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Rowing has produced some of the great stories of recent Olympics - none more dramatic than the progression from hero to legend of Britain's Steve Redgrave.

Redgrave began his Olympic career in 1988 with a bronze medal in the coxed pair. In the next five Games he won five gold medals, making him Great Britain's greatest Olympian and one of the greatest in Olympic history.

In Beijing, Australia's James Tomkins will be hoping to write himself into Olympic folklore.

Tomkins has competed at the past four Games and has so far won three gold medals and a bronze at Sydney. Though he cannot match Redgrave, a fourth triumph in Beijing would make Tomkins one of Australia's true Olympic greats.

This is a remarkable enough feat in itself, but to have achieved it from a society which regards such sports as rowing as little more than a novelty, is truly amazing.

Rowing has long been a popular Australian sport. Amateur rowing races stretch back almost as far as colonisation and by the second half of the 19th century a lucrative professional league was being run.

This league, conducted on the Parramatta River, regularly drew more than 100,000 spectators.

Rowing was overtaken by other sports in the second half of the 20th century, but is experiencing a renaissance of late.

More than 50,000 people are now involved in the sport around Australia as members of more than 250 rowing clubs.

Much of this expansion can be sheeted back to Australia's success in rowing over recent Olympic campaigns. In 1992 Australia won gold medals in the men's double and men's quad sculls.

The medal haul in Atlanta was even more impressive. Two gold, one silver and three bronze medals made Australia the most successful nation at the regatta.

In 2000, there was no gold on home water for the Australians, but they still won three silver and two bronze medals and four years ago the team returned from Athens with a gold, a silver and two bronze medals.

In both Barcelona and Atlanta, the Oarsome Foursome were at the forefront for Australia, winning gold at both Games.

In doing so, they became household names and began their own marketing phenomenon.

The gold medals won in Barcelona were Australia's first since 1948 when Merv Wood won the single sculls event in London.

Wood is one of Australia's most distinguished Olympians.

A police officer, he also won a silver in 1952 and a bronze in 1956 and is the only Australian to have carried the Australian flag in two opening ceremonies - Helsinki in 1952 and Melbourne in 1956.

His career would have been even more impressive had it not been interrupted by World War II, during which he would have been at his peak.

Yet even Wood's achievements are eclipsed by those of his predecessor, Bobby Pearce, winner of the gold medal in the singles sculls at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics.

In doing so, he became the first Australian to win gold at successive Games and was the only rower to win the event twice in the years before World War II.

Pearce turned professional after his second gold medal triumph and remained undefeated until his retirement in 1945.

Rowing itself has been on the program for every Modern Olympics, although it did not make its debut until 1900.

The regatta in Athens in 1896 had to be cancelled because waves on the Bay of Phaleron were so big that crews could not reach the start line.

In Paris in 1900 rowing debuted on a 1,750m course and was subsequently tried over four different distances.

However, in 1992 2,000m was settled on as the definitive distance for both men and women.

Women joined the rowing program in 1976 and today compete in six of the 14 events.

Olympic rowing has also featured a touch of both Hollywood and Royalty, indirectly at least.

John Kelly, father of movie star Grace Kelly, who later became Princess Grace of Monaco, won both the single and double sculls at the 1920 Games.

His son John junior competed in four Olympic campaigns and was among the favourites when Merv Wood won his gold medal in London in 1948.

Of course, rowing's history dates back well before the times of the Modern Olympics. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Vikings and Romans all developed rowing as a form of transport and it was used by South Sea Islanders to colonise many of the islands of the South Pacific.

Rowing as a sport is thought to have begun on the Thames in London in the 19th century.

Men earned a living rowing back and forth across the River and supplemented these earnings by taking part in match races against each other.