Rowing factbox for Athens 2004

ATHENS, July 12 (Reuters) -- Factbox on rowing at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics:

HISTORY

The first recorded rowing competition took place in 1716 in England, where the sport went on to become famous through the race held every year between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which began in 1829.

The International Rowing Federation (FISA) was founded in 1892 and is the oldest international sports federation in the Olympic movement.

Bad weather and a lack of international participation meant rowing was cancelled at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. It made its first Olympic appearance in Paris four years later. Women's rowing has been included in the games since 1976.

EVENTS

in the sculling events each rower uses two oars. The other races are sweep-oared events in which the rower grips one oar with both hands.

Races cover 2,000 metres with six competition lanes.

Men: Single sculls, double sculls, lightweight double sculls, quadruple sculls, pair, four, lightweight four, eight with coxswain.

Women: Single sculls, double sculls, lightweight double sculls, quadruple sculls, pair, eight with coxswain.

2000 CHAMPIONS

Men

Single sculls: Robert Waddell (New Zealand)

Pair: Jean Christophe Rolland/Michel Andrieux (France)

Double sculls: Iztok Cop/Luka Spik (Slovenia)

Eight with coxswain: Britain (Andrew Lindsay, Ben

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Hunt-Davis, Simon Dennis,

Louis Attrill, Luka Grubor,

Kieran West, Fred Scarlett,

Steve Trapmore, Rowley

Douglas)

Four: Britain (James Cracknell, Steven Redgrave, Tim Foster,

Matthew Pinsent)

Lightweight four: France (Laurent Porchier, Jean-Christophe

Bette, Yves Hocde, Xavier

Dorfmann)

Lightweight double sculls: Robert Sycz/Tomasz Kucharski

(Poland)

Quadruple sculls: Italy (Agostino Abbagnale, Alessio

Sartori, Rossano Galtarossa, Simone

Raineri)

Women

Single sculls: Ekaterina Karsten (Belarus)

Double sculls: Kathrin Boron/Jana Thieme (Germany)

Eight with coxswain: Romania (Georgeta Damian, Viorica

Susanu, Ioana Olteanu,

Veronica Cochelea, Maria

Magdalena Dumitrache,

Elisabeta Lipa, Liliana

Gafencu, Doina Ignat, Elena

Georgescu)

Lightweight double sculls: Constanta Burcica/Angela Tamas

(Romania)

Quadruple sculls: Germany (Manja Kowalski, Meike Evers,

Manuela Lutze, Kerstin Kowalski)

Pair: Doina Ignat/Georgeta Damian (Romania)

OLYMPIC PROGRAMME (FINALS)

August 21 - Women's single sculls

Men's single sculls

Women's pair

Men's pair

Women's double sculls

Men's double sculls

Men's four

August 22 - Women's lightweight double sculls

Men's lightweight double sculls

Men's lightweight four

Women's quadruple sculls

Men's quadruple sculls

Women's eight

Men's eight

VENUE

Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre, east of Athens,

which can accommodate 14,000 spectators.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

www.worldrowing.com

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.