Petition urging FISA to preserve lightweight rowing

It's not about giving the little guys a chance, that's not a good enough reason.  Most olympic level lightweights could be competitive in the heavyweight category anyway if they didn't have to make weight.

The reason people want to keep/promote lightweight rowing is because the playing field is level, so the racing is close and exciting.  The lightweight four has also had a huge variety of winning countries, always in close finishing races. Unlike the heavyweight four which has been won by the same nation for the past 5 olympics in un exciting races by comparison (1-2 crews in contention) this is because and as soon as there's a strong four the other nations target the eights or pairs.

If you want gender equality and better racing then get rid of the men's heavy four.  The competition in the pair and eight will be much tighter as a result and there is already no women's for event.