Banyoles Banyoles Banyoles () is a city of 17,309 inhabitants (2006) located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain. The town is the capital of the Catalan "comarca" "Pla de l'Estany". Although an established industrial centre many of the inhabitants commute to nearby Girona (12 km to the south). Banyoles is most famous for the Lake of Banyoles, a natural lake located in a tectonic depression. It was the venue for the rowing events in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as well as the "negro of Banyoles", a controversial piece of taxidermy. With a superb natural environment for the practice
International Rowing Federation headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1922. FISA was the first international sports federation to join the Olympic movement. It has been on the Olympic program since the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. (The rowing events at the 1896 games were cancelled because of high winds). Each country that participates in rowing has a federation or governing body which belongs to the "FISA Congress". These federations (of which there are currently 153) have overall control of what FISA does. FISA decided in 1955 that only a united German team could compete at international rowing championships; this first applied to European Championships