General information

ROWING and TURKEYIn the 1930s, three sisters, Fitnat, Nezihe, and Melek Ozdil, from the Fenerbahce Sports Club were the first female rowers in Turkey.Although Turkey joined the FISA in 1931, Turkish rowers participated in the World Rowing Championships in 1966 for the first time.In 1942, in the traditional rowing race run between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Mr. Samil Urall? from the Cambridge Team was the first Turkish rower who made an international name for himself.In 1952, Turkish rowers participated into the races run in Florchein/Western Germany and won two first places and one second place although they competed with borrowed boats. In Mediterranean Games 1955, Tonguc Tursan from Fenerbahce SC won silver medal in the single scull category, gaining the first important international achievement in the first national competition.In 1984, Yuksel Tasc? and Cuneyt Ustuner became Balkan champions in the two scull category in the Balkan Championships held in Romania. In the academic year 1987-1988, rowing was for the first time accepted as a scientific discipline by the Department of Physical Education and Sports in the Ataturk Faculty of Education at the University of Marmara.In 2004, Turkey achieved the most important success in its owing history and won gold medal in the men lightweight 2- (coxless pair) category at the U23 World Championships.ROWING and GREECE Having similar geographic and historical features with Turkey, Greece is one step ahead of Turkey in the history of rowing with its achievements. Greece has many first and second prizes in various world rowing championships including the Olympic Games associated with itself. Moreover, it is the country with the highest number of medals in the European Rowing Championships.Greece won its first medal in the history of the Olympic Games with rowing. Greek rowers Vasileios Polymeros and Nikolaos Skiathitis won bronze medal in today's men's double category. The Prime-Minister Kostas Karamanlis and the PASOK leader Yorgo Papandreu released congratulating messages.8+ COXED BOAT IN ROWINGIn rowing, 8+ boats always one step ahead of all other categories so that it is defined as the flagship of rowing. Thanks to both the number of rowers onboard and its higher speed than the other boats, races of the 8+ boats have always attracted attention and highly appreciated. There must always be a coxswain in all 8+ boats.    The duty of the coxswain is to ensure that the boat cruises on a straight route as well as motivating the rowers on the boat. In Rowing, the motions of each rower must be in precise synchrony with his teammate sitting in front of him; in other words, he must move as if his shadow. Eight rowers must plunge their oars into the water at the same, pull them out of the water at the same time, and move them in and out at the same time. If not, the boat loses its balance and speed and their chance to win the race decreases.As the name suggests, the 8+ boat hosts eight rowers with single oars. In other words, each of the eight rowers has a single oar in his hands. Four rowers have a single right-side oar while the other four have a single left-side oar.Each rower in the boat has a number for the place he occupies. The numbering order is from stern to bow, which means that the rower at the backmost is the number one, numbers increasing as 2, 3, 4, and so on until the rower sitting opposite the coxswain. The rower with more responsibilities in the boat is the number 8 sitting opposite the coxswain. In rowing jargon, this rower is called "strokeman or just "stroke."The stroke sets the stroke rate and rhythm for his other seven teammates. The stroke is like the captain of the boat. Therefore, the stroke is selected from among experienced athletes leader qualities.The length of the boat varies from 17 to 19 meters. The oars have a lengthening and shortening system according to the type of the team. The length of a single oar is around 4 meters. The boat covers 10 meters per each stroke. 8+ races generally last less than 6 minutes. The pace of a race is around or over 40 strokes per minute.