54 Fun Facts About Rowing

Which film star's father was barred from Henley in 1920, then won Olympic sculling gold that summer?

Grace Kelly: in the Antwerp final her father, Jack Kelly, beat Britain's Jack Beresford, who had won that year's Diamond Sculls at Henley.

What is the key difference between rowing and paddling sports?

The oars are attached to the boat: the oarlock acts as a fulcrum, so each oar works as a lever, while a paddle has no attachment at all.

Which Hollywood star directed the 2023 film of The Boys in the Boat, about America's 1936 Olympic eight?

George Clooney: the book's hero, Joe Rantz, had been left by his family to fend for himself, yet still won a seat in the gold-medal boat.

What is the standard distance for Olympic and World Championship rowing races?

2,000 metres: women's Olympic crews raced only 1,000 metres until the 1988 Seoul Games moved them up to the men's distance.

Which country's champion rowing crew of the 1990s was nicknamed the Oarsome Foursome?

Australia: a seat change and new short cleaver-shaped blades restored their form before Barcelona, and the gold made them household names.

Which university rowed against Harvard in 1852, in America's first intercollegiate sporting event?

Yale: the race began on a train journey, when railroad man James Elkins urged a Yale oarsman to stage a regatta on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Why did no rowing races take place at the first modern Olympics?

Bad weather: officials called the races off in high winds, so Olympic rowing only began four years later, in Paris.

In which host city did women's rowing make its Olympic debut?

Montreal: adding women's events there increased the growth of women's rowing, because national federations now had a reason to support women's crews.

The world's oldest surviving rowing race, first held on the Thames in 1715, is named after what prize?

Doggett's Coat and Badge: the actor Thomas Doggett founded it to mark George I's accession, and his will provided for the race, which the Fishmongers' Company now runs.

Which famous American twins rowed in the men's pair for the US at the 2008 Olympics?

The Winklevoss twins: they finished sixth in Beijing, only months after settling their lawsuit accusing Mark Zuckerberg of taking their idea for Facebook.

Which British actor rowed in the losing Cambridge crew in the 1980 Boat Race?

Hugh Laurie: at Cambridge his girlfriend Emma Thompson introduced him to Stephen Fry, who became his comedy partner.

Which rowing club bought land in Henley in 1897 to build its clubhouse?

Leander: the club stayed men-only until it opened its membership to women in 1998.

Boat Race co-founder Charles Wordsworth had already played in which sport's first Varsity match?

Cricket: Wordsworth played in the first Oxford-Cambridge match, and he later taught the future prime minister William Gladstone.

The Boat Race is rowed on the Thames between which two points?

Putney and Mortlake: in 2021, Covid rules and fears over Hammersmith Bridge's safety moved the race to the Great Ouse at Ely instead.

Which verdict did the 1877 Boat Race judge declare, for the only time ever?

Dead heat: yet waterman John Phelps, the judge, is said to have announced the result as a 'dead heat to Oxford by five feet'.

In the 1912 Boat Race, what happened to Cambridge's boat?

It sank: Oxford's boat was waterlogged as well, so the umpire called it no race and the crews rowed again the following Monday.

The 2012 Boat Race was halted when a protester did what?

Swam between the boats: Trenton Oldfield called it a protest against elitism, and a court jailed him for six months.

At the 1928 Olympics, sculler Bobby Pearce stopped mid-race to let what cross his path?

Ducks: Pearce waited for a family of them to cross during his quarter-final, yet he still won that race and went on to take gold.

Which is the oldest event at Henley Royal Regatta, raced by men's eights since 1839?

The Grand Challenge Cup: Henley's townspeople founded the regatta in 1839, hoping it would bring beneficial results to the town.

Which TV presenter rowed across the Atlantic with Olympic champion James Cracknell in 2005-06?

Ben Fogle: when their water-maker failed, they had to break into their reserve water tank, which earned them a time penalty.

Which American painter created the 1871 rowing scene Max Schmitt in a Single Scull?

Thomas Eakins: a keen rower himself, he painted himself pulling the oars of a scull in the middle distance.

At Oxford, what name is given to the stretch of the River Thames where college crews race?

The Isis: after Oxford's 1987 mutiny, its reserves filled the crew and beat Cambridge.

In a head race, how do the boats start?

One at a time, at intervals: Steve Fairbairn devised the format to give crews a goal at the end of winter training, so each crew races the clock.

In bumps racing, what does a successful bump change for the next day's racing?

The crews swap starting places: after the last day, the finishing order also sets the starting order for the next year's event.

In an eight, which rowers are responsible for setting the stroke rate and rhythm?

The middle four are known as the engine room, while the bow pair are the technical rowers who balance the boat.

The moment a rower places the oar spoon in the water at the start of a stroke is called what?

The catch: if the blade isn't in the water as the drive begins, the first part of the stroke is rowed in the air.

Rotating the oar so the spoon lies parallel to the water during the recovery is known as what?

Feathering: turning the blade flat lessens wind resistance while the oar travels back between strokes.

The thin cuts on the back of a rower's calf or thigh caused by the seat rails are nicknamed what?

Blisters on the hands are the other near-universal rowing injury, especially early in a career.

In World Rowing's lightweight men's events, which limit is set at 70 kg?

The crew's average weight: individual rowers may weigh up to 72.5 kg, so a heavier rower has to be balanced by lighter teammates.

World Rowing, still officially known as FISA, has its headquarters in which Swiss city?

Lausanne: the federation was created in 1892, partly because racing distances varied so widely from one country to another.

The first World Rowing Championships were raced on the Rotsee near which Swiss city?

Lucerne: no wind disturbs the Rotsee's racing lanes, so rowers call it the lake of the gods.

Brothers Dick and Pete Dreissigacker built which company's first rowing machine from bicycle parts in 1981?

Concept2: using a bicycle wheel fitted with paddles for air resistance made it a far simpler, cost-efficient machine.

The Greek navy's Olympias, rowed in sea trials by 170 volunteers, is a reconstruction of which ancient warship?

A trireme: in sea trials she never reached the speed estimated for an ancient trireme, and flaws in the reconstruction may explain why.

Steve Redgrave's run of five straight Olympic golds began at which Games?

Los Angeles: by the time he won the last of the five in Sydney, he had been diagnosed with both ulcerative colitis and diabetes.

After his 1996 Atlanta gold, Steve Redgrave said anyone who saw him near a boat again could do what?

Shoot him: yet he changed his mind within months, and after a four-month break he was back in training.

With which long-time partner did Steve Redgrave win three of his Olympic golds?

Matthew Pinsent: their Atlanta gold was Britain's only one, and lottery funding with UK Sport's support then lifted its medal count from 15 to 47 by Beijing.

As of 2025, the most decorated Olympic rower, with eight medals, comes from which country?

Romania: at Atlanta in 1996, Elisabeta Lipă failed to reach the single sculls final, yet won gold in the eight.

By what margin did Ekaterina Karsten win the women's single sculls at the 2000 Sydney Olympics?

One hundredth of a second: the runner-up, Rumyana Neykova, finally won the single sculls title eight years later in Beijing.

The Boys in the Boat tells of which university's eight winning gold at the 1936 Olympics?

Washington: its eight narrowly beat Italy and Germany for gold in Berlin, a story the author found when a neighbour introduced him to her father, Joe Rantz.

How was Mahé Drysdale confirmed as 2016 Olympic single sculls champion ahead of Croatia's Damir Martin?

By a photo finish: the photo first seemed to show that Martin had won, before the judges ruled that Drysdale had kept his title.

After silver medals at three straight Games, where did Katherine Grainger finally win Olympic gold?

London: she then came back from a two-year break for a fifth medal in Rio, and in 2020 became Glasgow University's first woman chancellor.

In which epic poem does a Trojan hero hold funeral games, including a boat race, for his father?

The Aeneid: in Book 5, Aeneas stages the games in Sicily and rewards losers as well as winners, even after foul play.

The English word 'regatta' comes from boat races held in which Italian city?

Venice: its historic regatta opens with a pageant re-enacting the 1489 arrival of Caterina Cornaro, the Queen of Cyprus who gave up her throne to Venice.

Germany's oldest rowing club, founded in 1836, is in which city?

Hamburg: the club's members voted to admit women only in 2015, after 179 years as a men's club.

The Schuylkill Navy unites the rowing clubs of which city?

Philadelphia: its clubs formed the Navy in 1858 to promote amateur rowing, and its rules banned rowers from accepting wagered money.

At which 1954 event did women's international rowing races officially begin?

The European Championships: FISA trialled women's races at its 1951 championships, then made them official in 1954, when women from 13 countries raced.

Which 1889 comic novel describes a holiday rowing up the River Thames?

Three Men in a Boat: Jerome K. Jerome set out to write about the river's scenery and history, but the humour took over.

Which October regatta in Boston is now the largest rowing event in the world?

Head racing was exported from Britain to the United States in the 1950s.

Which country's pair won 1900 Olympic gold after replacing its coxswain with a lighter local French boy?

Netherlands: their original cox weighed 60 kg, far more than the young boys the French crews had steering them.

Which lighthouse keeper's daughter became a heroine in 1838 by rowing out with her father to a shipwreck?

Grace Darling: Queen Victoria sent her £50, and letters from admirers poured in to her island home.

In 2017 FISA dropped a lightweight men's event from the Olympics in favour of which women's event?

Heavyweight coxless four: it gave men and women seven boat classes each, the first change to the Olympic rowing programme since 1996.

Which discipline was added to the Olympic rowing programme for the 2028 Games?

Coastal rowing: its beach sprint events, for men, women and a mixed double, take over from the lightweight double sculls.

Who wrote The Amateurs, a book about four young men's quest for Olympic rowing gold?

David Halberstam: the book follows the 1984 US single sculls trials, where John Biglow ran down Brad Lewis's late lead to win by nine-tenths of a second.

Which country won the last two Olympic men's lightweight double sculls titles?

Ireland: Paul O'Donovan won both with Fintan McCarthy, after his interviews with brother Gary at Rio made them internet stars.