Dating back thousands and thousands of years, the sport of rowing is still going strong in the year 2019. Believed to be invented during the Ancient Egyptian times, competitive sport rowing is thought to have come to existence in the 10th century. It was also one of the first Olympic sports, being penciled in for the 1896 Games before weather forced it to be cancelled. Men rowers finally put their oars in the water at the 1900 Olympic Games, while women had to wait another 76 years to be allowed to compete at the highest level.
The governing body of elite-level rowing is FISA (Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron), aka The World Rowing Association. You can check out the info about it, including rules and regulations, at www.worldrowing.com.
The most decorated star in rowing history is Romania’s Elisabeta Lipa, who won eight Olympic rowing medals, including five golds. For the men, it would be Great Britain’s Steve Redgrave, who won six Olympic medals, five gold. The current top ranked male is Germany’s Richard Schmidt, while the U.S.A.’s Emily Regan is the top female.
For the most part, rowing has been pretty controversy-free, with a small number of doping violations and generally good behaviour by its competitors.
What British betting sites accept bets on rowing?
And to add to the fun, why not put some money on the events? Yes, you can bet on rowing, at Betfair: www.betfair.com/sport/rowing or William Hill: sports.williamhill.com/betting/Rowing.html or if you are located in the UK you can do betting on rowing competitions at good odds on Ladbrokes site: news.ladbrokes.com/betting/rowing-odds.While bookmakers such as Betfair and William Hill are available, and legal, for United States’ citizens, unfortunately Ladbrokes is not. But the good news is betting exchange Betfair and sportsbook William Hill US are also available in mobile app form.
Rowing events in 2022
Despite 2022 not being an Olympic year, there is still plenty of elite rowing action on the calendar. Here’s the upcoming schedule for 2022, from www.worldrowing.com/events/calendar
That’s a whole lot of rowing!
Where to watch rowing competitions live?
If you want to watch the top rowing events in the United States, then the NBC Sports Group is the place for you. In 2018 NBCSN signed a three-year U.S. media rights contract to broadcast the premier rowing events each year, including the World Rowing Championship, the World Rowing Cup, and the European Rowing Championships. In Europe, Eurovision Sport is the place to go; down under it’s Fox Australia.
Rowing 2021 results
If you unable to watch the events live, you can also check out the results as they happen on FISA’s website www.worldrowing.com/events/results
Photo by Akshay Chauhan
