The 2028 Olympic rowing course has been considerably shortened to the shock of the rowing community. The course is not 2,000 meters, the standard length since 1912, but only 1,500 meters. That difference of 500 meters has major consequences for the sport in which the Netherlands win many medals. National coach Eelco Meenhorst: ‘This is detrimental to the sport. You build on it for years and then that is ruined in no time.’
The Los Angeles Olympics organizers have selected Long Beach Marine Stadium for rowing and canoeing competitions. In 1932 this was also the location for the Olympic rowing tournament. At the time, that happened just over two kilometers, but since the construction of the JH Davies Bridge in 1955, the final part of the old Olympic rowing course has been cut off from the rest. Now only one and a half kilometers of open water remains. Sufficient length, the IOC and the World Rowing Association ruled this month.
As far as Meenhorst is concerned, shortening the track changes the essence of rowing, in which the athletes combine sprinting and endurance. With 500 meters less ahead, the middle section, which is sailed on condition, becomes less important while the explosive start and finish are more emphasised. ‘If you make the effort 25 percent shorter, you end up with a different kind of athlete.’
The coach, who guided the men’s doubles to gold in 2021, makes the comparison with sprinting on the athletics track. Nelli Cooman was world top in the 60 meters. At that distance she became world champion twice and held the world record. In the 100 meters she fell short for such results and only once silver at the European Championships. For example, a seemingly small difference in distance can have major consequences for the result.
Qualifiers over 2,000 meters
In addition, all qualifiers that will provide access to the Los Angeles Games will be contested over the traditional 2,000 meters. So it makes no sense to equip the national selection for the 1,500 meters before the Games. ‘For the qualification I need classic rowers.’
The eight is the fastest boat on the rowing course. With so much muscle power on board, it is quickly a minute and a half faster over 2,000 meters than the skiffers who have to do it on their own. The eight therefore often contain the slightly more explosive types, while more endurance is required in a skiff. One solution for Los Angeles would be to redirect the fast men and women from the eight to the smaller boat types. But who is behind the belts in the eight? ‘Your question is also my question’, says Meenhorst.
If the emphasis is placed more on explosiveness, it is quite possible that the Dutch boats will have to be rejuvenated, Meenhorst suspects. ‘Age plays a role in those types of athletes. You often see in athletics that the best sprinters are young people.’
In the ancient days of rowing, the distances at the Games sometimes varied. In 1900 in Paris the track was 1,750 meters, four years later in Saint Louis it was almost twice as far: 3,218 meters. Since the 1912 Games in Stockholm, 2,000 meters has been the norm. The only exception after that was the 1948 Olympic tournament in London. Then there was rowing over 1,850 meters.
Open connection with the sea
Initially, the Los Angeles plans envisioned rowing at Lake Perris. The reservoir is an hour and a half drive from the UCLA campus, where the Olympic Village will be located. That would be too much travel time for the rowers, so in that scenario their own village had to be built at Lake Perris. The decision for Long Beach Marine Stadium, which has an open connection to the sea and thus has to do with tides, was taken not only for historical-nostalgic considerations, but also to reduce costs.
For the rowers who are now active, cutting their lanes is not really a topic of conversation yet. They focus on the World Rowing Championships that start next week in the Czech Republic. And they have their sights on the 2024 Games in Paris. Los Angeles is still far too far away.
‘We are already working on it in the background within the staff’, says Meenhorst, who does not have the impression that the World Rowing Federation has asked for input from the sport itself. “We are confronted with it.” In the coming years, he and his colleagues will investigate the implications of the shorter Olympic races. “Now it’s a bit of guesswork.”