Olympic Rowing has beenaround since the very end of the 19th century. It was scheduled forthe 1896 Olympics, but the water conditions and the windy weather prevented theevent from taking place. The Paris Summer Olympics of 1900 were much more accommodating,and rowing has been part of every Summer Olympic schedule ever since. Women'srowing was presented for the first time at the Montreal Summer Games in 1976.  

One of the oldestcompetitive sports has spotlighted some of the youngest athletes to compete inthe Olympics. The winning Dutch crew in the coxed pair event losttheir heat and decided that their coxswain weighed too much. They asked a 7-year-old French boy to take his place, steer the boat and win the medal. The name ofthe boy has escaped the history books, but he is believed to be the youngestOlympic medalist ever. 92 years later, Spain's coxswain, Carlos Front, was only11 when he became the second youngest Olympic athlete.

Perhaps one of the mostfamous rowers of all time was JB Kelly, an Olympic gold medalist. He was the fatherof Princess Grace of Monaco, and grandfather of the reigning Prince Albert II.Kelly was banned from the competitions at the Henley Royal Regatta. He wasturned away because of his profession as a bricklayer. The rules of the AmateurRowing Association were strict regarding the rowing competitors. Manual workerswere banned from competition, so Kelly's application to compete was rejected.

He had his heart set onskipping the Olympics and representing England at the Henley competitions thatyear. After his application to compete at Henley was rejected, Kelly went on torepresent the US at the 1920 Summer Games at Antwerp, Belgium. Revenge tastedvery sweet for Kelly as he won the gold by narrowly beating out his Britishcompetitor. He supposedly mailed his racing cap to England's King George V andincluded a note that read, "Greetings from a bricklayer."