Wyandotte Boat Club

Rowing Quick Facts

Apr 04, 2006

Rowing is one of the original sports in the modern Olympic Games.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, was a rower.
Rowers were the third largest U.S. delegation (48 athletes) to the Olympic Games in 2000.
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.
An eight, which carries more than three-quarters of a ton (1,750 pounds), may weigh as little as 200 pounds. The boats are made of fiberglass composite material.
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 Wyandotte Boat Club was founded in 1875.
From 1920 until 1956, the USA won the gold medal in the men?’s eight at every Olympic Games.
Dr. Benjamin Spock, the famous baby doctor, was an Olympic rower in 1924 and won a gold medal in the eight.
Physiologists claim that rowing a 2,000-meter race - equivalent to 1.25 miles - is equal to playing back-to-back basketball games.