Rowing – Only for skinny men?!

For London 2012, the Rowing competition will be held on the spectacular lake: Eton Dorney. Rowing has been staged at every Games since making its debut at the Olympics programme in Paris in 1900.

In London there will be 550 rowers competing for 14 medal events, 353 men and 197 women. Watch a clip of rowing London 2012.

The Olympic Rowing events have eight types of boats and it range from the Single Sculls, featuring solo rowers, to the Eights, contested by teams of eight rowers plus a cox.

The Vikings have always gained great results in rowing, which makes sense as Denmark holds the sea all around it. It started back in 1912 with winning gold and the latest result were bronze in 2008, of course there have been some years where we did not achieved any medals.

A Danish Viking ship

Eight Danes has already obtained a qualification for the 2012 Olympics. The last six rowers waiting will be decided at the Olympics qualification takes place in Switzerland the 20^th- 23^th of May.

Eskild Ebbesen sitting across the bar from me with his medal in 2008

For me the most interesting and successful rower is the 39-year-old Eskild Ebbesen. Checkout his own website..

Ebbesen has attended the Olympics in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, all of them was at the four person rowers ´guld firen.´ He is also the only person who has been in the boat since 1996. Three of the Olympics gave gold but in year 2000 they only received bronze. The four-rower, is already qualified for the 2012.

The four sculls competition

The other rowers all fighting for seats on the boat with Ebbesen over the winter are:

- Morten Jørgensen (Olympics-gold 2008, overall world cup winner and World Cup silver 2009)

- Kasper Winther Jørgensen (overall World Cup winner and World Cup silver 2009)

- Jens Vilhelmsen (overall World Cup winner and World Cup silver 2009)

- Christian Place Pedersen (overall World Cup winner and World Cup silver 2009)

- Jacob Barsøe (won the European championship silver with the Eight sculls in 2010)

The two female rowers Juliane Elander Rasmussen and Anne Lolk Thomsen qualified to the Olympics in September 2011 at the world championship in a doubles sculls.

Good luck to the rest of our rowers in Switzerland in May 2012!!

Me kissing the four Sculls gold medal