Indoor Rowing at the Olympics

[JR.]

Thoroughly enjoyed watching the Tokyo Olympics, and am now up-to-date as to who the fastest runner, swimmer etc is. But who is the faster 2K rower?? With even more new events added in swimming (as an example), it almost seems that everyone gets a medal, and if you don't win three or four of them ... well ... you are not really trying hard enough. But the rowers only get one opportunity.
Would an indoor 2K event at the olympics be supported by the athletes and viewing public. It is of course possible that the fastest individual rower on the water came away from the Games with no medal at all (eg. if they are were in a 'slow' 4 or 8 boat).
So would this be an appropriate way for athletes with 4 years of preparation under their belt to show their true strength?

[MPx]

Neat idea - I'd love to see a C2 2k shoot out at the Olympics. But IMO its a different sport. While the elite rowers will never be shabby and may win, someone who concentrates on the C2 should be able to get faster still. There's no penalty for weight; you dont need to have a well timed and smooth stroke; and you can finish with the handle under your chin while laying horizontal if you find it makes you faster. So the rowers would still only get one shot at a medal...but a whole new breed of ergers would expand the count of athletes - not sure there's much appetite for that.

[flatbread]

No.

I would not want an erg score to be awarded with an olympic medal any more than I would like to see a 5 or 20 or 60min power test on a static trainer be an event for a "cycling" medal, or a treadmill 1500m run.

Do it on the water, road, or track -- the fully dynamic environments where technique, skill, and the unpredictable elements of the environment come into play. That, to me, is sport.

[Nomath]

I doubt whether the Olympics would engage in a new discipline on a private brand rowing erg with a black-box performance measuring device. What would be the metric on which performance is judged? Speed is an artificial construct for stationary equipment and likewise the time based on covering a virtual distance. Average power or work done in a fixed time is probably the best measure. But how do we know that C2 measures that accurately? It's proprietary hardware and software, hinging for example on an undisclosed moment of inertia of the flywheel. For sure, many athletes train and compete on the C2 rowerg, but an Olympic discipline requires full transparancy on the metrics.

Many sports also gain from technology innovations in otherwise standardized equipment.
Would they allow dynamic ergs in this competition, such as the C2 on slides or the RowPerfect?

[Carl Watts]

What others have already said.

As much as I love the indoor rower, its not an Olympic sport, its a static bit of training equipment to be used in conjunction with the OTW Olympic event.

[Slidewinder]

I doubt whether the Olympics would engage in a new discipline on a private brand rowing erg with a black-box performance measuring device..... For sure, many athletes train and compete on the C2 rowerg, but an Olympic discipline requires full transparency on the metrics.

Well expressed. For those reasons I was surprised that in 2017 the World Games first included Indoor Rowing as an event. I wrote to the World Games executives, similarly stating why Indoor Rowing should not be included. In their reply they sounded like a marketing agent for Concept 2, declaring that the C2 rowing ergometer is "the best of its type in the world" and therefore the World Games organisers did not share my "opinion".

[jamesg]

Erging is part of World Rowing and I'm guessing any changes to what happens at the Olympics is under their control.

There is a championship with around a 100 classes:
https://worldrowing.com/events/indoor-e ... pionships/
https://worldrowing.com/event/2022-worl ... mpionships

There was only one entry 2022 in my class, but he DNS. If I'd known, I'd be WC; but maybe quite a few better would have known too. But there you are, I've blown it for 2023.

[JaapvanE]

Erging is part of World Rowing and I'm guessing any changes to what happens at the Olympics is under their control.

Yeah, and to them the Erg is primarily a training tool for OTW. For most athletes it is considered a torture tool that might even introduce bad habits (some effective habits/tricks on the Erg don't translate well OTW), and it merely is a way to stay in shape when water freezes.

If I'm honest, racing on the Erg isn't visually appealing. You can't see anyone getting ahead or falling behind and see the pain in both crews. I guess that is also why 5K and 6K aren't additional distances: it takes too long and it loses the visual appeal.

[Elizabeth]

If I'm honest, racing on the Erg isn't visually appealing. You can't see anyone getting ahead or falling behind and see the pain in both crews. I guess that is also why 5K and 6K aren't additional distances: it takes too long and it loses the visual appeal.

I recently competed at ErgSprints, and my mom was there to cheer me on for my first event - a 30:00. I didn't realize it until after I got off the erg, but the big screen with the times was tuned into the marathon finishers, and the audience didn't have any indication of the 30:00 pace/progress. My mom was so confused, saying that you can't look at stroke rate and know how fast someone is going, and you can't look at their facial expressions and level of suffering and know how fast they're going. So she was just hoping that I was doing well and happy with my progress.

All of that to say, I agree - it's not a very visual compelling sport. I think she watched the whole thing out of love only.

[MPx]

If I'm honest, racing on the Erg isn't visually appealing. You can't see anyone getting ahead or falling behind and see the pain in both crews. I guess that is also why 5K and 6K aren't additional distances: it takes too long and it loses the visual appeal.

I recently competed at ErgSprints, and my mom was there to cheer me on for my first event - a 30:00. I didn't realize it until after I got off the erg, but the big screen with the times was tuned into the marathon finishers, and the audience didn't have any indication of the 30:00 pace/progress

All of that to say, I agree - it's not a very visual compelling sport.

Obvs we all enjoy different things but, for me at least, the sport can be exciting to watch. I've been along as spectator to many BRIC/BIRCs and had many a great day. The big screen needs to show whose erging on the floor of course, and with name/rate/pace clearly visible - that typically is the case on the days I've witnessed. The recent European Championships in France were a good example

However, I do agree that its not really sufficiently engaging for a generic public audience - but then neither is Shooting? Archery? or any number of other sports if you're not otherwise engaged with it. The IR audience is mostly made up of other ergers and/or their families with someone they're cheering for in the race and the atmosphere can get very excited. It is always more fun when you know (or know of) some of the participants. The commentaries are often woeful which doesn't help - just reading out loud the top two or three ergs off the screen that we can all do for ourselves. They offer little or no background on the ergers, no obvious knowledge of relevant records, and at best OTW background to pace/rate/or tactics which can be plain wrong for IR. But looking at the numbers on the big screens you can see who's going strong, who's making a move, and sometimes who's making the familiar errors of fly/die or starting too slow in a 500. The 500s seem the most popular with the audience, although I prefer the 2k as there's time for more to happen. I've also been along to a few of the Devon Championships 5ks run by Fitness Matters (Sam Blythe) and of course they are "slower" but can be no less exciting in their latter stages.