History of Romanian rowing dates from the nineteenth century. In 1864, when a group of young students from Timisoara in Western Romania, returned from abroad, they had completed their studies and founded for pleasure the society of little traditional boats, Regatta. Here they practiced rowing as a pastime.

In the beginning, the difficulties were many and the rudimentary boats that they had were stored in a wooden shed on the bank of the Bega channel. Between 1910 and 1912, a pavilion was constructed that still hosts the local rowing clubs. In 1879, the Gymnastics Society in Arad was founded and in 1890, the activity of the club expanded to include a rowing section marking the first official rowing club in Romania.

In the same year, another club in Arad, Muresul Club, opened its doors to the rowing enthusiasts. World War I interrupted the rowing activity in Romania for several years and resumed again in 1918 as one of the most popular sports among young people.

The first National Rowing Championship was organized by the Muresul Club in 1923 and took place in Arad. The event triggered a national phenomenon and new clubs were created to accommodate the large number of rowing fans. In 1926, one of these clubs, the Hellas Sport Club was the first to welcome women to rowing.

In 1925, the Commission for Nautical Sports was founded as a member of the Sport Societies of Romania and in 1927 officially joined FISA. In 1931, the Commission for Nautical Sports was renamed and relocated to Bucharest. The popularization of rowing continued and more then twenty new clubs opened during the period of 1928-1938.
During the World War II, rowing sojourned but quickly resumed in 1945 with the revival of the annual national championships. In 1950, specialized athletic schools started to appear and scouts began nationwide searches for athletic young pupils to enroll in elite development programs.

The first Romanian participation in an official international competition was in 1932 at the European Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Romania took part in the Olympic Games for first time in Helsinki-1952 with it's men's eight. The first gold medal was won at the European Championships in Gand-1955 in the men's quadruple sculls with the crew: Stefan Pongracz, Anton Senceac, Stefan Somogyi and Rady Nicolae.

In 1962, at the European Championships in Grunay, the four with coxswain comprised of Ana Tamao, Emilia Rigard, Florica Ghiuzelea, Lia Bulugioiu and Stefania Borisov were the first to win a women's gold medal.

The first Olympic gold medal was won at the Moscow Games in 1980 and since then the Romanian team has not missed an Olympic Games without a winning a medal. Today, the Romanian team is established as one of the leading powers in the rowing world with strong traditions in the women's events.