LEGEND LOST

Gold Medal-Winning Olympic Icon Dies at 50

The rower won back-to-back gold medals in 2004 and 2008.

Norwegian rowing icon Olaf Tufte, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has died at the age of 50. Tufte’s family said he was found unconscious at the family’s farm and later died at a hospital in Oslo on Tuesday. The cause of death was not made public. Tufte was regarded as one of Norway’s greatest Olympians, winning back-to-back gold medals in the single sculls at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also captured silver in the double sculls at the 2000 Sydney Games and bronze in the same event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He competed in every Summer Olympics from Atlanta in 1996 through to the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, retiring at age 45. “Tufte brought immense joy through sport to us as a nation,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in a statement, calling him “one of Norway’s greatest sporting heroes.” Away from rowing, Tufte coached Paralympic silver medalist Birgit Skarstein, ran his family’s farm, volunteered as a firefighter, and founded the clothing brand Tufte Wear. He is survived by his wife and two children.