Putting Fastest Rowers in 2V and 3V to win Medals

[alison2ks]

Is there any regulation preventing the purposefully incorrect placement of rowers in racing boats?

This idea was brought up by a teammate, and it very clearly seems to be a form of cheating to me, so there must be some form of official rule at regattas to prohibit this, right?

For example, instead of putting the top 8 rowers in the 1V8, putting them in the 2V8 to heighten the chance at a high placement. I’ve been digging on this and can’t seem to find anything, but I’m very curious!

[jamesg]

World Rowing has a rule book and there's an article on competition manipulation, noting that:

Breaches of the Appendix S12 and the Olympic Movement Code can result in severe damage to your reputation and your sport, and moreover lead to disciplinary sanctions and criminal sanctions.

[Tsnor]

For example, instead of putting the top 8 rowers in the 1V8, putting them in the 2V8 to heighten the chance at a high placement.

terminology: "In collegiate men's rowing, the First Varsity 8 (1V8) is the fastest boat, while the Second Varsity 8 (2V8) is usually made up of oarsmen who weren't selected for the 1V8".

Being moved from an A boat to a B boat is demoralizing. Rowers need to explain to Mom and their high school friends why they are in the second boat. Generally a race boat will row together, so this would be a long term move, so moving one or two rowers or all 8 to the 2V8 boat for a race has risk. Rowing is 100% mental (just look at impact of coxswain's calls). Making moves to optimize points might backfire.

Also, coaches are juggling a million things for boat/seat selection. Especially high school and college coaches where they need to look 2 or 3 years ahead and build leadership skills and foster skills development unlike Olympic coaches who just need to worry about putting together a fast boat.

I don't know of any rules constraining who a coach puts in any seat in any boat other than the individual rowers eligibility. So coaches can optimize any way they'd like. But it would surprise me if a coach changed 1v8 and 2v8 seats to optimize results in a single regatta.

Aside: How often does a baseball coach put their number 4 starter vs the other teams ace in the first game of the world series? They could have their #1 vs other teams #2, then their #2 vs other teams #3... On paper you could optimize this way. No sure how you explain to Gerrit Cole that you don't trust him vs their #1, so you're giving up a game to put him against their #2.