After a comprehensive evaluation of the applications proposed for the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, the International Paralympic Committee ( IPC) has decided to accept rowing as a new sport.
The sport was voted in during the first meeting of the IPC Governing Board which took place in Turin, Italy on 9 and 10 April. Rowing is the only new sport to have been voted in this week-end, and joins the 19 established Paralympics sports.
Up until now, Paralympics sports were mainly classified by disability rather than sport. Rowing is one of the first sports federations to have fully integrated, as FISA calls it, "adaptive" rowing into its federation. Adaptive implies that the equipment is "adapted" to the user to practice the sport, rather than the sport being "adapted" to the user.
FISA introduced Adaptive rowing on a "World Championship" level at its 2002 World Rowing Championships in Seville, Spain, when 38 athletes competed in the single sculls and the coxed four. The sport continued to develop since with four boat classes at the 2003 World Rowing Championships in Milan, Italy. Last year, at the 2004 World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships in Banyoles, Spain, 66 adaptive rowing athletes took part. The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games will take place from 6 to 17 September 2008.
Adaptive rowing started in 1980 both in the Netherlands and in the United States. Philadelphia was one of the first cities to start a rowing program for rowers with disabilities. From small beginnings with only four rowers, the program has steadily grown over the years to hundreds of participants.
The Philadelphia Rowing Program for the Disabled, rowing from an old tugboat house on West River Drive, together with their sponsor, Bayada Nurses, created the Bayada Regatta, the national regatta for rowers with physical disabilities. This nationwide competition attracts rowers from all over the country, and international rowers as well. The date is every year on the Saturday after Labor Day, which this year falls on September 10.
Out of these national competitions and some efforts by several European countries and Australia ,the desire developed to have rowing included in the Paralympics. The Paralympics are Olympic Games for athletes with disabilities. They are staged 2 weeks after the Olympic Games in exactly the same venues. The next Summer Olympics will be held In Beijing, China from August 8-24, 2008, the Paralympics from September 6-17. The Paralympic Games in Athens last year attracted thousands of athletes from 137 countries.
It is a long process for application and acceptance of a new sport in either the Olympics or Paralympics. Years of international meetings preceded the participation of Adaptive Rowing Teams in the World Rowing Championships in Seville, Spain in 2002.
The adaptive rowers were well accepted and had an excellent showing. In the following two years teams from around the world competed in Milan and Barcelona. This year the US will send a team to Japan.
Rowing is one of few sports in which Regular World Championships accommodate athletes with disabilities in several adaptive races.
Three times Adaptive World Rowing Champion, Scott Brown, was elated to learn about rowing in the Paralympics. Says Brown, a Philadelphian, who lost both his legs in a car accident:
"This is the moment I have been waiting for, for 15 years. I thought I had reached my ultimate goal in rowing in the rowing world championships. I never would have thought that I would actually have an opportunity to go to the Paralympic Games. "
Phil Craven, IPC President said: "FISA is to be congratulated on the tremendous work it has undertaken to develop adapted rowing into the newest Paralympic sport. Now the stage is set in Beijing for Paralympic rowers to inspire and excite the world." Denis Oswald, FISA President, said "Rowing is very proud to be invited to take part in this fantastic event. Our adaptive rowers and their supporters have worked very hard to reach this important milestone in the development of the sport and now it will really move forward."
"The inclusion of adaptive rowing in the 2008 Paralympic Games is a milestone in the evolution of rowing in Canada and indeed around the world," said Alan Roaf, Rowing Canada's High Performance Director.
"Rowing Canada has been a supporter of adaptive rowing and the Paralympic movement for many years and we're delighted at this announcement," said Roaf. "Those athletes who gain selection to Canada's Paralympic team in Beijing will be a credit to Canada and an inspiration to us all."
With the inclusion of rowing, the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games will include a total of 20 sports. Rowing Canada sent its first-ever adaptive team to the World Championships in 2004.