Olympic rowing great Olaf Tufte who competed at seven Summer Games has died at age 50

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Olympic rowing great Olaf Tufte, who competed at seven straight Summer Games and won two gold medals, has died. He was aged 50.

Norwegian media reported a statement by Tufte’s family on Tuesday that he was found unconscious at their farm and died at a hospital in Oslo. He is survived by his wife and two children.

“Tufte brought immense joy through sport to us as a nation,” Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in a statement. “He was one of Norway’s greatest sporting heroes, a decorated Summer Olympian, one of the finest rowers we have ever had, and a great role model to many.”

The two-time champion in single sculls competed at each Summer Games from Atlanta in 1996 through the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021. He won back-to-back titles at Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. In double sculls, Tufte took silver in Sydney in 2000 and bronze in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro.

“He closed out his competitive career at the Tokyo Olympics at age 45, rowing in the men’s quadruple sculls alongside teammates young enough to have been born after his own Olympic debut,” World Rowing said in a statement. “The veteran mentor, still on the water, still leading by example.”

Tufte also was in Paris for the 2024 Paralympic Games and coached Birgit Skarstein to a silver medal in single sculls.

“Alongside his rowing, Tufte ran the family farm, worked as a volunteer firefighter, and built businesses including a concrete company, the clothing brand Tufte Wear and a brewery,” World Rowing said.

The governing body cited a quote from Tufte who once said: “I’m not made for resting. I need to do other stuff otherwise I get bored.”