Mondo Knows Facts

Olympic rowing is raced over 2000 metres

The distance was standardised in 1912 and has been used ever since Early Olympic regattas used courses of 1,500 metres or roughly a mile, and the 1900 races in Paris were held on a stretch of the Seine with a bend. Since 1912 the standard has been 2,000 metres, apart from 1948 when the Henley course was too narrow for six lanes. A race takes about five and a half minutes for a men's eight. It sits in Mondo's sports collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

World Rowing

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

More facts like this

Tags: rowing, olympics, distance

Olympic rowing is raced over 2000 metres: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
The distance was standardised in 1912 and has been used ever since. The figure is taken from World Rowing, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a sports fact?
Yes. It sits on the Sports shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.