UPDATED: At a time when rowing has become part of Norway’s national identity, one of Norway’s champions in the sport suddenly collapsed and died this week. Olaf Tufte, who recently even held a public rowing session in Oslo to cheer on the national football team, was rushed to hospital but died on Tuesday aged 50.
Olaf Tufte rowing at the 2015 World Championships. PHOTO: Wikipedia Commons
“Tufte brought great sporting joy to us as a nation,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told Norwegian media after Tufte’s family broke the news of his sudden death. Tafte was found unconscious on the family farm in Horten, south of Oslo, at around 3pm on Monday afternoon and attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. He was taken by helicopter to the Norwegian National Hospital. (National Hospital) in Oslo, but died on Tuesday morning after the hospital reported on Wednesday it was “acute heart failure”. Hospital officials said the family will receive more information based on the results of the autopsy that will be performed.
Tributes and condolences continue to pour in for Tufte, who competed in seven Summer Olympics in 25 years, from Atlanta in 1996 to Tokyo in 2021, when he was 45 years old. He has won two Olympic gold medals, one silver and one bronze, and has won numerous world championships (gold in 2001 and 2003), as well as inspiring and coaching athletes in other sports, including cycling.
“We inspired each other” – said Norwegian cycling champion Thor Hushovd. “We both played two separate sports, so we learned from each other and shared experiences. He was always a very hard-working guy, so (Tafte’s death) came too soon.”
Tufte played a variety of sports in Horten as a child, but began rowing seriously at 17, long before it became a symbol of Norway’s participation in this summer’s World Cup. He became a member of the local rowing club. Rowing Club Horten and made his debut a year later at the Junior World Championships in Munich in 1994. This led to a long Olympic career that saw him win gold in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
After his Olympic triumphs, he continued to compete. at various other events, not least on national television programs, including the NRK program. Champion of Champions (“Champion of Champions”) and TV2 71’Nordwhere he also won. Meanwhile, he and his wife Aina managed and expanded the family farm in Horten, Tufte Gord, where they also organized team-building events, conferences, weddings and other celebrations. They also launched a brewery, and Olaf Tufte created a clothing line, Tufte Wear.
He was known for urging people to “work hard and be healthy”, adding to the shock and sheer irony that a man seemingly physically fit as he was could suddenly collapse and die. His family said there were no witnesses to his fall and no signs of an accident at work. Emergency medical personnel quickly arrived at the farm and began a rescue operation before he was airlifted to the National Hospital in Oslo, the family said. Tufte is survived by his wife and two children.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund