Gold medals to be awarded: 14

Dates of competition: Aug. 9-17

In the Olympics, there are eight scull events (in which each rower uses two oars) and six sweep events (in which only one oar is used). But every race, no matter how many people are rowing or how many oars they are using, is 2,000 meters long.

Rowing is very much an international sport, with 11 different nations having divided the 14 gold medals in Athens. That group included New Zealand, Poland, Denmark and France.

The lone American gold in 2004 came in the prestigious men's eights. Romania has turned into a women's rowing power and that nation has won the eights in three straight Olympics. The Romanian team edged the United States women for the Athens gold.