The 24th March 2020.
This was the day when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) publicly announced the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games by a year, due to the dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic. The world of sport was thrown into turmoil for elite athletes, and there were devastating effects for both those competing in and supporting it.
This was just one of the many destructive consequences COVID had on nearly every sport played around the world, from those participating just as a hobby to others competing at an elite level.
Rowing was undoubtedly one of these sports, with countless people not even able to go on the water, let alone race, and many facets of the sport are still recovering to this day.
But despite all the disorder caused by the virus, just like the age-old saying “every cloud has a silver lining”, it would be untrue to say that the pandemic did not provide some benefits for rowing.
Where to begin with the list of repercussions rowing received?
Starting with those who were affected the most from a purely sporting perspective, the delay of the Olympics to 2021 was horrifying news for many.
It would be untrue to say that the pandemic did not provide some benefits for rowing.
During a regular international season, most rowers accumulate fitness and speed over the autumn and winter, before testing their condition against other athletes in the three World Cup events, and finally fighting for a medal at the World Rowing Championships during the summer. However, every fourth year, there comes the competition that easily trumps all else: the Olympics.
For many it is an event they can only compete in two or three times during their career – for most, competing in it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Rowers devoted themselves even more to training, sacrificing time, energy, money and even seeing loved ones- just to have the reward of all their hard work taken away. This was mentally and emotionally crushing for them, making a whole year of sacrifices seem completely pointless.
The organisations sponsoring their respective national teams cumulatively lost millions of pounds they had spent in preparation for the Olympics. For older rowers hoping for one last dance, the IOC’s decision killed off those dreams.
The months following the Tokyo Olympic Games were also long and lonely. Those who got so much joy out of being on the water suddenly couldn’t come close to it in a rowing boat, and were banished to testing themselves on the erg instead.
As a schoolboy in the middle of my first year rowing, COVID and quarantine put me and countless others in a situation where we weren’t sure of our future in the sport, or whether we would be able to stay loyal to it after such a long hiatus. There were many who weathered the storm, but also countless who were drawn away from it because of the virus.
Furthermore, with professional rowers being prioritised in having their competitions returned to normal, junior rowers globally were not able to race in their countries’ most prominent and well-known events for a long time after.
In England, the National Schools’ Regatta 2020 was completely cancelled, not even allowing spectators the following year, until 2022, when it finally started to display signs of normality again. It was the same in other countries, with New Zealand’s premier secondary school regatta, the Maadi Cup, also being cancelled in 2020 , and US Rowing’s Youth Nats doing likewise, only being allowed to run under heavy restrictions the following year onwards.
As a schoolboy in the middle of my first year rowing, COVID and quarantine put me and countless others in a situation where we weren’t sure of our future in the sport, or whether we would be able to stay loyal to it after such a long hiatus.
This goes to show how COVID not only devastated the mainstream events in rowing, but showed no mercy to any in its wrath, shutting down the world of rowing as a whole.
However, because of the extremely oppressive nature of the pandemic, the adversity has also been a catalyst in making the rowing community find ways to work around countless limitations and restrictions.
With a dramatic fall in water rowing came a sharp increase in indoor rowing. Concept2, the most popular indoor rowing machine brand in the world, even had to procure a waiting list just to manage such a climb in demand. This was not restricted to rowers, with thousands of others seeking alternate methods of exercise.
In this way, the pandemic ironically helped to indirectly bring people into the sport of rowing, as many who enjoyed the indoor challenge ended up transitioning to the actual sport once restrictions cleared up.
The absence of mainstream rowing also diverted attention to its machine counterpart, with an increase in viewership of indoor rowing competitions, namely the World Indoor Rowing Championships, allowing for some level of competitiveness within that long period of aridity.
More significantly though, as people became locked in their homes with access to only technology, rowing took that as an opportunity to capitalise on a captive audience. As social media became evermore ubiquitous and necessary to everyone, applications such as Instagram were used to draw attention to rowing to millions of others all around the world. Professional athletes could post about their individual journeys or general advice, gaining traction and support from people both involved and completely new to rowing.
The takeaway is clear: rowing is here to stay, and has survived the most significant interruption to everyday life in a generation.
Online rowing media platforms such as JRN saw their numbers and popularity flourish as the world remained faced towards their screens.
Furthermore, innovative designs for indoor rowing were proposed, such as the recent EXR app, a virtual rowing app simulating actual rowing as a way to make indoor rowing more immersive and fun. Even after the bulk of COVID has passed, technology in rowing is still continuing to develop and thrive, a testament to how the pandemic spurred the sport to evolve and grow outside of its comfort zone into a sport now more accessible to all.
The takeaway is clear: rowing is here to stay, and has survived the most significant interruption to everyday life in a generation. COVID-19 ground the whole planet to a halt, but despite the bleak every-day life faced during the pandemic, a golden opportunity was discovered through technology, one that will only continue to prosper as long as we take advantage of it.
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