There are eight men's and six women's events, including three lightweight
races in which there is a maximum weight limit of 59kg for a single woman,
a 57kg average for a female crew, a maximum 72.5kg
for men and an average of 70kg for a male crew.
The men compete in: single sculls, double sculls, lightweight double
sculls, quadruple sculls, coxless pair, coxless four, lightweight coxless
four and eight.
The women compete in: single sculls, double sculls, lightweight double
sculls, quadruple sculls, coxless pair and eight.
Races are divided into two classes of boat (or shell): sculls - involving
an oar in each hand - and sweep oar - involving just one oar. Rowers sit
with their backs to the direction in which they are travelling and the oars
are fixed in a fulcrum - where canoeists face the way they are travelling
and the paddle is free.
Boats have one, two, four or eight rowers. The eights have a cox, who
sits at the front of the crew to steer the boat and direct the crew. In
other boats steering is carried out by one rower who operates a small
rudder with a foot pedal.
In each event, crews are divided into groups and race over four days. All
boats must race in heats, a losers' division race sometimes follows, with
the top finishers from heats and losers' races advancing to semi-finals or
a six-boat final. Whether there is a losers' race depends on how many boats
are entered.
There is a drawn out procedure at the start of races to ensure all crews
start evenly. Once the starter has called "two minutes", the crews must
steady themselves in their starting boxes and are under starter's orders.
Once all crews are steady, the starter shouts out a roll call by lane. If
all is still steady and well, the starting judge's light shines white (red
if there is a problem) and the starter shouts "attention", pauses and
sounds an electronic klaxon. The boot which holds the bow of boats steady
falls into the water and the race begins. Two false starts result in
disqualification.
The finish is snapped by electronic photography and a horn sounds as each
boat passes the finish line. Ties result in the same place being awarded in
a final but a second race is rowed in qualification rounds, two hours after
the original tussle.
The course in Sydney is a standard man-made 2,000 metres flat-water course more
than 3.5 metres deep and with nine lanes, six of which are used for racing. The
lanes are 13.5 metres wide and divided by coloured buoys, much like a giant
swimming pool without the wave-breaker technology.
The buoys are red for the first 100 metres, change colour for the next 150 metres and
again for the next 250 metres, after which two colours alternate every 250 metres,
until the last 250 metres stretch, which is marked by a fourth colour, which in
turn gives way to the final 100 metres of the course, marked in red.
The idea of man-made courses is to eliminate the worst elements of nature
and other obstructions. Guidelines stipulate that courses should be well
sheltered from wind, must not be bordered by buildings, hills and other
obstructions that could alter wind patterns and give one crew an advatange
over another, while sloping gravel banks are encouraged, as they act as
wave-breakers.
