Rowing at the 2012 London Summer Olympics The moment that humans
began putting oars to water to propel their boats, the sport of
Olympic rowing was born. Archeological artifacts indicate rowing
contests were common in ancient Egypt, and champion oarsmen were
revered and honored. The more modern, organized version of
rowing as a sport developed along the River Thames in the 1700s.
The oldest public rowing club still in operation is England’s
Leander Club, founded in 1818. Rowing became very popular among
British university teams in the mid-1800s, with schools such as
Cambridge and Oxford building fierce rivalries that are still
alive and well today. Rowing debuted as an Olympic sport at the
1900 Olympic Games in Paris and has been a part of every Summer
Olympics since then. Olympic rowing basics There are many
different types of rowing competitions throughout the world, but
official Olympic rowing is conducted in the standard, side-by-
side lanes racing format. The winner of a race is the athlete or
team (usual