The future of lightweight rowing
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- After 5 times recording this video, and a full day of editing, this video is finally live. This was one of the most challenging subjects to talk about.
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I think the real issue that lightweights would have moving up to heavyweight competition is how much the selection process of most national teams is based on erg scores. Even if a lightweight can put out a similar time on the water to a heavyweight they have a sharp disadvantage on an ergo and probably wouldn't get recruited onto a senior national team at all
I was thinking about it some days ago. As you say,many countries are putting too much attention on erg results. I think that there's a huge difference between rowing on an erg and on the water.
Having been a GBR international lightweight in the 1980’s, I was pleased to see some lightweight events added to Olympics in 1996 and likewise I am disappointed to see the recent elimination from the Olympics. In my competitive days The World Championship were still a high level objective for Lightweights , even though there was no/ limited prospect of Olympic participation. most programs including the GBR program had no or very limited central funding but athletes found a way for lightweights to compete at high levels of competition both Domestically and Internationally. Yes we were second class citizens to the Men’s and Women’s Heavyweight teams, we rarely went to exotic training camps and equipment was dependent on individual clubs / associations/ or personal funding.
While it is nice to be paid for playing sport it is not necessary. In my day I trained before and after work each day without any athletic funding because I had a desire to be successful. The club I rowed for actively supported Lightweights and attracted members because of that and became a center of excellence for lightweight rowing.
FISA should continue to develop Lightweight rowing along with National Federations by including an adequate World Championships. ( in my era, in Olympic years Lightweights events were held at the same time / venue as Junior Worlds). FISA should work with boat manufacturers to have a fleet of available boats at fixed regatta sites on each continent and championships should be held at these locations on rotating basis, keeping cost of participating to a minimum. ( No boat transport) just boat/oar rental. Each nation should be responsible for and adequate national championship or qualification regatta, sending a team of crews that have met minimum time standards to Worlds, but individuals wound likely need to fund themselves.
For the very best Lightweights they should compete against Heavyweights for World and Olympic selection as it is possible to compete at that level and if faster they should be selected.
Process should apply to men’s and women’s events equally.
There are many ways to keep lightweight rowing alive and produce very competitive racing domestically and internationally across a broader spectrum of countries if there is a passion and desire from current and past Lightweights to make it happen.
For shorter people like me, I think the lightweight category is really important for getting a diverse set of competitors, not just the tall and big type. Even though short rowers will never be competitive at the international level, I really hope the lightweight category will continue to exist at the junior/scholastic and university level. I agree that the lightweight mens category doesn't make sense at the international level because the discrepancy between the open and light events is so small, but still I fear that its absence from the olympics kind of delegitimizes the lightweight event everywhere. Short guys can still be competitive at the scholastic level in the lightweight category and most importantly can get scholarships to universities despite being short, so I really hope the ltwt category doesn't disappear.
Agreed that a big part of the problem isn't so much that it's impossible for shorter/lighter athletes to be competitive at the elite level, so much as rowing programs (from school and club to elite level) ignoring the potential of smaller athletes. If lightweight rowing is removed from the Olympic program we will likely see more ex-lightweight internationals competing as heavyweights. But 10/20 years down the line will there still be opportunities for smaller rowers to develop to the elite level?
Thanks for another interesting video Aram. I would definitely be interested in a RUclips live if it was at a time that I was awake in the US.
Lightweight rowing is all but finished in the UK. Funding is cut completely for U23 Lwt rowers, there used to be Lwt events at the British National Championships, but not any more. I'm not sure if there are any domestic events with Lwt categories, which is a shame as they used to be very hotly contested. Competitive club rowing at senior level is dying in the UK, no thanks to British Rowing and the major regattas who would rather stuff in a few more j15 8s than have a couple of races with single scullers for example.
I'm confused, if we have to reduce the number of medals we give out, what's all the news about replacing lightweight with offshore? It's already been confirmed apparently that the youth Olympics will have offshore, and it's very likely offshore will replace lightweight in the Olympics, but why is lightweight being replaced? It doesn't solve the medal issue. The Q&A would be very good too Aram
Thank you for tackling this. As a non-elite Master returning to rowing after 10 years, I still find it extremely frustrating to be a) a woman, b) small, c) lightweight 😔🤦🏼♀️ in rowing. I kind of feel the situation for competitors has not improved but become more difficult. It's sad because some bodies are just - genetically - not made for being heavyweight. So I find it extremely unfair that this universal sport is focusing so much on Olympic categories. Of course. As always, it is about money. Thank you for talking about this! Even if the video is not new. Is there an update on this issue? 🤓✌🏼
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Really interesting video.
I had been both, heavy and lightweight.
I liked lightweight as a racer and had hopes for 1996. In my last races I had been lightweight and part of the reason why was crossing an age barrier and damn heavy competition that was far far lower than in lightweight. It was for the simple reason of success that I changed in my last year. A few years later - already studied and in job - lightweight became olympic and I came back for that reason for 1,5 seasons until an accident.
5 years later I was responsible for promote rowing and that ended always in the problem that rowing looks for average outsiders the same: 1, 2, 4 or 8 rowers in a boat
If you start to explain 1 or 2 oars the attention get lossed cause far too complicated or eyes rolling and asking why.
A rower thinks completely different: instinctively he feels the different movement and power curves, higher stroke rates, ...
That is easy for a rower, 2 different worlds.
But for an outsider it seems to be typically the same at least "is there a difference"
If you are aware of that for outsiders crazy number of similiar boatclasses then forget about explaing a lightweight class,
forget about coxed and coxless.
The outsideTrs want it simple:
easy structure in identifyable crews
a single
a 2 person
a 4 person
an 8 person
Would you be able to reduce these currently 6 classes to 4 and try to talk about rowing and avoid the words sculling, oars, sweeps then you would have reached a milestone regarding level of attention for each boatclass.
That would make communication to sponsors and viewers so much easier. You need TV attention to improve rowing recognition but that won't work in long live events. They tried to fix that with 2 days of finals. But still too much time to catch attention ... and if there isn't a spectular unknown going far ahead you most likely see the sane: a slow but constantly evolving race where the viewer hardly can identify the differences, the mistakes - except the crap of Sdynek in Lucerne which even Martx Cross did not mention cause Sdynek lost his rythm at that point.
You need a shorter format to engage viewers and nothing realky had worked: vienna 1991 was the first onboard cam - nice but not really useable
Heli skyview appeared, aerial skyview footage created by cable in Bejing was great to view and nowadays by drones - but onboard works mostly for eights only and birdsview is too far away from rowers to get all boats in the picture. Akl perspectives have been seen and you do not get much more out of this 2000m format.
If you reduce to 4 boat classes for both genders you get 4 races each day of the finals, a perfect 0.75 - 1 hour format.
What's the difference for the amateur viewer?
1 or 2 or 4 or 8 persons having a race where none of them sees the finish line.
Long, long, long story to simply find a way back home: light weight rowing
If you get it done to reduce to 4 classes
then, only then you might be able to establish the same system for ligjtweight, but please not 3 or 2 or 1 boat class that no one would understand why.
That would simply mean: saturday is light weight only and sunday is open classes.
Less then 1.5 hours of finals
Why lightweights again?
most likely higher density at the finish line, no big gaps as in open class cause in too many cases the medal winner seem to be predictable at 1100m mark ... which makes it boring unless the first 3 are changing positions forth and back.
To get attention we need noticeable "boat fights" for TV & web viewers and guests at the course to end the limit of the last 300m participation of guests.
But the most important point: favorites are winning to often - at least in the past except in the single
If you get perfect pictures and an easy to understand principle like 4 boat classes racing over 2000m than you can gain even nowadays tv attention - and that's what's needed, races people will remember and talk about the next day.
That's the biggest point for olympique comitee cause it is about money. Panem et circenses - bread & games as the romans said, which only works if many people watch the races.
Last and biggest point of change: rowing needs a far higher surprise and attention peak curve - no discussion from the point of tv viewers. Forget about what current rowers want if you have to prepare competitive rowing for the future !
Rower will compete in the way what events are offered - so you need a wide opened mind to develope a concept which viewers will like, maybe not the competitors of today.
Sprint races would shorten the competition - but there is not much forth and back and too much athletic, weightlifters in racing shells.
We need a surprise factor, something that throws the current racing order in a second over board coming out of nowhere. Watch a biathlon race and see the favorites somestimes dying at the shooting range that keeps every viewer on TV, the fans of the challenger and these of the favorite... Everyone can win cause wind comes up or snow starts falling.
Let's go away from the simple 2.000m race.
Let's do it the Le Mans way:
Race starts on the docks at a line.
Crews have to carry boat & oars/sculls to their lane and jump in the boat to start rowing.
And if you want to get a surprise, a moment thst can kick the leader out of lead you need a turning point, a buoy, where dog or boatfights appear.
And all this happens today at ocean racing and these races show a lot more turning and strongest fighting points.
If I had to develope rowing in an olympic format then the boring 2000m lane races are gone. Nearly no TV rowing viewer would watch boring 2000m lane races compared to the ocean races. Just watch a trailer or races what is going on there. Complete different level of adrenaline for tv watchers.
I'm not talking about replacing lane rowing races by coastal races but imagine a lake with a beach and 3 buoys where all start from the docks, running to the beach, entering water and boat to head to buoy 1 in a sprint to get in front as in yacht rarcing but not by wind or take the outer curve or get close or in contact with the leader.
I never had seen these coastal races until last year by incident. That felt like a complete different world, like a red bull event.
And I'm sure there will be tons of complains - but the traditional 2000m lane racing event is at the end of evolution and dying - regarding media coverage. Even Samsung didn't prolonged their big sponsor contract cause 3.000m lane racing has become too boring and predictable.
It needs something new.
Maybe also adding 8 , 6, 4 kg of weight as handicap for last medal winners (nation).
The future of rowing is not laying in the hands of current active competitors, it is the simple fight for media coverage to get the chance too reach more viewers cause they attract sponsors and that will also create heroes like that Karpinnen - Kolbe - Lange era which then will lead to new growth recarding new beginners in rowing.
4 boat classes each gender starting le mans style with running to the beach, getting in the boat and race rythm fighting for each position or taking the outer curve at the next buoy.
If there is no change rowing will face the risk to be kicked out of olympic program cause it's too boring too less innovative.
If rowing 2024 succesfully improves and gets away from the traditional, but outdated 2000m lane race format then even adding or doubling the 4 titles by lightweight introduction might work as it did in Biathlon.
95% of my rowing time I raced open weight.
I raced Gig boats and racing shells,
but I never raced ocean races or watched one.
I had visited WC since 1983 Duisburg every decade and I recogniced a decrease of visitors, tv coverage, media coverage and public interest over the years while the level of competition increased.
But even that couldn't compensate the losses.
1x
2-
4x-
8+
are the future - 5 scullers and 10 oarsmen
Maybe the biggest question surrounding lightweight men classes being obsolete is, if rowing is becoming more or less popular. And since rowing is one of the healthiest sports it will stay gaining popularity? However (also in the video) how much it would way against the decline of elite rowers. And if rowing gains popularity will funding automatically increase? I certainly hope so, but only time will tell.
10:40 world chps are more interesting than Olympics : for sure!
Need weight adjusted ergs to go mainstream. Weigh in 1-2h before &
Lightweight rowing has been recently eliminated in most national rowing organizations in my country. This forced me out of maintaining a body weight of 150 pounds. I never would have pushed for a higher muscle mass if not for this. I believe that if you can get into open weight class you should try.
what about making the boats lighter then the 14 kg for the lighter fellas
Never understood why we talk about dividing rowing categories by weight.....it's not boxing, there is no advantage to be heavy in a boat, you just add more drag....the advantage is in being tall...it would make a lot more sense to me to categorise by height....e.g. over 185cm could be the big man's category......I'm 179cm and about 80kg....I'd fancy my chances against anybody who weighs 100Kg if they're same height as me!
Doesn’t swimming award more medals