Rowing has been a part of every Olympics, though it was not held in 1896 due to bad weather. Women’s rowing didn’t begin until 1976, and has six events compared to the eight the men have.  The US has more medals than any other country, 84 including 31 golds.  All rowing races are 2000m long and have six boats racing at a time. The difference between the events is what type of boat is used and the number of rowers.

The Team:

This year’s team is made up of 24 men and 20 women. 13 of the 24 athletes were part of the team in Beijing and two were around back in 2004 in Athens.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

USA Rowing
Men:
Ken Jurkowski* – Single Sculls
Tom Peszek – Coxless Pair
Silas Stafford – Coxless Pair
Anthony Fahden – Lightweight Four
Nick LaCava – Lightweight Four
Will Newell – Lightweight Four
Robin Prendes – Lightweight Four
Charlie Cole – Four
Scott Gault* – Four
Glenn Ochal – Four
Henrik Rummel – Four
Peter Graves – Quadruple Sculls
Elliot Hovey* – Quadruple Sculls
Alex Osborne – Quadruple Sculls
Wes Piermarini* – Quadruple Sculls
David Banks – Eight
Jake Cornelius – Eight
Grant James – Eight
Ross James – Eight
Steve Kasprzyk – Eight
Giuseppe Lanzone* – Eight
Will Miller – Eight
Brett Newlin* – Eight
Zach Vlahos – Eight

Women:
Gevvie Stone – Single Sculls
Sara Hendershot – Pair
Sarah Zelenka – Pair
Kristin Hedstrom – Lightweight Double Sculls
Julie Nichols – Lightweight Double Sculls
Margot Shumway – Double Sculls
Sarah Trowbridge – Double Sculls
Natalie Dell – Quadruple Sculls
Megan Kalmoe* – Quadruple Sculls
Kara Kohler – Quadruple Sculls
Adrienne Martelli – Quadruple Sculls
Erin Cafaro* – Eight
Caryn Davies** – Eight
Susan Francia* – Eight
Caroline Lind* – Eight
Esther Lofgren – Eight
Eleanor Logan* – Eight
Meghan Musnicki – Eight
Taylor Ritzel – Eight
Mary Whipple** – Eight
* – Was part of the team in Beijing
** – Was part of the team in Beijing and Athens
& – Was part of the team in Athens

Schedule:

I’ll try to explain the different events now.

First of all in rowing there is a person known as the coxswain. The coxswain coordinates steering and timing
Single Scull – One person boat, two oars. The oars are attached to the boat (otherwise it would be pretty impossible).
Coxless Pair – Two person boat, two oars. One person is rowing on each side. The boat does not have a coxswain.
Coxless Four – Four person boat, four oars. No coxswain. There is steering done with a cable attached to the rudder and a foot.
Lightweight Coxless Four – Same as coxless four but with smaller rowers. No one over 160lb, average max is 154lb.
Quadruple Scull – Four person boat, eight oars.
Eight – Eight rowers, eight oars, AND a coxswain (hence the nine person teams).
Double Sculls – Two person boat, four oars. No coxswain.
Lightweight Double Sculls – Same as double sculls but limit on weight is 130lb max and an average of 126lb.

In each event there will be heats, and repechages to qualify boats for the next rounds. Each event will have a final A where the top 6 boats race for medals. There will also be finals B, C, etc. to help determine the lower positions.

All Times ET
Saturday July 28th
4:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Pair – Heats
4:50 AM – Women’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Heats
5:10 AM – Men’s Rowing – Eight – Heats
6 AM – Men’s Rowing – Lightweight Four – Heats
6:30 AM – Men’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Heats
7 AM – Men’s Rowing – Pair – Heats
7:30 AM – Men’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Heats
8:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Heats

Sunday July 29th
4:40 AM – Men’s Rowing – Lightweight Four – Repechage
4:50 AM – Men’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Repechage
5:20 AM – Women’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Repechage
5:40 AM – Women’s Rowing – Lightweight Double Sculls – Heats
6:50 AM – Women’s Rowing – Eight – Heats

Monday July 30th
4:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Pair – Repechage
4:40 AM – Women’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Repechage
4:50 AM – Men’s Rowing – Eight – Repechage
5 AM – Men’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Repechage
5:10 AM – Men’s Rowing – Pair – Repechage
5:20 AM – Women’s Rowing – Double Sculls – Heats
5:40 AM – Men’s Rowing – Four – Heats

Tuesday July 31st
4:50 AM – Women’s Rowing – Lightweight Double Sculls – Repechage
4:50 AM – Women’s Rowing – Double Sculls – Repechage
5 AM – Men’s Rowing – Four – Repechage
5:50 AM – Women’s Rowing – Eight – Repechage
6 AM – Men’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Quarterfinals
6:40 AM – Women’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Quarterfinals
7:40 AM – Men’s Rowing – Lightweight Four – Semifinals

Wednesday August 1st
4:30 AM – Men’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Semifinals
5:10 AM – Women’s Rowing – Pair – Final
5:20 AM – Women’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Final
5:30 AM – Men’s Rowing – Eight – Final
5:40 AM – Men’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Semifinals
6 AM – Men’s Rowing – Pair – Semifinals

Thursday August 2nd
4:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Semifinals
5 AM – Men’s Rowing – Lightweight Four – Final
5:10 AM – Men’s Rowing – Four – Semifinals
5:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Lightweight Double Sculls – Semifinals
7:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Eight – Final

Friday August 3rd
4:30 AM – Men’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Final
5:10 AM – Men’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Final
5:20 AM – Men’s Rowing – Pair – Final
5:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Double Sculls – Final

Saturday August 4th
4:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Final
5 AM – Women’s Rowing – Lightweight Double Sculls – Final
5:30 AM – Men’s Rowing – Four – Final

Past Results:

First let’s look at how the rowers who have been to the Olympics before did. Ken Jurkowski competed in single sculls last time and did not medal. Scott Gault competed in quadruple sculls and finished 5th in the medal final. Elliot Hovey and Wes Piermarini competed together in double sculls and did not medal. Giuseppe Lanzone and Brett Newlin competed together in fours and did not medal.

Megan Kalmoe competed in double sculls and finished 5th in the medal final. Erin Cafaro, Caryn Davies, Susan Francia, Caroline Lind, and Eleanor Logan competed together in eights, where they won the gold medal. Mary Whipple was part of the eights team in Athens which won the silver medal.

In Beijing the US medaled in men’s eight (bronze), women’s single sculls (silver), and women’s eight (gold). In Athens it was men’s eight (gold) and women’s eight (silver), and in Sydney they won men’s coxless pair (silver), women’s lightweight double sculls (bronze), and women’s coxless pair (bronze). Needless to say the US will be expecting to win a couple of medals and looks like a real strong competitor in the two eight competitions. At the 2011 World Rowing Championship the US did not medal in men’s rowing but won gold in the women’s eight and the silver in the women’s quadruple sculls.