At a time when rowing has become part of Norway’s national identity, one of the Norwegian champions of the sport suddenly collapsed and died this week. Olaf Tufte, who’d even led a recent public session of simulated rowing in Oslo to cheer on the national football team, was rushed to hospital but died on Tuesday at the age of 50.
“Tufte brought enormous athletic joy to us as a nation,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told Norwegian media after Tufte’s family released news of his sudden death. Tufte had been found unconscious at the family’s farm in Horten south of Oslo around 3pm on Monday afternoon and attempts to revive him failed. He was flown by helicopter to Norway’s National Hospital (Rikshospitalet) in Oslo but died Tuesday morning.
Tributes and condolences continue to pour in for Tufte, who took part in seven Summer Olympics over a period of 25 years, from Atlanta in 1996 to Tokyo in 2021, when he was 45 years old. He collected two Olympic gold medals, one silver and a bronze along the way, also won numerous World Championships (gold in 2001 and 2003) and both inspired and trained with athletes in other sports including cycling.
“We inspired each other,” said Norway’s cycling champion Thor Hushovd. “We were both involved in two individual sports, so we learned from one another and shared experiences. He was always a very hard-working guy, so this (Tufte’s death) comes just way too early.”
Tufte was active in a wide range of sports as a child in Horten, but began rowing in earnest at age 17, long before it became a symbol of Norway’s participation at the football World Cup this summer. He became a member of the local rowing club Horten Roklubb and debuted a year later at the junior World Championships in Munich in 1994. That led to his long Olympic career, during which he won gold in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008.
After his Olympic triumphs he continued to compete in various other events, not least on national television programs including NRK’s Mesternes mester (the “Champions’ champion”) and TV2’s 71’Nord, where he also won. Meanwhile he and his wife Aina operated and expanded the family farm in Horten, Tufte Gård, where they also arranged teambuilding events, conferences, weddings and other celebrations. They also launched a beer-brewing operation and Olaf Tufte built up a clothing line, Tufte Wear.
He was known as urging people to “work hard, be healthy,” adding to the shock and sheer irony that someone as seemingly physically fit as he was could suddenly collapse and die. His family reported that there were no witnesses to his collapse and no sign of any work-related accident. Emergency health care professionals arrived at the farm quickly, according to the family, and launched life-saving efforts before he was flown to the National Hospital in Oslo. Cause of death was pending. Tufte is survived by his wife and two children.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
