Born for rowing: Rima Karaliene, 2025 winner of Artistic Contribution to Rowing Award

“I’m on this earth because of rowing – literally.”

Both of Rima Karaliene’s parents were rowers. They met and fell in love through rowing. Karaliene is a rower, she married a rower, her son is a rower and her family is now four generations of rowers. She has many accolades as a rower and now Karaliene is the recipient of World Rowing’s Artistic Contribution to Rowing award for 2025.

The award, launched in 2024 was established to emphasise World Rowing’s commitment to expanding the definition of excellence in rowing highlighting the crucial role that arts and culture pay in developing the sport.

Karaliene is a Lithuanian rower, a rowing historian, author of rowing books and runs a rowing museum in Trakai. She has just come back from the World Rowing awards ceremony at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland and she is still in awe of being honoured.

“It is the greatest award I have ever received! I still feel that I’m dreaming to receive recognition of my creative work. It is my passion, it energises me. I’m so grateful for the recognition especially as the other finalists are all very talented.

“The certificate is already on my wall.”

Sitting in an ornate wooden chair, surrounded by shelves of books – including her own – Karaliene talked to World Rowing.

Her first book  Rowing Through the Barbed Wire Fence (published in 2017), was about her father who competed at the 1964 Olympic Games.

“I was raised during occupation in Soviet times. We weren’t allowed to go abroad, so our house was full of books about rowing and rowing people. I wanted to create something about that period of the generation of my parents.”

Inspired by Daniel James Brown’s book Boys in the Boat, Karaliene wanted to write an historical novel, making it as true as possible. She she travelled to the race courses where her father had rowed, interviewed people, searched archives, newspaper articles and photos.

“I thought Lithuania was hiding our history, thinking we’re not important and I thought people around the world should know what went on. When Lithuanians were overseas everyone thought they were Russians. They were racing for the country that was killing their family members (including her father’s parents).”

“I’m not a writer, so I started secretly and had written about 100 pages. I could feel some tension with my husband. I told him I was writing a book about my father. He said, ‘thank god, I thought you had fallen in love with someone else!’”

Researching Povilas Liutkaitis – Karaliene’s father, was an emotional journey. She found records of his time in a Gulag in Siberia. He had been part of the crew that won the Soviet national championships and was preparing to compete in the United States, but Liutkaitis was checked by the KGB and was not allowed to go. When a Lithuanian went to an international competition, they were not allowed to meet local Lithuanians. Karaliene wanted to portray this world.

Karaliene’s second book, called Rowing to Niagara Falls, is the story about her rowing coach. Also an historical novel, it describes her coach growing up under KGB repression. The coach’s father was in the Polish military sent to Russia when, as part of the Katyn Massacre, around 22,000 Polish military were killed. Around 400 survived. The coach, at 26 years old received a letter from her father from Niagara Falls, Canada. He was one of the survivors.

“At 35 she went to Montreal and met her father at Niagara Falls. He had escaped and was living in Canada. She was able to go to Canada and meet her father only through rowing as only some athletes were able to go overseas.”

More recently Karaliene has been working on children’s books centred around Lithuanian rowing stories. Trakai Castle Regatta, uses puppies rather than people. To Bled with oars and Love are mature dogs who go to row at the Bled masters regatta. Karaliene is inspired by her extended rowing family including Olympic medallist daughter-in-law Donata Karaliene (nee Vištartaitė) and six grandchildren.

Karaliene’s next novel is still to be planned, but she says the next one may be about her generation or the generation of her children. In the meantime she is working on a rowing board game and a line of embroidered rowing clothing. https://rowing.lt/

The ideas are still flowing.