Accent on the women’s eight

Eight women in a boat, moving their single oar with all of the willpower in the world, while keeping in time with the others in the boat, plus a coxswain telling them what to do. This may sound like heaven to some and sheer torture to others. Otherwise known as the women’s eight event, this event is one of World Rowing’s four Blue Riband races.

There is a certain romanticism and splendour that goes with getting eight rowers together in perfect synchronicity. It’s about the sound of the oars hitting the water as one, the click of the blades moving into the recovery position, the sight of eight bodies rotating forward together and the love of the absolute raw power that emulates.

Each seat in the eight relates to a certain personality, strength and role. In the stern of the boat the stroke and seven seat set the rhythm that the rest of the boat must follow. Stroke seat, or eight seat, is often the rower with leadership qualities and an ability to set a constant rhythm. In the middle of the boat – seats six, five, four and three – are known as the ‘engine room’ of the eight with the most powerful rowers of the eight often sitting in these spots. Then in the bow of the boat, seats two and one (or bow seat) are the smaller rowers with more finely tuned technical skills. Bow and two have a greater ability to affect the balance of the boat. 

At the second Rowing World Cup in Munich, Germany, the women’s eights race will feature on finals day, Sunday 20 June, 2010 at precisely 11:48am on the 1972 Olympic Regatta Course. The race will last approximately six minutes.

Featuring in this race are home-water heroes, the Germans. Germany regularly competes in the women’s eight and they will be racing internationally for the first time in 2010 at Munich with a crew that has retained four of the rowers and the coxswain that finished fourth last year. Moving into stroke seat, Nina Wengert, 25, worked her way into Germany’s top eight through a path that saw her compete as a junior representative for her country in 2002 before working her way into the senior women’s eight for the 2005 World Rowing Championships. Wengert then competed in the eight at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Women’s rowing became an Olympic event in 1976 and in those early years East Germany dominated the eight winning all three Games that they attended of the first four Olympics. Since becoming the united Germany the women have medalled once in the eight taking bronze in 1992.

Romania then took over as the dominating eight winning at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. At the second Rowing World Cup in Munich, Romania is racing with the identical crew that finished with silver last year. Sitting in the coxswain seat is Teodora Stoica. Stoica’s primary job is to steer the boat. She faces the stroke and is wired up with a microphone and box to tell her time and strokes per minute. She has steering ropes in each of her hands. As well as keeping the boat on a straight course, during the race Stoica will call the race plan and motivate the crew to go harder. Before the race Stoica must weigh in to make sure that she is no less than the required weight of 50kg. If Stoica weighs in below this weight she must carry weights, usually sandbags, to bring her up to 50kg.

Stoica’s international coxing experience goes back to 2004 when, as an 18-year-old, she coxed the Romanian women’s eight to a win at the Junior World Rowing Championships. After a four-year hiatus Stoica came back to win again at the 2008 and 2009 European Championships, and scored silver at the 2009 World Rowing Championships.

Romania lost their powerful grip on the eights after the 2004 Athens Olympics when the United States women’s sweep squad became more stable with athletes remaining at the elite level for longer periods of time. USRowing also adapted to make the most of top student athletes coming out of the university system. Women’s rowing at the university level is currently thriving and as the eight is the principal boat under this system, USRowing has a readymade recruitment ground. Most recently, the USA won gold at the 2006, 2007 and 2009 World Rowing Championships and at the 2008 Olympic Games.

The United States will not be competing in Munich but there is no doubt that they will be currently building up ‘back home’ to be at their best for the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand in late October.

Women’s eights crews at Munich:
China
Great Britain
Germany
Poland
Romania

The World Rowing team values feedback.