Factbox on rowing

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 appearance in Paris four years later. Women's rowing has been included in the Games since 1976.

Fourteen boat classes are raced: eight sculling events, in which each rower uses two oars, and six sweep-oared events in which the rower grips one oar with both hands. Boat sizes range from the lightweight double scull to the eight with coxswain in the sweep rowing event. Races cover 2,000 metres with six competition lanes. Men: Single sculls, double sculls, lightweight double sculls, pair, four, lightweight four, eight with coxswain. Women: Single sculls, double sculls, lightweight double sculls, quadruple sculls, pair, eight with coxswain.

A total of 550 athletes will take part.

Men Single sculls: Olaf Tufte (Norway) Double sculls: Sebastien Vieilledent/Adrien Hardy (France) Lightweight double sculls: Tomasz Kucharski/Robert Sycz (Poland) Quadruple sculls: Russia Coxless pairs: Drew Ginn/James Tomkins (Australia) Lightweight fours: Denmark Coxless fours: Britain Eights: United States Women Single sculls: Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski (Germany) Double sculls: Georgina Evers-Swindell/Caroline Evers-Swindell (New Zealand) Lightweight double sculls: Constanta Burcica/Angela Alupei (Romania) Quadruple sculls: Germany Coxless pairs: Georgeta Damian/Viorica Susanu (Romania) Eights: Romania

Aug. 16 — 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 Aug. 17 — 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

Shunyi Olympic rowing-canoeing park *Reuters