The sun has set on the GB lightweight empire...

[rowing]

Lower the Jack, boys.

[oldman]

Haining, Purchase, Hunter ...

[fatsculler]

No great surprise, they tried a LM2X earlier in the season but it wasn’t competitive enough.

[lt.wolf]

Open weights beware lights will take your seats.

On a related note, there have been more and more discussions at the higher levels about the possibility of athletes doubling up for the eights by 2032 or even worse the potential removal of eights from the program or in a subsequent cycle.

It has been said before the sport of rowing is not safe at the Olympic level

[rowing]

If every lightweight started exclusively sculling right now, nearly half the seats in the sculling events would be taken by lightweights within 10 years.

[Stewie Griffin Should Cox]

If every lightweight started exclusively sculling right now, nearly half the seats in the sculling events would be taken by lightweights within 10 years.

In also ran countries maybe
Top 6 worlds Olympics ? Forget it

Rowing has to forget the Olympics as being the driver for the sport and define its own World Championships with its own events. Or the sport will eventually pass

[Withoutmercy]

Rowing has to forget the Olympics as being the driver for the sport and define its own World Championships with its own events. Or the sport will eventually pass"


^^^^what he said.

[KitD]

Easy to say, but that's difficult if NGBs only (or largely) fund athletes for Olympic events. And that funding source depends on Olympic success.

[rowing]

I agree with the destiny sentiment, but don't see that functioning well outside of the existing NGB funding models across the globe that pursue Olympic participation. A lot of "firms" will go broke in a non IOC economy, and you will end up with same performance hierarchy at Worlds, and everyone will be a lot poorer, particularly athletes.

Maybe that's a good thing for "parity," but I suspect it will eventually crimp the recruitment pipeline.

Although, here it will elevate the NCAA to a position as the most powerful governing force in rowing.

That was the goal, right?

[Stewie Griffin Should Cox]

Easy to say, but that's difficult if NGBs only (or largely) fund athletes for Olympic events. And that funding source depends on Olympic success.

You mean the British? They have lead the way on decimating Lightweight rowing. One of the first to stop sending eights and Quads then fours and now the men’s 2x

I’d the Olympics has coastal you can be sure it will be athletes who have next to no coastal experience but brutally out power the opposition. Won’t be part of a coastal community

[fatsculler]

Easy to say, but that's difficult if NGBs only (or largely) fund athletes for Olympic events. And that funding source depends on Olympic success.

You mean the British? They have lead the way on decimating Lightweight rowing. One of the first to stop sending eights and Quads then fours and now the men’s 2x

I’d the Olympics has coastal you can be sure it will be athletes who have next to no coastal experience but brutally out power the opposition. Won’t be part of a coastal community

Funding is th issue - after the poor results at Atlanta the powers that be decided to pump money into Olympic sports and used the National Lottery to fund the majority of that activity - sports were told in no uncertain terms that their funding depended on delivering results at the Olympics. Boat classes like the LM8, whilst they produced excellent racing and obviously helped produce good lightweight rowers, were incredibly expensive to fund and didn't add anything to the Olympic class boat. Women's lightweight sweep was a non-starter as there were no Olympic class events. Yes it's disappointing that GB didn't support more non-Olympic class boats, but given the funding models, and the immense pressure on that funding (don't forget rowing received more funding than any other sport) it's not surprising that the emphasis was placed on Olympic class boats and delivering results which, in turn, would deliver continued funding.

[KitD]

Easy to say, but that's difficult if NGBs only (or largely) fund athletes for Olympic events. And that funding source depends on Olympic success.

You mean the British? They have lead the way on decimating Lightweight rowing. One of the first to stop sending eights and Quads then fours and now the men’s 2x

I’d the Olympics has coastal you can be sure it will be athletes who have next to no coastal experience but brutally out power the opposition. Won’t be part of a coastal community

Not just GB. Many rowing nations prioritise funding Olympic events over non-Olympic.

I'd like to see FISA make it easier for self-funded athletes to take part. Want to pay for yourself to enter an event your NGB is ignoring? You should be allowed, and the NGB have no say.

[cleetus]

Want to pay for yourself to enter an event your NGB is ignoring? You should be allowed, and the NGB have no say.

This. If a national federation is paying for it, let them run camps, fund however they wish (athletes/clubs/coaches), impose time standards, prioritize crews, establish training centers, etc. If the national federation is not paying for it, hold a trial, and allow the winners to go. Good for clubs, good for the sport.

[Sarge]

Want to pay for yourself to enter an event your NGB is ignoring? You should be allowed, and the NGB have no say.

This. If a national federation is paying for it, let them run camps, fund however they wish (athletes/clubs/coaches), impose time standards, prioritize crews, establish training centers, etc. If the national federation is not paying for it, hold a trial, and allow the winners to go. Good for clubs, good for the sport.

The issue, as I see it, is that the federation ends up supporting all athletes...it is difficult to apportion/allocate expenses for the team manager (who goes to all of the on-site meetings and such) transportation, hotels, meals, and "attention" required or requested (PT/massage and so forth), boat management and assistance, and all of the other stuff around a worlds championship.

[fullmetal]

Agreed, it is difficult to amortize or divide up cost responsibility across a whole squad of crews, but...it's not impossible. And if a team of athletes has earned the right to represent their nation in a specific boat class...why shouldn't they have access to NGB national team services? Yes, they can pay whatever pro-rated fee to support...but there should not be a two-tier system of privilege once everyone arrives at the regatta venue. If they are named to the national team, they should be treated as such.