Rowing
The 2008 Beijing Olympics will be celebrated from August 8, 2008 to August 24, 2008. The opening ceremony will commence at 08:08:08 pm CST (12:08:08 UTC) at the Beijing National Stadium in China. Among all the other sports Rowingis also a sport included into the Beijing Olympics.
Rowing is a sport in which the contestants race against each other on boats on river, lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled as the blades are pushed against the water by the rowers.
Rowinghas been part of Summer Olympics since 1900. The Rowingsporting event had been on the program even at the 1896 Summer Olympics but was cancelled due to weather. Until 1976 only men were allowed to compete in the Rowingsports. In 1976 women's events were introduced at the Summer Olympics in Montreal and Rowingin Beijing Olympics will also entertain the spectators.
At the Olympics, Rowing is contested among men in the following categories:
- Single sculls
- Double sculls
- Quadruple sculls
- Coxless pairs
- Coxed pairs
- Coxless fours
- Coxed fours
- Eights
- Lightweight Double sculls
- Lightweight Coxless fours
The women's Rowing event is categories as:
- Single sculls
- Double sculls
- Quadruple sculls
- Coxless pairs
- Coxed fours
- Coxless fours
- Eights
- Lightweight Double sculls
Early rowing games at Olympics featured match races between 2 or 3 boats (and in 1952, it was organized between 4 and 5 boats). The modern six boat side by side form of Rowingwas first adopted at the 1936 Games, and since the 1956 Games has been the standard.
The World RowingChampionships is an international contest for rowingorganized by FISA (the International RowingFederation). It is a week long event held in summer at the end of the northern hemisphere and in the years there are no Olympic becomes the highlight of the international Rowing calendar. The first World Rowing Championships was held in 1962in Lucerne, Switzerland. The event then was organized every 4 years until 1974 - when it became an annual event. In 1974, the Men's lightweight and Women's open weight events were added to the championships. In 1985 the Women's lightweight events were added.
