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Rowing

 
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The sport of rowing involves propelling a boat through water using an oar/oars (a long pole with a wide flat part at one end). Competitions were already taking place in Ancient Egypt and Greece, and the sport has been on the Olympic programme at every Games. Rowers race against one another as individuals or in crews of two, four or eight. Have you ever tried rowing?

Instructions & downloads

To understand this sport better, first look at the illustration and read the rules. Then do the vocabulary exercise. The second reading - Questions and Answers - provides more background in a humorous way.

Download the Worksheet to do the activity offline.

Teachers: the lesson plan is coming soon. Meanwhile why not check out the other sports lesson plans available from the English for the Games section of the Teaching English website?

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Rules

Rules

  • In Olympic rowing, six boats race over a course that is two kilometres long.
  • Before the race, one person on land holds each boat. The people in the boat – the rowers – take position.
  • When everyone is ready, the starting gun fires. The race finishes when the front or "bow" of the first boat crosses the finishing line.
  • In rowing, the rowers use the oars to push the boat through the water. Inside the boat, the rowers can’t move their feet but their seat slides forwards and backwards as they row.
  • There are two types of boat. In "sculling" boats, each rower uses two oars – one in each hand. In "sweeping boats", each rower has only one oar.
  • There are boats for different numbers of rowers. Boats can have one ("single"), two ("double"), four or eight rowers. The "eights" have an extra person – the "cox"– whose job is steering the boat and keeping the rowers all rowing or "stroking" at the same time.
  • Rowing was dominated for a long time by very tall, big athletes, so in 1996 they introduced “lightweight” races with a maximum weight for boats and rowers.

Exercise

Text

Doesn’t “row” also mean to argue?

That’s pronounced differently – like “now”, whereas “row” with oars is pronounced like “so.”

Forget the arguments for a moment. Can you cheat in rowing?

Well, recently they have banned electronic communication to and from the boat…

So, there is no celebrity tweeting during the races? Actually, does rowing have celebrities?

Well, some say Sir Steve Redgrave (Great Britain) because he won gold medals at five Olympic Games. But then Elisabeta Lipǎ (Romania) also won five Olympic golds between 1984 and 2004, plus 2 silvers and a bronze.

I wouldn’t argue with that. Rowing must have a long history - when was the first race?

Who knows? But the oldest annual race that still exists today started in 1715. It's called Doggett's Coat and Badge.

Strange name!

That’s because the prize was – and is – a coat and silver badge. Watermen – taxi-boatdrivers – used to race each other along the Thames in London. They went from "The Swan" pub at London Bridge to "The Swan" pub at Chelsea. And they still race the course today.

Those rowers - they never stop!

Sometimes they do. Have you heard of “Lay-down Sally”?

Let me guess: someone called Sally who laid down after a race?

No, during the race! In the finals of the women’s eights in 2004, Australian Sally Robbins was exhausted and stopped rowing 400 metres from the finish. She dropped her oar and stopped a teammate from rowing, too. Australia finished last.

I’m sure her team wasn’t happy.

You can say that again!

I’m sure her team wasn’t happy.

No, I mean there was an enormous row about it.

You mean they started rowing about why she had stopped rowing.

Whatever.

Task 1

Exercise

Task 2

Exercise

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