There are several records of rowing and rowing regattas in different places and islands of Dalmatia dating from the 16th to the 19th century. They were mostly commemorative regattas marking important anniversaries or religious ceremonies, and they took place spontaneously or under the influence of the Venetian regatta tradition. The systematic development of rowing as a sport in Croatia began at the end of the 19th century. The first rowing clubs/societies/sections were founded in Zagreb (in 1872, 1875), Osijek (in 1870, 1879) and Zadar (in 1885), and later on in other places on the Adriatic coast (Rijeka, Split, Crikvenica, Dubrovnik, Šibenik) and in several cities in the continental area (Karlovac, Vukovar, Slavonski Brod). At the same time, several Italian rowing clubs were founded in Poreč, Pula, Rovinj, Rijeka and Zadar. They regularly participated in Italian rowing competitions. Standing out at that time is the men’s eight bronze medal won under the Italian flag at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris by rowers from Diadora Zadar Rowing Club (Vjekoslav Miler, Carlo Toniatti, Šime Katalinić, Petar Ivanov, Josip Krivelić, Viktor Ljubić, Bruno Sorić, and Latino Galešić).
On the initiative of Croatian rowing clubs, the Yugoslav Rowing Federation was founded in 1922, and the first national rowing championships were held in 1923. The Croatian Rowing Association was founded within the Banovina of Croatia and the first Croatian Rowing Championships were held in 1939. The Rowing Association of Croatia was founded in 1948. It became a member of the World Rowing Federation (FISA) in 1992, and has been operating under the name the Croatian Rowing Federation since 1993.
After the Second World War, rowing started to achieve continuous success. Standing out among the greatest successes were the men’s coxless four gold medal at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki won by members of Gusar Rowing Club from Split (Duje Bonačić, Velimir Valenta, Mate Trojanović and Petar Šegvić) and the men’s coxed pair bronze medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow (Duško Mrduljaš, Zlatko Celent and coxswain Josip Reić). In the period since 1991, after Croatia gained its independence, rowing has been one of the most decorated Croatian sports with 8 Olympic medals, of which 3 Olympic gold medals (up to and including the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris) and 18 world championships medals, of which 7 gold medals (up to and including the 2023 World Championships in Belgrade). Brothers Valent and Martin Sinković won three Olympic gold medals: at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (double sculls), the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo (coxless pairs) and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris (coxless pairs).