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This web-page is dedicated to the norwegian light-weight rower Tor Albert Ersdal. He will compete in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta in dubbel sculler with his team-mate Magne Kvalvik. It is also made to spread information about rowing in general and about rowing in the Olympics. You will find inside information here that you probably will not find elsewhere on the Net or in any other media. You will also find some basic information about rowing if you're not familiar with this great sport.
My name is Oystein Drivflaadt (See my homepage). I have made this page about Tor Albert first of all because he is one of my best friends. It is not often someone I know is going to the Olympics, this might be the first and last time. So I decided to make a page to inform the world about rowing in general and Tor Albert especially. Neither of them has gotten the attention they deserve, and I think it's about time some info about them hit the Net!
So here you go! Most of the information presented is taken from my own head, but all the numbers, times, details and inside information about rowing and Tor Albert's achievments I have gotten from him firsthand. The section about rowing in general is also mostly taken from my head, I have been active both as an athlete and a coach in this great sport. But I have also consulted other sources for some details and specific information. Please inform me if there should be anything that is not correct. Mail me with any comments or corrections you might have!
Rowing as explained in an encyclopedia...
I found this explaination of rowing in the Microsoft Encarta CD ROM. It's good to get an understanding of the sport before you read the rest of the stuff on this page:
Rowing
Rowing, method of moving a boat through water by using one or more oars. Rowing is a universal activity, practiced since early human history wherever suitable bodies of water have existed. For centuries it was the most common and dependable mode of transportation over water, until the advent of sails and later the invention of the steam engine. Rowing is today, therefore, primarily a form of sport and recreation.
As a sport, rowing has two distinctive forms. In the more common form (also called crew or sweep-oar racing), two or more crew members sit facing the stern of the boat, each rower pulling one oar. In the 19th century crews of 8, 10, or 12 members were popular; in the 20th century crews of 2, 4, or 8 are most common. With 8 rowers (also called strokes), the vessel is steered by a nonrowing coxswain, or cox, who sits in the stern of the boat, facing the crew. The job of the coxswain is to steer the boat, decide tactics, and establish and maintain the speed and rhythm of the strokes of the rowers. The other form of rowing, in which no coxswain is used, is called sculling, or scull racing. It is performed singly, by a pair, or by 4 rowers; each rower faces the stern and pulls a pair or oars.
Equipment
Although the fundamental techniques of rowing have remained unchanged over the centuries, the design, construction, and weight of rowing equipment have been modified significantly, especially in the course of the 20th century. Racing craft, called shells, vary in length from 18.3 m (60 ft) for an 8-oared shell to 7.3 m (24 ft) for a single scull. The large, heavy, and often unwieldy wooden rowboats of the past have been transformed into long, slender, and light keelless shells, built on a wooden or fiber framework, and equipped with seats for the rowers that slide back and forth. The rowers' feet fit into shoes, called footboards, that are fixed to the boat's bottom. Oars are usually about 3.7 m (about 12 ft) long, with blades of 61 to 91 cm (24 to 36 in) in length and 15 cm (6 in) in width; in recent years the blades have become shorter and broader. The oars are connected to the shell by means of a metal oarlock, a contrivance on the boat's gunwales in or on which the oar rests, allowing it to swing freely.
Technique
The essential beauty of the sport of rowing is found in the rhythm of the rower's strokes that propel the boat. The style and rhythm of the strokes has varied over the years, evolving, by today, into a series of clearly distinguishable movements that at the same time retain a pattern of continuous movement. The stroke begins with the placing of the oar in the water and ends when the oar has reemerged and is posed to begin another cycle. The stroke may be broken down into the recovery, catch, drive, and release. The power for the stroke is supplied by the driving down of the rower's legs and the pulling back with shoulders and back; the sliding seat helps to generate great power through the rower's legs and feet. This entire sequence of rhythmical, balanced movements is repeated from 32 to 40 times per min, depending on conditions, strategy, and length of the race.
Earlier results:
Tor Albert represents the Terje Viken Rowing Club in Stavanger, where he has been a member and active rower since 1988.
He is living together with his fianc� and is getting married 7th Septembert this year.
Besides rowing, his interests are: Music, film, litterature and cooking. He is one of the few people I know who doesn't have a TV! At the moment he has just started his masters degree in social economics. He has also studied mathematics, history and computer programming. He is not only athletic, he is smart too...
About the olympic competition.
The olympic races will run on Lake Lanier near Gainesville, ninety kilometers outside Atlanta. The races will run from the 21 to the 28th of July. Start is every day at 09.00 AM Atlanta time and 15.00 CET. The finals start at the 27th and 28th.
Tor Albert and Magne will row at 15.00 pm CET on the 22nd., 24th and 26th. The A-finals start at 16.00 pm CET the 28th. If everything goes the right way, Tor Albert and his team-mate will start then too!!
The strongest teams in the competition will be Australia, Switzerland, Sweden and Italy. The norwegian boat has beaten Sweden several times, but the other teams have been to fast until now! The Olympics often bring out the best in athletes, so exciting things may happen.
According to Tor Albert, the lane on Lake Lanier is windy, and the wind blows most often the wrong way. That is, the rowers will row against it. This will put extra pressure on the rowers and may create changing conditions in the different heats. In windy conditions the finishing times will also be slower than in no wind. In windy conditions Tor Albert and his team-mate may have an advantage as they are very strong physically. This is their main strength in the boat. They both row very close to the world record in the Concept Rowing Machine, wich is used in testing and rowing machine-competitions. Tor Alberts personal best on the 2000 meter in this machine is 7,50 only 2 seconds slower than the world record at the time
What does the boat look like?
Just like any other sport, the modern science and material has changed how the boats look. From beeing made from lightweight wood, they now are made almost exclusively from carbon fiber. The dubbel sculler is about 8 meters long and about 60 centimeters wide. It weighs 27 kilos. Each oar weigh about 2 kilos. They are also made from carbon fiber. The rower is seated on a seat that moves on wheels in tracks. This way the rower can also use his legs and get a full range of motion. The feet are positioned on a plate where shoes are attached. The oars act like weights to keep the boat in ballance. If both rowers lose the oars on one side, the boat will turn over. Rowing the boat therefore requires a technique involving ballance, strength, pace, movement, teamwork, and last but not least, endurance.
Which disciplines does the rower compete in?
In the Olympics rowers will compete in several disciplines. To put it in plain language, the boats range from one-man boats (single scullers) to eight-man boats (eights). Earlier one also competed in 12-man boats. Two- and four-man boats come in two types, either each man with one oar, or each man with two oars. They also come either with or without cox. The cox is the person sitting in the back or front steering the boat. In a coxless boat, the stroke, wich is the person nearest the stearn of the boat, steers the boat with his foot. The shoes in the boat are attatched to the boat. The stroke has wires connected to one of his/hers shoes and steers the boat via these wires. The stroke also keeps the pace of the rest of the boat in coxless boats.
Earlier rowers also competed in different distances. This has changed, and now they only compete in one distance: 2000 meters. There are different races where one may compete on longer og shorter distances, but the standard distance in official races such as the Olympic competition is 2000 meters.
The rowing competition is a cup. The best boats qualify and go on eventually to the finals. The boats that doesn't qualify for the finals, compete in a B-final.
How fast does the rowers row?
The boats reach different speeds. The more rowers in the boat, the faster it goes. The eight is in other words the fastest boat. Lightweight teams are in general a bit slower than the others, but not much. During the last years, lightweight teams have also increased their speed. Three years ago, the fastest lightweight dubbelsculler in Norwayt was 10 seconds slower than the regular dubbelsculler. Today it is only 3 seconds slower.
Tor Albert thinks that the winning lightweight dubbelsculler in the Olympics will have to row the 2000 meters in 6.15 minutes. This means an average speed of 19 km/hour. Tor Albert and Magne best time is 6.20, so they will have to go faster than ever before to win.
The rowers themselves often speak of pace when they discuss speed. This is measured in strokes per minute. A good pace for long-distance training is 25 strokes/min. In a race, the rowers in a dubbelsculler reach a pace of 36-38 strokes/min. This means that they repeat the rowing motion 36-39 times every minute for +6 minutes. During a single stroke, the rower uses alle the muscles in the body in some way. This is unique for the sport. No other sport requires the use of the whole body as rowing does. Swimming and cross-country skiing may be examples of sports that come close.
How hard is a race?
2000 meters rowing is a physical test without comparasons in the sporting world. One can use examples as 5000 meters speed skating or 3000 meters running to illustrate endurance sports with about the same time-frame. But a rower uses his entire body during the race, not just the legs. The lactose consentration will therefore be much higher in a lactose-bodyweight ratio than in any other sport. Tor Albert told me that he has felt the lactose in every bodypart and muscle after races, ranging from his fingertips(!) to his chins. The race is usually too short to reach a maximum pulse, but rowers will generally reach something like 180-200 bpm before they cross the finish-line. This is in other words a very intens ordeal!
What does "Lightweight" mean?
The rules say that a lightweight rower may not weigh more than 70 kilos. In a dubble sculler no rower may weigh more than 72,5 kilos and the average weight of the two should not be more than 70 kilos.
Some rowers weigh almost 70 kilos normally. Most rowers does however have to diet to come down to this matchweight. Tor Albert has a 4% body fat when he weighs 70 kilos. In other words the 70 kilos consists almost exclusively of muscle and bone. His team-mate Magne has a 5% body fat and also weighs 70 kilos. Before Tor Albert bacame a light-weight rower in 1993, he weighed about 80 kilos.
Tor Albert keeps his weight by keeping to a diet that is very low in fat. During a dietary study last year the nutrition-experts thought that his diet was what a horse ate, because it contained only 3% fat! He does however consume about 6500 calories a day, mostly bread, cereal and grain-products. In comparison, some southpole-expeditions keep diets of 5000 calories a day.
The training helps to keep the weight down of course... Tor Albert normally trains from 10 hours a week before a race, not counting the race and preparing for it, to 38-40 hours a week in the hardest periods. Usually he is in the boat 12 times a week training. During the winter the training consists of running, cross-country skiing and weight-lifting. He also uses rowing machines extensively during the winter. As a member of the norwegian national team he has the opertunity to row on water several time during winter in training camps either in southern Europe or in the USA.
