How the sport works
There are two different types of stroke: sweeping (one oar per athlete) and sculling (two oars per athlete, abbreviated with an X). If there is a cox in the boat to steer and motivate the athletes, it is abbreviated with a plus sign and a minus sign without a cox. Boats seat 1, 2, 4, or 8 rowers. Women and men compete in 1X, 2X, 2-, 4X-, 4-, and 8+. The standard course is 2,000 meters long and the first boat to cross the finish line wins.
Today the rowers raced in heats and repechages in order to qualify for the next round so no medals were at stake.
I started rowing in high school mostly because I got along with the teacher who was the coach and have been in love with the sport ever since. It is the ultimate team sport and is so graceful to watch.
In the W2-, crews from Romania, Germany, and China advanced to the final.
It was upsetting to see New Zealand, who had been among the leaders in their race, catch a crab (meaning they got an oar stuck in the water) and miss out on going to the final. Australia, USA, Great Britain, and China moved on to their final in the W4X-.
The 8 boat is the fastest boat on the water and, in my opinion, is the most exciting race to watch. The men’s defending gold medal champions, Canada, placed second so they will continue in the final with Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Australia.
The American men also caught a crab in the M4X- and did not advance to the final, but New Zealand, Italy, and Switzerland did.
In the M2-, Germany, Serbia, and the USA will be in their final.
The W2X hear was highly anticipated. Great Britain’s Katherine Grainger has been rowing at the highest level for over a decade but only has a collection of Olympic silver medals to show for it. Fortunately, she and her pair, Anna Watkins, comfortably won their race, setting a new Olympic record, and will advance to the finals with New Zealand, Australia, and Poland.
The last event of the day was the M4- where Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Romania, the USA, and the Netherlands all earned places in the final later in the week.
The crowd couldn’t have done a better job of supporting their countries in the morning’s races.
