Image Credit: World Rowing
How do you define greatness? A mind-bending feat that surpasses expectation and rationality? A moment of authentic surprise that inverts the weight of pressing odds? Or perhaps an incision in the linear unfurling of your heart?
In sport, we are quick to anoint greatness upon each other. A performance that impresses us is often bestowed the virtue of greatness before it can even truly be understood. It is easy to attach brilliance onto bravery and boldness but sometimes the two should not be conflated. True greatness should combine mastery, magnanimity and more than a hint of magic.
The Olympic Games is our ultimate magic show. A procession of truly elite talent, operating at the pinnacle of their sport and thrust forward into a limelight fostered by four years of relative translucency. These two weeks are stitched into the very fabric of competition, dating back to the lore of Ancient Greece, and have transcended the politics of modern society to become the ultimate marker in sporting excellence. To win Olympic Gold gives you immortality of a rare and timeless specification – your story will be perpetuated forevermore, carried forward by the whispers of generations to come, who too aim to climb those sacred steps and join this club of champions. Emerging over the horizon, this time in the blue and red hue of palatial Paris, we are ready for the very fastest in rowing to be crowned.
Step forward, my friends – The Olympic Games have come.
The Stats
Country
Germany
Crew Names
Oliver Zeidler
Age
27 years
Olympic Record
Seventh in the M1X at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games
2024 Competitive Record
World Rowing Cup 1: 1st (M1X)
World Rowing Cup 2: 2nd (M1X)
World Rowing Cup 3: N/A
European Championships: 1st (M1X)
Other: Diamond Challenge Sculls, Henley Royal Regatta
The Profile
Zeidler has won the World Championships for three consecutive years, a feat only achieved by two other men, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand and Ondrej Synek of Czechia. He’s also won just about everything else there is to win in single sculling – with the exception of the Olympic Games. He struggled with the conditions in Tokyo and was disappointed to “only” finish in seventh. However, three years later and his well-publicised difficulties in rough water seem, mostly, behind him. He was only beaten once in 2023, losing in the final of the European championships to Lennart Van Lierop of the Netherlands, and 2021 Olympic Champion, Stefanos Ntouskos, of Greece. This season he has also only been beaten once, and it was by another Dutchman, Simon Van Dorp, who pushed Zeidler into silver at the Lucerne 2024 World Rowing Cup. Zeidler took the unusual step of competing at Henley Royal Regatta this season, whilst all his main rivals were on training camp, but he loves the Regatta, and the challenging conditions it can present. His win made him the first man since Seán Drea in 1975 to win three Diamond Challenge Sculls titles in a row. Should Zeidler accomplish his dream of winning gold in Paris, he will become the first German since Thomas Lange in 1992 to take the title.
About The Author
