Nice visuals. Would be interesting to also see a chart of weight/height ratios (either BMI or just a simple ratio)

Does this smooth it? Because Id expect Taekwondo to have a sharp cutoff at weight classes. Like 80 kg is the heavyweight cutoff so Id expect a lot at 79 and 0 at 81.

The cox calls the strokes says it all.

As many have lodged there before.

“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.” - Methuselah

All we are is dust in the wind, dude.

I’m really curious the context in which this would be quoted in the media.

It's something I actually thought I had heard before. I'm BLM, Borderline Mongloid. I apologize

It’s such an easy look up? Why did you post so confidently if you didn’t know?

In some rowing classes the boats have a coxswain, usually shortened to cox. The cox doesn’t row, but calls the strokes, and they tend to be much lighter than the rowers. The lower blip on the chart shows the coxes

So still trying to ignore my questions which you couldn't answer.

Got it.

I think weight has a bigger impact than you might think. Unlike cycling as rowing is in water. Water will generate a significant amount of drag which constantly effects the boat and the heavier your boat is the more drag you will generate. Secondly unlike cycling rowing does not have constant power application, each stroke will have approx 1s of power application and 1s of recovery as the rower takes the next stroke. This means that while oars out of the water the boat is relying on momentum, so minimising drag is key to reducing the boat slowing in the period. Additionally more force will be required to accelerate the boat at the start of each stroke with more weight. Finally a rowers weight will significantly move within the boat on each stroke against the direction of travel of the boat. This will cause the boat to slow with more weight.

Some coaches will weight adjust everyone’s times off the water for their crew selection because of these factors.

I thought strength increases as r^2 and weight increases as r^3 so someone has to gain a lot of weight for harder and harder strength increases.

This graph of countries includes an “other” category for the reason many graphs/lists include “other” categories. It isn’t worth trying to find space for 16 more individual slices with tiny amounts. I don’t know why you’d expect to see anything that isn’t a country on any graph/list of countries.

Good idea :).

>The heavier you are the more power you need to produce to offset the extra weight (and therefore drag) you bring to the boat

Yes , but it's water and it's flat, not cycling uphill etc., this is easily compensated by how much easier it is to be powerful when you're heavier.

Rowing also favors size

I'd love to see all disciplines, both height and weight, and for both sexes.

Did I miss something?

gone with the wind stat is absolute fucking cap

everybody who watches NFL football knows it's in the endzone

Yes, it's totally not confirmation bias and hind sight

Rowing for men is separated into two categories: heavyweight and lightweight. Lightweight is when the average weight of the people in a boat is 70kg with a maximum of 72.5kg, anything above that is heavyweight.

You're at an advantage when you're big and tall in rowing but there is some variety, depending on the type of boat and the person's position in the boat. This can lead to some difference in weight within the heavyweight category. For example, in an 8 person boat ("an eight") you can have someone at the front of the boat ("bow") who can be relatively small and light compared to the group in the centre of the boat (positions 3, 4, 5, and 6). It wouldn't be unusual for men in these positions to be >100kg.

Rowing is definitely not about raw strength. Like any sport, there's plenty of nuance and technique. The smaller person you tend to see in films "calling the strokes" is a misrepresentation of the job a coxwain or "cox" does. They are not present in all boat types. When they are, they steer the boat, act like a second coach during training, call strategic pushes and provide encouragement/feedback during races. They don't call strokes, or at least they don't at any level beyond your first day in a boat if they do at all.

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On the rowing data, rowing has a light weight class that’s 72.5kg for men which explained the bulge in the middle. The minimum coxes weight is 55kg which explains the small bulge at the bottom as there is only one boat class that has coxes at the olympics.

The heavier you are the more power you need to produce to offset the extra weight (and therefore drag) you bring to the boat, where weight v height/power output can be accounted for. As Coaches evaluate weight v power for athlete selection, there is a wider distribution of weights for the heavier athletes.