Rowing at the 1900 Summer Olympics explained

See main article: Rowing at the Summer Olympics.

Event:	Rowing
Games:	1900 Summer
Venue:	Seine
Dates:	25–26 August 1900
Competitors:	108
Nations:	8
Next:	1904

At the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, four events in rowing were contested, marking the introduction of the sport to the Olympic program.^[1] At the inaugural 1896 Games, the rowing competition was cancelled due to strong winds. The 1900 regatta was held on the Seine between the Courbevoie Bridge and the Asnières Bridge on 25 and 26 August.^[2] The length of the regatta course was 1750m (5,740feet).^[3] Two finals were held in the coxed four competition, with both finals being considered Olympic championships. Thus, there were a total of five rowing championships awarded.

Medal summary

Single sculls
Coxed pair	valign=top	^[4] Minerva Amsterdam François Brandt Roelof Klein Hermanus Brockmann^[5] unknown boy^[6] (FRA)	valign=top	Société Nautique de la Marne Lucien Martinet René Waleff unknown cox	valign=top	Rowing Club Castillon Carlos Deltour Antoine Védrenne Raoul Paoli
Coxed four Final 1^[7]	valign=top	Cercle de l'Aviron Roubaix Henri Bouckaert Jean Cau Émile Delchambre Henri Hazebrouck Charlot	valign=top	Club Nautique de Lyon Georges Lumpp Charles Perrin Daniel Soubeyran Émile Wegelin unknown cox	valign=top	Favorite Hammonia Wilhelm Carstens Julius Körner Adolf Möller Hugo Rüster Gustav Moths^[8] Max Ammermann
Coxed four Final 2	Germania Ruder Club, Hamburg Gustav Goßler Oscar Goßler Walther Katzenstein Waldemar Tietgens Carl Goßler	Minerva Amsterdam Coenraad Hiebendaal Geert Lotsij Paul Lotsij Johannes Terwogt Hermanus Brockmann	Ludwigshafener Ruderverein Ernst Felle Otto Fickeisen Carl Lehle Hermann Wilker Franz Kröwerath
Eight	Vesper Boat Club William Carr Harry DeBaecke John Exley John Geiger Edwin Hedley James Juvenal Roscoe Lockwood Edward Marsh Louis Abell	Royal Club Nautique de Gand Jules De Bisschop Prosper Bruggeman Oscar Dessomville Oscar De Cock Maurice Hemelsoet Marcel Van Crombrugge Frank Odberg Maurice Verdonck Alfred Van Landeghem	Minerva Amsterdam François Brandt Johannes van Dijk Roelof Klein Ruurd Leegstra Walter Middelberg Hendrik Offerhaus Walter Thijssen Henricus Tromp Hermanus Brockmann

Participating nations

A total of 108 rowers from 8 nations competed at the Paris Games:

Coxswain mystery

In the coxed pair event, the names of the coxswains for six of the seven crews entered are not known. Most of these were young French boys weighing about 25 kg, which the French crews employed to their advantage. The winning Dutch crew decided, after losing their heat, that their own coxswain was too heavy, and they recruited a French boy to steer the boat for the finals. The lad, name unknown, is believed likely to be the youngest Olympic gold medalist ever (previously estimated as between 7 and 10 years of age).^{[9] [10]} Some estimate the boy was likely 12 to 14 years old.^[11] One researcher has made a case that this unknown cox could have been Giorgi Nikoladze (1888-1931) of Georgia, a future scientist and promulgator of Georgian sport.^{[12] [13]}

Further reading

• International Olympic Committee medal winners database
• De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Rowing 1900". Accessed 26 February 2006. Available electronically at http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/row1900.html .
• Book: Mallon, Bill . 1998 . The 1900 Olympic Games, Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary . McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers . Jefferson, North Carolina . 0-7864-0378-0 . registration .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rowing at the 1900 Paris Summer Games . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417062530/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1900/ROW/ . dead . 17 April 2020 . Sports Reference . 22 July 2018.
2. Rowing at the 1900 Paris Summer Games: Men's Coxed Pairs. https://web.archive.org/web/20200418132602/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1900/ROW/mens-coxed-pairs.html. dead. 18 April 2020. 6 August 2018 .
3. Web site: Why do we race 2000m? The history behind the distance . . 4 August 2018 . 1 May 2017.
4. Despite information from some sources (DutchNews), the IOC continues to attribute this medal to Mixed Team, as it must be shown in the IOC database (IOC-DB-1, IOC-DB-2).
5. Brockmann was the coxswain for the Dutch team in the semifinal, but not in the final, in which an unknown French boy participated as coxswain. Brockmann is considered a gold medalist by the IOC and is listed in that organization's medal database.
6. The unknown cox may have been 12-year-old Giorgi Nikoladze of modern day Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire), future scientist and founder of Shevardeni Society, according to research by Dr Paata Natsvlishvili, Georgia NOC foundation member; however this research is not convincing (Histoire secrète du sport, François Thomazeau, La Découverte, 2019.).
7. Due to wrangling about who would be allowed to compete in the coxed four final, two finals were held for that competition. Both finals are considered Olympic championships by the International Olympic Committee.
8. The German team changed the coxswain after the semi-final. Gustav Moths participated only in the semi-final and Max Ammermann participated in the final. However, the IOC medal database credits the bronze medal only to Gustav Moths.
9. Web site: This Boy Might Be the Youngest Ever Olympian—No One Knows Who He Is. The Wall Street Journal. August 10, 2019.
10. Book: Kamper, Erich . Mallon . Bill . The Golden Book of the Olympic Games . 1992 . Vallardi & Associati . Milan . 978-88-85202-35-1 .
11. ROWING AT THE GAMES OF THE 2ND OLYMPIAD, PARIS 1900. Tony. Bijkerk. Journal of Olympic History. 5. 1. Spring 1997. I want to state that in my humble opinion this young boy might still be one of the youngest gold-medal winners in the Olympic Games ever, but he is certainly not younger than 12 to 14 years old, as can be deducted from the enclosed photograph. ...nothing can be found about the ages from the coxes from the French rowing teams in Paris 1900. I am quite certain that when the age from these boys could be found, they must have been even younger than the one in the Dutch boat; who had already been discarded because of his weight!.
12. Was the "Unknown French Boy" in 1900 actually from Georgia?. Paata. Natsvlishvili. Journal of Olympic History. 24. 3. 2016.
13. Web site: Olympic World Library. GIORGI NIKOLADZE: "UNKNOWN FRENCH BOY". Paata. Natsvlishvili. Georgian Sports Journalists Association. Tbilisi, Georgia. 2016.