A historic first for a South African rower on Boston’s iconic Head of Charles

BOSTON (AP) — Four South African rowers made history last weekend at Boston’s prestigious Head of Charles Regatta, becoming the country’s first people of color to compete internationally.

Their participation marks a multinational effort to expand access to one of the most elite and exclusive sports, dominated by white athletes, and open the 60-year-old regatta to a future with more diverse rowers.

Rowing originated among the British who colonized both South Africa and what is now the United States, but historically large portions of the populations who lived there have been excluded from recreation on the water.

In recent years, a network of supporters has brought together athletes from around the world in an effort that culminated in several firsts for representative athletes at the Charles Games. They include the first all-Black girls 8+ in the United States, the first Native American 4+, and the first Indigenous girls 4+. An 8+ is an 8-oar sweep boat with 8 athletes and a conductor to steer and direct the rowers, and a 4+ is a 4-oar sweep boat with a conductor.

Lwazi Tshebo Zwane, a 23-year-old who trains in Germiston, South Africa, east of Johannesburg, said he and his rowing friends are keenly aware that they are role models for young rowers.

“It takes a lot of effort to compete in this regatta,” said Zwane, who will compete in the Men’s Championship 4+ event. “There were a lot of pitfalls and a lot of barriers.”

Mr Zwane, who wore the colors of Western Cape Rowing, said the legacy of poverty and economic inequality resulting from apartheid in South Africa and other racist policies utilized in the United States “shapes and tells our story as one of violence, oppression and second-class”.

“We have a different story, but doing the work to get there is not easy,” he said of reframing false narratives.

It’s not a lack of talent, it’s a lack of access.

Foundation director Arshay Cooper said rowers in the United States and South Africa who are not white or from wealthy backgrounds face many of the same problems. That foundation was working to bring a crew of underrated players from the United States as well as a South African crew to Charles.

These include lack of access to waterways and skills such as swimming, and the cost of purchasing and storing equipment. Rowing shells alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

“There are structural limitations that are being ignored,” said Cooper, who joined America’s first all-black high school rowing team in Chicago in 1997. “Talent is everywhere, but there’s not a lot of access or opportunity.”

In both countries, some public schools that athletes of color are more likely to attend offer participation in some type of rowing program. However, the equipment is old and many of the coaches are beginners, making it difficult to compete with private schools that have more resources.

Modern rowing began in the 19th century in British schools such as Oxford and Cambridge and spread to elite American universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. These universities excluded people from working-class backgrounds who were not white or male.

A 2016 analysis by US Rowing found that the typical rower is often perceived as “white and from a suburban middle-class or upper-class community.” The NCAA’s 2021 study on gender and race in sports found that only 2% of female college rowers identify as Black, 5% as Hispanic, and 3% as Asian. The sport ranked third-lowest in diversity out of 45 sports surveyed by the NCAA.

“For most people of color, they’re the only people of color on this boat,” said Denise Aquino, a Filipino American and co-founder of Rowing in Color, a nonprofit podcast that organized Charles’ first all-Black female 8+ chief in 2022.

Cooper said the goal is to add a new face to the sport. Sometimes, such newcomers use their platform to highlight social issues. Last year, the regatta’s first four Indigenous athletes raced through the course with red hands painted on their oars and faces in honor of murdered and missing Indigenous women.

Aquino said he and his team have felt an added sense of urgency this year because of recent White House policies that have limited the government’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“We definitely feel that sense of fear, but we’re also going to do it anyway,” she said. “This means that young people and people of all ages will see these boats and not only resonate with them, but also feel the visibility and representation of this sport we all love.”

South Africa’s water connection

Coach Michael Ortrep said many of the college athletes he normally coaches in the southwestern coastal city of Cape Town make significant sacrifices just to get to the boathouse for practice. Most of them live in previously isolated inland settlements with unreliable public transport. Some had no trouble finding housing at all. One morning, he might receive a message from a group of rowers saying they can’t practice because of a gang warning or shooting in the neighborhood. Some of the money from Cooper’s foundation went toward paying for buses to bring the players to practice.

With Mr. Cooper’s support, the Ortlep Society grew from eight to 45 rowers in three years.

“We had rowers living in cafeterias for weeks at a time without food or accommodation. That’s common, it’s not uncommon,” Ortrep said.

Zwane, who first started rowing at the age of 14, said he takes several minibuses a day to get to Lake Victoria near Johannesburg.

The community rowing house where he prepares to race in Boston, one of many that dot the banks of the Charles River, is a far cry from the facilities he’s used to.

“Being in this environment is a little disorienting, because this is everyday life, a normal life for everyone. This is a luxury from my perspective and from a lot of kids who understand what it’s like to grow up from my place. If anything, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said. “Every day I go on the water, every day I leave here, every day I see a different view. … It’s always in the back of my mind that this is not normal for me, but it is normal for other people.”

“I think we’re lucky to have access to these spaces, but getting to those spaces has become more difficult than anything else.”