Leander Club
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| Surname | Leander Club |
|---|---|
| sport | rowing |
| Club colors | pink |
| Founded | 1818 |
| Place of foundation | London |
| Association headquarters | Oxon, RG9 2LP, Henley-on-Thames |
| Members | around 3600 (as of 2014) |
| Chairman | Jeremy Randall |
| Homepage | http://www.leander.co.uk/ |
The Leander Club is a British sports club from Henley-on-Thames founded in 1818 . Today it is the fourth oldest and largest rowing club in the world and, according to its own statements, with 123 Olympic medals (after the 2016 Rio Games ) one of the most successful sports clubs worldwide.
history
Modern rowing developed particularly at the beginning of the 19th century in London on the "Tideway" (part of the Thames affected by the tides ). Four amateur clubs "The Arrow", "The Star", "The Shark" and "The Siren" dominated the action at the time, and the Leander Club was founded in 1818 on the Tideway from the first two. Within a few years of its founding, the Leander Club became a successful rowing club in the London rowing scene, while at the same time becoming a popular social meeting place.
Initially the number of members was limited to 16, later 25 and 35 respectively. It was not until almost 40 years after it was founded that the association removed the membership restriction. Membership for women has only been possible since 1998. The continued receipt of funding from the British Government's Sports Council required this opening at the time.
The club's first boathouse was believed to be on the south bank of the Thames in the London Borough of Lambeth on the site of today's St Thomas' Hospital (across from the Palace of Westminster ). In 1860 the club moved to the Putney Bridge area , where numerous other rowing clubs already had their boathouses. A tent was maintained there for a few years before the then four-year-old London Rowing Club bought the property in 1864 and built the house that is still there today. The Leander Club remained in the immediate vicinity and built a permanent house in 1866. The Leander Club has been located at its current location in Henley-on-Thames , where the highly regarded and annual Henley Royal Regatta takes place, since 1897. The base in London remained until 1961, but quickly became less important than the new club headquarters in Henley.
The Leander Club is now one of the largest and most influential clubs in the British Rowing Association . Until 2012, he had the right to send members directly to the supreme body of the British Rowing Association in addition to the Thames Rowing Club , London Rowing Club , Oxford University Rowing Club and Cambridge University Rowing Club . All other British clubs had to send delegates through regional associations.
Sporting successes
The Leander Club has always had a very active and successful group of rowers in its ranks who have won 111 Olympic medals so far (as of 2012). The club regularly represents a large proportion of the British national team at rowing world championships . As early as the 1830s, the Leander rowers competed with competitors from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and later also with the other major London clubs. In the early years of the modern Summer Olympics Leander provided numerous British boats and was able to achieve some medal successes. In 1908, for example, they won the Olympic gold medal in eighth at their own location .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Membership. Leander Club, accessed November 5, 2014 .
- ^ Committee: Our aims. Our people. Leander Club, accessed November 5, 2014 .
- ↑ Leander athletes at London 2012. Leander Club, accessed November 5, 2014 .
- ↑ Ian Chadband: London 2012 Olympics: Leander aims for gold as rowing club is one short of 100 medals. The Daily Telegraph , February 25, 2011, accessed November 5, 2014 .
- ↑ Sport, ancient and modern; Pastimes: Rowing. Retrieved November 5, 2014 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 32 '17 " N , 0 ° 53' 57" W.