Lightweight rowing

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In rowing, lightweight (Lwt for short) is a special category where limits are placed on the maximum weight of competitors. The rational is that larger, taller people have a small but significant physical advantage and tend to dominate the sport. Having a lightweight category gives average sized individuals the ability to compete against their peers.

At international level for crew boats the limits are:

Men: Crew average 70 kg (154 lb) - no rower over 72.5 kg (159 lb)
Women: Crew average 57 kg (125 lb) - no one over 59 kg (130 lb)

For single sculls the limits are 72.5 kg and 59kg for men and women respectively.

According to FISA, this weight category was introduced "to encourage more universality in the sport especially among nations with less statuesque people". However some argue that this goal was not achieved and strong nations in lightweight rowing (such as Denmark, France, and Italy) are not considered "less statuesque" and also perform well in the heavyweight events.

The first lightweight events were added to the World Championships in 1974 for men and 1985 for women. Lightweight rowing was added to the Olympics in 1996 but this came under threat in 2002 when the Programme Commission of the IOC recommended that, outside combat sports and weightlifting, there should not be weight category events. The Executive Board overturned this recommendation and lightweight rowing continues at the Olympics.

[edit] United States

At the collegiate level, many larger American Division I schools can field one to three lightweight boats for both men and women. In recent years the practice of Juniors training down to a weight in the US (there are no Junior lightweight events in the UK) has been questioned as it could be detrimental to growth. If there isn't a category for Junior lightweights, the rowers may choose to row in the college level without any special treatment. As with lightweight men, the lightweight women's league is small but fiercely competitive. The quasi-official national championship for both lightweight women and men is the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship held each year on the Cooper River in New Jersey on the weekend after Memorial Day.

In the U.S. Collegiate category, the following limits apply: