Olaf Tufte - Our "Master" of the Games

Author: Sam Hudson

The Olympics – an event for all ages

In Tokyo this year, Skateboarding had athletes as young as 12 winning medals, and Equestrian has an athlete of 62 years of age competing and winning a team silver and an individual bronze. South Africa’s oldest athlete was 46-year-old Dallas Oberholzer, who made his Olympic Debut in the Men’s Park Skateboarding.

It really is a celebration of sports globally and is one of the many reasons I absolutely love the Games!

Rowing is a sport for dreamers

Rowing is a sport for dreamers. As long as you put in the work, you can own the dream.

This is such a wonderful quote and each athlete who rowed in Tokyo has owned and lived this dream for the past 5 years. I love this sport and admire all the athletes who have made it to this global showpiece and gave it their all! They all put in the work, but sadly there are only 14 gold medals up for grabs!

Olaf Tufte – A rowing master of the Games

Olaf Karl Tufte is one of the most famous and loved athletes in the rowing community. He was born 27 April 1976 in Tønsberg, Norway. Olaf started rowing at age 17 and quickly displayed an aptitude for the sport.

This year he competed in his 7th Olympic Games in Tokyo. In his career, Olaf has won 2 gold medals; a silver; and a bronze, and this year - at 45 years old – he came 9th in the quad. For some perspective, Olaf competed in his first Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. This was before Stefanos Ntouskos (this year’s single scull gold medalist) was born.

A tribute to Olaf Tufte

Most of what has been said is about his enormous personality. He set a whole new standard in rowing. He’s been doing this for 25 years, with an extreme focus on self-discipline, but also with funny comments. He shows all young people how to do it and is always there.

His absolute love and dedication for the sport is deeply admired around the world. He has committed close to 25 years of his life to perform at the highest level, and it has been an honour to witness this through the years. He has helped groom the next generation of rowers in Norway and they look to be having so much fun in the process.

Olaf, we don’t know what your next step in rowing is, however, we can safely say that there will always be a space for you and your passion in our masters rowing community. We look forward to you joining us whenever that may be!