I rowed competitively from high school through graduate school; its excitement and athleticism greatly appealed to me.
Team rowing, also called crew, made its debut in a contest between Harvard and Yale in 1852. Crew was a sport in the first modern Olympics. The United States men, and more recently women, have won many gold medals.
Two types of rowing exist: sweep rowing, in which the athletes have one oar, and sculling, where each rower has two oars. Sweep rowing crews have one, two, or four pairs, with or without a coxswain. Naturally, an eight-person crew maintains the highest speed.
Crew makes extraordinary demands on its participants; according to physiologists, a 2,000-meter race burns as much energy as two successive games of basketball. Rowing uses a four-stroke system, which works the entire body. When watching the sport, look for teams who seem to show no effort; they are the ones who are working the hardest.
–Marco Bitran is the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of AI Exchange, an innovative investment management firm in Boston, which works with hedge funds and financial advisors.
Marco Bitran Boston 