukrainian sabre fencer. She is a four-time individual women’s world sabre champion, and a four-time Olympic medalist. She has been ranked #1 in the world in women's sabre for five years: in 2012–14, 2017–18, and 2019–21.
Evan George O'Hanlon, is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian Neil Fuller.
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.
Sandra Perković Elkasević is a Croatian discus thrower. She is a two-time Olympic and world champion and a record six-time European champion which no other female athlete achieved. She is also a six-time Diamond League winner, prevailing in 46 circuit's meetings.
Oskar Ingemar Eriksson is a Swedish curler from Karlstad. He currently plays third for the Niklas Edin rink. He is the first curler in history to win four Olympic medals – gold, silver, and two bronze – and the first to secure two Olympic medals in different curling disciplines in the same Olympic Games. He is also a seven-time World Men's Curling Champion, seven-time European Men's Curling Champion, and the first curler in history to win three gold medals in major international curling championships in a single calendar year – the World Men's Curling Championship, the European Curling Championship, and the World Mixed Doubles Championship. Having also won two World Mixed Doubles Championship medals, he is the first and the only curler to win eight World Curling Championship gold medals in the senior men's division and has won thirteen World Curling Championship medals overall in that division. He also holds the record for most gold medals in international competitions as recognized by the World Curling Federation. He is the only member of Team Sweden to have competed in all of the World Men's Curling Championships from 2011 to 2024. He won medals in all but one of these championships, as well as playing in multiple positions – as skip, third, second, and as an alternate. In 2022, Eriksson and his teammates also became the first men's team in history to win four consecutive World Men's Curling Championships. In 2024, Eriksson and Niklas Edin became the first and only two curlers in history to have seven career gold World Men's Curling Championship medals.
Hamish Bryon Bond is a retired New Zealand rower and former road cyclist. He is a three-time Olympic gold medallist at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. He won six consecutive World Rowing Championships gold medals in the coxless pair and set the current world best times in both the coxless and coxed pair. He made a successful transition from rowing to road cycling after the 2016 Summer Olympics focussing on the road time trial. He returned to rowing for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, winning a gold medal in the men's eight.
Martin Sinković is a Croatian rower. He is the younger brother of fellow rower Valent Sinković, with whom he won the gold medal in Men's double sculls at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. He had previously won the silver in the men's quadruple sculls at the 2012 Summer Olympics with his brother, David Šain and Damir Martin.
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.
Tina Manker is a German rower. She was junior world champion in 2006, U23 world championship, and world champion in the women's quad sculls elite class at the 2011 World Championships. She finished her rowing career after participating at the 2012 Summer Olympics in double scull. She trained as a teacher in German and English, first at the Humboldt University of Berlin and then at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. After several years teaching at Onslow College, where she also coached the rowing team, she now works for High Performance Sport New Zealand in Cambridge.
Nathaniel “Noddy” Reilly-O'Donnell is a British rower educated at St Leonard's School, Durham and University College London.
Dilşat Yıldız is a Turkish female curler from Erzurum. She currently skips the Turkish National Women's Curling Team. She is the first ever Turkish curler to skip a men's or women's team at the World Championship, competing in the 2022 World Women's Curling Championship.
Grace Elizabeth Prendergast is a former New Zealand sweep rower. She is a 15-time national champion in the premier category, an Olympic champion, a five-time world champion and the current (2022) world champion in the coxless pair. She grew up in Christchurch, where she started rowing for the Avon Rowing Club in 2007. She competed at the Tokyo Olympics in two boat classes and won gold in the coxless pair and a silver in the eight and set a new world's best time in the pair. Various parties, including the World Rowing Federation, expected her to win medals in Tokyo. She was the highest ranked female rower in the world twice in a row in 2019 and 2021. Since 2014, her rowing partner in the coxless pair has been Kerri Gowler. Prendergast is also a Boat Race winner, having competed as part of Cambridge University Boat Club's (CUBC) women's crew in 2022. She retired from professional rowing in October 2022.
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.
Kjell Tommy Christoffer Sundgren is a Swedish curler. He currently plays lead for the Swedish national team, skipped by Niklas Edin. The World Curling Federation's historical records rank Sundgren as one of the most successful curlers of all time, both in the medals that he has received and his lifetime performance in individual championships. He is one of only three curlers in history to have won both the Olympic Gold medal and five World Championship gold medals. In 2022, he surpassed the previous record holders for World Men's Curling Championship medals, winning his fifth gold medal, in addition to his and European Men's Curling Championship, placing him third of all time on both lists behind his teammates Edin and Oskar Eriksson. He also has reached thirty-five playoffs at Grand Slam of Curling events, including winning three Grand Slam tournaments and the Pinty's Cup as part of Team Niklas Edin, the first non-Canadian men's team to do so. In 2017, Sundgren and his teammates also became the first men's team in history to win four consecutive European Men's Curling Championships. In 2021, he and his teammates became the first men's team in history to win four consecutive World Men's Curling Championships.
The European Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA. It is a week-long event for rowers under 23 years old at the end of the calendar year in which the event takes place.
Johannes Weißenfeld is a German former representative rower. He was a three time world champion and an Olympic silver medallist as a member of the German men's eight — the Deutschlandachter — which dominated the men's eight event from 2017 to 2019. He rowed at bow when the Deutschlandachter at the 2017 World Rowing Cup II set a world's best time of 5.18.68, which was still the standing world mark in 2021.
Samir Aït Saïd is a French artistic gymnast. He is the 2019 World bronze medalist and the 2013 European champion on the still rings. He is also a three-time European silver medalist and a two-time European bronze medalist. He represented France at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, and he has qualified to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics. He was one of France's flagbearers at the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.
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