Rowing Ireland, formerly the Irish Amateur Rowing Union, is the governing body of rowing for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

.Sport Ireland – List of Governing Bodies
/ref>Sport Northern Ireland – List of Governing Bodies
/ref> It is a cross-border organisation administering the sport in both the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Rowing Ireland is a member of the

Olympic Council of Ireland The Olympic Federation of Ireland or OFI () (called the Irish Olympic Council from 1920 to 1952, and the Olympic Council of Ireland from 1952 to 2018) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ireland. Athletes from Northern Ireland have the op ...

and the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron (FISA).

Membership

Over 100 clubs are affiliated to Rowing Ireland. These are from across the island and include schools, third level institutions and open clubs. In 2019 Rowing Ireland launched its strategy until 2024. This has four pillars: Supporting clubs, High Performance, Rowing for all and Leading our sport.

National Rowing Centre

The National Rowing Centre (NRC) in Farran Wood,

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

is the headquarters of Rowing Ireland and is also the base of the High Performance team. The centre has an eight-lane Albano course and hosts a number of regattas and the Championship Regatta each year. Every four years it hosts the Home International Regatta. It hosted the Coupe de la Jeunesse in 1999, 2008 and 2018.

Irish Championships

Established in 1899 as the Irish Amateur Rowing Union, the association hosted its first championship in 1912. At the 1912 AGM, which was held in February, it was agreed that a cup be purchased for £100 for the Union to be presented for annual competition amongst senior eights. This would in time become known as "The Big Pot". The inaugural Senior eights championship took place at Metropolitan Regatta in Ringsend on the Lower Liffey in July 1912 and City of Derry Boating Club were the winners. It would be 1934 before the Junior (Intermediate) eights championship was added. Since then many additional championships have been added and 44 are now contested each year at the Championship Regatta. In 2017 it added the Irish Offshore Rowing Championship and in 2018 the inaugural Irish Coastal Rowing Championships took place. The results of all championships can be found at www.irishrowingarchives.com

National team

Rowing Ireland is responsible for the selection and management of the Irish national team, through its High Performance programme. Crews are selected for regattas such as the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international Rowing (sport), rowing regatta organized by International Rowing Federation, FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer ...

European Rowing Championships The European Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organised by World Rowing (named FISA until 2020) for European rowing nations, plus Israel, which, though not a member of the European federation, is treated as a European n ...

, and the

World Rowing Cup The World Rowing Cup is an international rowing competition organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It began in 1997 and comprises three regattas (apart from in 2001 when there were four) held throughout early summer. In each ...

National squad

This was the team selected for the 2024 Olympic and

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

regattas, held at

Vaires-sur-Marne Vaires-sur-Marne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. Vaires-sur-Marne is at the western end of the LGV Est high-speed rai ...

, France.

Personnel

This was the coaching and management personnel selected for the 2024 Olympic and

regattas, held at

, France.

Olympics and Paralympics

Olympics

Ireland first sent a boat to an Olympic

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wa ...

to the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

, where they sent a men's eight. The IARU received its affiliation from FISA on the 3rd of August, 1948, two days before the start of the regatta, allowing Ireland to send a crew. Ireland would not appear at an Olympic regatta until

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, when Seán Drea entered the men's single sculls, coming seventh. Ireland would go on to field at least one crew at every Olympic regatta except

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. Four years later, Drea came fourth in the same event. At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, the crew in the men's lightweight coxless four consisting of Derek Holland, Sam Lynch, Neville Maxwell and Tony O'Connor also came fourth. It was not until

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, when brothers Gary and Paul O'Donovan broke through and won Ireland's first

Olympic medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold medal, gold, silver medal, silver, and bronze medal, bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respect ...

in rowing: a

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

in the men's lightweight double sculls. The O'Donovans' relaxed interview style endeared followers and they became internet sensations in the wake of their success, and they were invited on to ''

The Graham Norton Show ''The Graham Norton Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by Graham Norton. It was initially broadcast on BBC Two, from 22 February 2007, before moving to BBC One in October 2009. It currently airs on Friday evenings, with Norton ...

'' for its 2016 New Year's Eve special. At the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, Ireland entered thirteen athletes across six boats. The women's coxless four, consisting of Emily Hegarty, Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, and Fiona Murtagh, won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

, and Paul O'Donovan joined Fintan McCarthy to win Ireland's first rowing

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in the men's lightweight double sculls. For the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, Ireland has qualified sixteen athletes across seven boats, more than any other Olympic regatta. Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy successfully retained their gold medal in the men's lightweight double sculls, the last time the event would be held in an Olympic regatta, and Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch won a bronze medal in the men's double sculls.

Medal table

Paralympics

At the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

, Ireland fielded a crew in the mixed coxed four. For the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

, Ireland has qualified a boat for the PR2 mixed double sculls.

World Championships

Ireland has won seventeen gold, seven silver and fourteen bronze medals at the

.FISA Athlete database
/ref>

Gold medallists

European Championships

The

were re-established in 2007, after a hiatus dating to 1973. At these, Ireland has won six gold, six silver, and five bronze medals.

Gold medallists

References

External links

Rowing Ireland Homepage

Get Going...Get Rowing Homepage

Irish Rowing Archives Homepage

Rowing Ireland on Twitter

Rowing Ireland on Instagram
{{Sports governing bodies in Ireland 1899 establishments in Ireland

Rowing in Ireland

Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...