Celebrations set for 50 years of women’s rowing at the Olympic Games
Olympic bronze medallists Becky Wilde and Eve Stewart to host a special podcast at Henley Women’s Regatta
GBR Rowing at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical St. - Flatwater, Paris, France on Thursday 1 August 2024. Credit: Row360
50 years ago, history was made. For the first time in Olympic history, women raced at the games of the XXI Olympiad.
Although rowing is one of the original sports in the modern Olympic Games, it took 80 years from the first ‘modern’ Olympics in 1896 for women to be included in the programme. But at the Montréal 1976 Olympic Games, 205 women lined up in six events to contest the first-ever Olympic medals for female rowers.
The women – competing in Single Sculls, Double Sculls, Coxless Pairs, Coxed Fours, Coxed Quadruple Sculls, and Eights, would only race over 1,000m in Montréal. It took another three Olympiads for the racing distance to be extended to 2,000m to match the men’s racing, and gender parity would not be reached until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (in 2021), when men and women finally raced the same seven events.
Fast forward 50 years and women’s rowing has transformed into one of the greatest spectacles in sport. The next generation of athletes follow in the footsteps of the pioneers who set the bench mark for women’s rowing at the Olympics, a standard which continues to be advanced by new cohorts of women.
50 years ago, the Olympic regatta kicked off on 18 July. This year, that will coincide with the second day of racing at the British Rowing Club Championships.
Celebrations of this historic anniversary kick off this weekend at Henley Women’s Regatta. Olympic bronze medallists Becky Wilde and Eve Stewart will host a very special episode of their podcast Between the Buoys, taking place live from the banks of the hallowed Henley waters.
Celebrating 50 years of women’s Olympic rowing is also one of the themes of this year’s Henley Women’s Regatta. Throughout the weekend, the regatta will reflect on the pioneers whose determination and resilience helped shape the sport we know today. You will be able to read more about their stories in the official Henley Women’s Regatta programme.
A summer of celebrations is planned, including a very special dinner to be held on the Friday of Henley Royal Regatta.
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“Henley Women’s Regatta is one of the biggest celebrations in women’s rowing anywhere in the world,” said Becky Wilde, who won bronze in the women’s Double Sculls two years ago.
“We’re going to be there answering all your questions and having a laugh along the way. Come and join us for Between the Buoys’ live show at 17:30 in front of the Crew Room tent, we’d love to see you there.”
