Ondřej Synek (; born 13 October 1982 in Stará Boleslav) is a former Czech

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 ...

. He is a five-times World Champion in Single Sculls, winning in 2010,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 2015 and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

. He won Olympic silver medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In Beijing he came in as the chief rival of

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 ...

, but despite Drysdale coming down with a painful stomach flu and falling in the final stages of the final to bronze, he was upset for the gold by defending Olympic Champion

Olaf Tufte Olaf Karl Tufte (born 27 April 1976 in Tønsberg) is a Norwegian representative rower, firefighter and farmer. He is a seven time Olympian, and as a single sculler he was twice the Olympic champion and twice the world champion. He's been consiste ...

, who Synek had regularly been beating the previous couple years. In London he came in co favored for gold with Drysdale after trading gold and silver at the previous 2 World Championships, but fell short to Drysdale in the final. In Rio after having won 3 straight World Championships since London, he came in as the clear favorite and had a stated desire to badly want the Olympic Gold he narrowly missed in both Beijing and London his quest for Olympic Gold failed for a 3rd consecutive time in Rio as he took bronze in the single sculls behind both Drysdale and the surprising

Damir Martin Damir Martin (born 14 July 1988) is a Croatian rower. He won silver in the men's single scull at the 2016 Olympics losing to Mahé Drysdale in a photo finish and beating the multiple time world champion Ondřej Synek. He also won silver at the ...

. As a 5 time World Champion in single sculls, and with a total of 13 World and Olympic single scull medals he is by far the most successful single sculler in history to not yet have an Olympic Gold. He confirmed after his Rio defeat to want to take a likely final attempt at the elusive Olympic gold medal in

Tokyo 2020 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, but in June 2021 he announced on his Facebook page that he will not be going to Tokyo. In September 2021 Synek announced end of his career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Synek, Ondrej 1982 births Living people People from Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav Czech male rowers Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers of the Czech Republic Olympic silver medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for the Czech Republic Sportspeople from the Central Bohemian Region