The rowing world is in mourning. Olympic skiff champion at the Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008) editions, Olaf Tufte died at the age of 50. In the last years of his life, he had worked as a fireman and on his family’s farm.
The former athlete was found unconscious at his farm. The Norwegian was transported by plane to a hospital in Oslo, where he was pronounced dead. His family announced on Tuesday that Olaf Tufte had passed away, but did not provide details on the causes of death.
The disappearance of the former rower caused a wave of shock in the Scandinavian country. “Tufte offered our country countless moments of sporting joy. He was one of Norway’s greatest sporting heroes, a decorated Olympian countless times, one of the best rowers I have ever known and a role model for many. I send my sincerest condolences to his family and loved ones“, said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
The president of the Norwegian Rowing Federation, Frank Ove Reite, paid tribute to Tufte both as a sportsman and as a man: “Olaf was an exceptional family man, a wonderful person and an unparalleled sportsman. It’s still hard for us to realize what happened. It is a shock to the entire Norwegian rowing community. We can’t find words“.
Olaf Tufte was born on April 27, 1976, in Tønsberg, Vestfold, Norway. He practiced rowing successfully, winning four Olympic medals, including two gold medals in singles (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008), one silver in double rowing (Sydneu 2000) and one bronze, also in double rowing (Rio 2016). He participated in six editions of the Olympic Games. His last participation in the Olympic Games took place in Tokyo in 2021, a testament to his impressive longevity. He was world singles champion in 2001 and 2003, achieving four other podium finishes.
Outside of competition he was a grain grower on the family farm and a firefighter.
n const _iprc = performance.now();nu003C/script>nnu003Cscript class=”optanon-category-C0004″ type=”text/plain”>nconsole.log(“*** cookieconsent done:”, Math.round(performance.now() – _iprc) / 1000);n gtag(‘event’, ‘cookieconsent’, {n name: ‘load’,n value: Math.round(performance.now() – _iprc) / 1000n });nu003C/script>nu003C!– END PERFORMANCE COOKIE PRO –>nn{{#unless context.ads_disabled}}nnu003Cscript class=”optanon-category-C0004″ type=”text/plain” src=”//a.teads.tv/page/99553/tag” async=”true”>u003C/script>n{{/unless}}nnu003Cdiv data-ad=”adevarul.ro_728x90_sticky_display_bottom_adevarul_bottom_center_leaderboard” data-devices=”m:0,t:1,d:1″ class=”demand-supply”>u003C/div>nn{{#if context.content}}nn{{#unless context.ads_disabled}}nu003Cscript class=”optanon-category-C0004″ type=”text/plain” src=”https://cnt.trvdp.com/js/1544/6545.js”>u003C/script>n{{/unless}}nnn{{/if}}nnn”,”html_mobile”:”nnnu003C!– CHECK PERFORMANCE COOKIE PRO –>nu003Cscript>n const _iprc = performance.now; – _iprc) / 1000n });nu003C/script>nu003C!– END PERFORMANCE COOKIE PRO –>nn{{#unless context.ads_disabled}}nnnu003Cscriptn class=”optanon-category-C0004″n type=”text/plain”n src=”//a.teads.tv/page/99553/tag”n async=”true”n>u003C/script>nn{{/unless}} nnu003Cdivn data-ad=”adevarul.ro_sticky_mobile_bottom”n data-devices=”m:1,t:0,d:0″n class=”demand-supply”n>u003C/div>nn{{#if context.content}} nnn{{#unless context.ads_disabled}}nu003Cscript class=”optanon-category-C0004″ type=”text/plain” src=”https://cnt.trvdp.com/js/1544/6545.js”>u003C/script>n{{/unless}}nn{{/if}}nn”},”updated_at”:”2025-11-01T11:3 1:21.462Z”},”AdPosition_head”:{“data”:{“custom_fields”:{},”for_desktop”:true,”for_mobile”:true,”html_desktop”:”u003Cmeta name=”profitshareid” content=”934cd37887433d585a2a227ef0576fcc” />nnnn{{#unless context.ads_disabled}}nnn{{#if context.content}}nu003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″ src=”https://jsc.mgid.com/site/960965.js” async>u003C/script>nnnu003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″>n (function () {n if (document.location.pathname.indexOf(“https://adevarul.ro/ghid-de-cumparaturi”) === 0) {n return;n }nn const s = document.createElement(“script”);n s.src = “https://srv.divee.ai/storage/v1/object/public/sdk/divee.sdk.latest.js”;n s.setAttribute(“data-project-id”, “4428864e-2da6-4fef-a83c-c16c2dfe86d9”);n s.async = true;n document.head.appendChild(s);n })();nu003C/script>nnnnnn{{/if}}nnu003Cscript>n window.teads_analytics = window.teads_analytics || {};n window.teads_analytics.analytics_tag_id = “PUB_26459″;n window.teads_analytics.share = window.teads_analytics.share || function() {n ;(window.teads_analytics.shared_data = window.teads_analytics.shared_data || ()).push(arguments)n };nu003C/script>nu003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″ src=”https://a.teads.tv/analytics/tag.js”>u003C/script>nnn{{#unless context.features.nolivesupply}}nu003Cscript async data-cfasync=”false” type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″ src=”https://live.demand.supply/up.js”>u003C/script>n{{/unless}}nnu003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″ src=”https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3345426167175409″ crossorigin=”anonymous”>u003C/script>nn u003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″ src=”https://terrific.live/terrific-sdk.js” storeid=”iN6X0VPTDIicsVPKX6p0″>u003C/script>nn{{/unless}}nnu003Cstyle>n.google-adposition > div {n flex-grow: 1;n}nn.google-adposition:has(iframe) {n background-image: none !important;n}nn.menu-fixed .menu .headContainer .google-auto-placed {n display: none;n}nnarticle header .title .google-auto-placed {n display: none;n}nn#onetrust-banner-sdk #onetrust-accept-btn-handler {n margin-bottom: 10px;n }nn #onetrust-banner-sdk #onetrust-reject-all-handler {n visibility: hidden;n }nnu003C/style>nn u003C!– Facebook Pixel Code –>u003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0002″>!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f.fbq)f.push=n;n.loaded=!0; n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’); fbq(‘init’, ‘1346397800155390’); fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);u003C/script>u003Cnoscript> u003Cimg height=”1″ width=”1″ src=”https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1346397800155390&ev=PageView&noscript=1″/>u003C/noscript>u003C!– End Facebook Pixel Code –>nnu003C!– alternativeAds –>n”,”html_mobile”:”u003Cmeta name=”profitshareid” content=”934cd37887433d585a2a227ef0576fcc” />nnn{{#unless context.ads_disabled}}nn{{#if context.content}}nu003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″ src=”https://jsc.mgid.com/site/960965.js” async>u003C/script>nnu003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″>n (function () {n if (document.location.pathname.indexOf(“https://adevarul.ro/ghid-de-comparaturi”) === 0) {n return;n }nn const s = document.createElement(“script”);n s.src = “https://srv.divee.ai/storage/v1/object/public/sdk/divee.sdk.latest.js”;n s.setAttribute(“data-project-id”, “4428864e-2da6-4fef-a83c-c16c2dfe86d9”);n s.async = true;n document.head.appendChild(s);n })();nu003C/script>nn{{/if}}nnu003Cscript>n window.teads_analytics = window.teads_analytics || {};n window.teads_analytics.analytics_tag_id = “PUB_26459″;n window.teads_analytics.share = window.teads_analytics.share || function() {n ;(window.teads_analytics.shared_data = window.teads_analytics.shared_data || ()).push(arguments)n };nu003C/script>nu003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″ src=”https://a.teads.tv/analytics/tag.js”>u003C/script>nn{{#unless context.features.nolivesupply}}nu003Cscript async data-cfasync=”false” type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″ src=”https://live.demand.supply/up.js”>u003C/script>n{{/unless}}nnu003Cscript type=”text/plain” class=”optanon-category-C0004″ src=”https://terrific.live/terrific-sdk.js” storeid=”iN6X0VPTDIicsVPKX6p0″>u003C/script>nn{{/unless}}nu003Cstyle>nn.google-adposition:has(iframe) {n background-image: none !important;n}nn.menu-fixed .menu .headContainer .google-auto-placed {n display: none;n}nnarticle header .title .google-auto-placed {n display: none;n}nn#onetrust-banner-sdk #onetrust-accept-btn-handler {n margin-bottom: 10px;n }nn #onetrust-banner-sdk #onetrust-reject-all-handler {n visibility: hidden;n }nu003C/style>n”},”updated_at”:”2026-07-22T15:44:05.196Z”}},”last_changed”:”2026-07-22T23:37:21.085Z”,”page”:{“created_at”:”2025-11-07T07 :21:20.397Z”,”created_by”:1,”custom_fields”:{},”domain”:”adevarul.ro”,”id”:99,”last_published_at”:”2025-11-07T07:21:23.058Z”,”name”:”Content layout (article)”,”published”:1,”s3_hash”:”a5e0764cf3bce051367545eab1538b4619e8ecb9″,”slug”:null,”title”:”Content layout”,”type”:”layout”,”updated_at”:”2022-07-21T08:27:20.732Z”,”version_id”:267},”path”:”/sport/a-great-champion-of-rowing-olaf-tufte-was-25 45040.html”,”pathArray”:(“”,”sport”,”a great-rowing-champion-olaf-tufte-was-2545040.html”),”type”:”content”,”url”:”https://adevarul.ro/spor t/a-great-rowing-champion-olaf-tufte-was-2545040.html”,”features”:{},”query”:{},”domain_config”:{“MISC”:{“logo”:{“width”:320,”height”:50}}, “SYSTEM_TAGS”:(“noads”,”nocomments”,”sex”,”advert”,”advertorial”,”video”,”gallery”,”live”,”photo”,”exclusive”,”analysis”,”interview”,”report”,”breaking news”),”default”:{“lang”:”ro”,”domain”:”adevarul.ro”,”alternateDomain”:”adevarul-ro.adh.reperio.news”,”friendlyName”:”Adevărul”,”logoURL”:”https://adevarul.ro/favicon-144-precomposed.png”}},”client”:{“is_mobile”:false}}
