Sport rowing

Lightweights

Unlike most other sports, rowing has a special weight category called lightweight (Lwt for short). There are two categories of lightweights. International, and U.S. Collegiate. In the International category the following limits apply:

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• Men: Crew average 70 kg (154 lb) - no rower over 72.5 kg (159 lb)
• Women: Crew average 57 kg (125 lb) - no one over 59 kg (130 lb)

In the U.S. Collegiate category, the following limits apply for men:

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• Freshman Men: Crew Average 150 lb - no rower over 155 lb.
• Varsity Men: Crew average 155 lb - no rower over 160 lb.

According to FISA, this weight category was introduced "to encourage more universality in the sport especially among nations with less statuesque people". However some argue that this goal was not achieved and strong nations in lightweight rowing (such as Denmark, France, and Italy) are not considered "less statuesque" and also perform well in the heavyweight events.

Related Topics:
Denmark - France - Italy

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The first lightweight events were added to the World Championships in 1974 for men and 1985 for women. Lightweight rowing was added to the Olympics in 1996 but this came under threat in 2002 when the Programme Commission of the IOC recommended that, outside combat sports and weightlifting, there should not be weight category events. The Executive Board overturned this recommendation and lightweight rowing continues at the Olympics.

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At a non-international level, generally only large races have lightweight categories. At the collegiate level, many larger American Division I schools can field one to three lightweight boats for both men and women. Many U.S. Universities have used lightweight womens crew as a sport to deal with the implication of Title 9 and as with lightweight men, the lightweight womens league is small but fiercely competitive.

Related Topics:
Division I - Title 9

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