Facts on Rowing

A few facts about the sport of rowing from usrowing.org:

• Rowing is one of the original sports in the modern Olympic Games.
• Rowers are the third largest U.S. delegation (48 athletes) to the Olympic Games.
• Eight-oared shells are about 60-feet long - that’s 20 yards on a football field.
• Rowing was the first intercollegiate sport contested in the United States. The first rowing race was between Harvard and Yale in 1852.
• Physiologically, rowers are superb examples of physical conditioning. Cross-country skiers and long distance speed skaters are comparable in terms of the physical demands the sport places on the athletes.
• Singles may be as narrow as 10 inches across, weigh only 23 pounds, and stretch nearly 27-feet long.
• The first rowing club in the U.S. was the Detroit Boat Club, founded in 1839.
• The first amateur sport organization was a rowing club - Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Navy, founded in 1858.
• The first national governing body for a sport in the United States was for rowing. Founded as the National Association for Amateur Oarsmen in 1872, it was changed in 1982 to the United States Rowing Association.
• Yale College founded the first collegiate boat club in the U.S. in 1843.
• FISA, the first international sports federation, was founded in 1892.
• Physiologists claim that rowing a 2,000-meter race - equivalent to 1.25 miles - is equal to playing back-to-back basketball games.