Thomas Lange (born 27 February 1964) is a German

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...

who won two gold and one bronze

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

medals in the single sculls. Lange is one of six rowers (along with

Mahé Drysdale Alexander Mahé Owens Drysdale (born 19 November 1978) is a retired New Zealand rower. Drysdale is a two-time Olympic champion and a five-time world champion in the single sculls. He is a seven-time New Zealand national champion and five-time ...

Pertti Karppinen Pertti Johannes Karppinen (born 17 February 1953) is a retired Finnish rower noted for his three consecutive Olympic gold medals in single sculls in 1976, 1980 and 1984. Biography Karppinen won the world titles in 1979 and 1985 and once held th ...

Peter-Michael Kolbe Peter-Michael Kolbe (, ; born 2 August 1953) is a retired German rower who specialized in the single sculls. In this event, between 1975 and 1988 he won five world titles and three Olympic silver medals, in 1976, 1984 and 1988; he missed the 198 ...

, Ondřej Synek and Vyacheslav Ivanov) to win medals in the single sculls in three different Olympics. His first international appearance was at the 1980

World Rowing Junior Championships The World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 December of the year in which he reaches the age of 1 ...

, where he won the gold medal in the double sculls (2x). He then went on to win the singles title in the next two Junior World Championships. He first competed at the senior level in 1983, and at the age of 19, won the double sculls at the

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the ...

with

Uwe Heppner Uwe Heppner (born 18 July 1960) is a retired German rower. He competed for East Germany at the 1980 and 1988 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in the quadruple sculls in 1980. He finished fifth in the double sculls in 1988. Between 1979 and ...

, which they repeated in 1985. Lange and Heppner would have been the favorites for the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, but

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

chose to boycott the games. In 1986, Lange changed to the single sculls. However, illness prevented him from competing that year. He recovered by 1987 and won his first World Championship in the single sculls besting

and

who between then had won 10 of the previous 12 World and Olympic titles. Lange repeated this feat by winning the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. In 1989 he again won the World Championship. By that time East Germany was disintegrating and Lange began his studies as a medical doctor. His father was a member of the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

and committed suicide. Despite his demanding schedule and the emotional angst of his country's disintegration, in 1990, with Stefan Ullrich, Lange won a silver medal in the double sculls at the world championships. In 1991, representing the unified Germany, Lange again won the world title in the single sculls. At the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Lange was a repeat winner in the single. For Lange, this was his fifth straight (non-consecutive) World Championship or Olympic victory in the single sculls. Lange would go on to take third at the 1993 World championships, take 1994 off to concentrate on his medical studies, finish out of the running in the 1995 World Championships, and come back to claim a bronze medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

behind Switzerland's

Xeno Müller Xeno Müller (born 7 August 1972) is a Swiss rower and Olympic gold medallist. Early career and university His first international appearance was at the 1990 World Rowing Junior Championships – winning bronze in his single scull (1x). He f ...

and Canada's

Derek Porter Derek Nesbitt-Porter (born 2 November 1967) is a gold medal-winning Olympic Rowing (sport), rower from Canada. Early life and education He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and his father Hugh rowed for England at the 1958 British Empire ...

. In October 1986, he was awarded a

Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

in gold (first class) for his sporting success. In 1997, Lange was awarded the

Thomas Keller Medal The Thomas Keller Medal is given by the World Rowing Federation (FISA) for an outstanding international career in the sport of rowing. It is the highest honor in rowing and is awarded to any athlete within five years of his/her retirement from the ...

for outstanding career in rowing. Currently Lange works a medical doctor in

Ratzeburg Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the district Herzogtum Lau ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lange, Thomas 1964 births East German male rowers German male rowers Rowers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers of East Germany Olympic rowers of Germany Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in rowing Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany People from Eisleben Living people World Rowing Championships medalists for East Germany World Rowing Championships medalists for Germany Thomas Keller Medal recipients Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony Sportspeople from Saxony-Anhalt