Ondřej Synek (; born 13 October 1982 in Stará Boleslav) is a Czech former rower. He is a five-time World Champion in Single Sculls, winning in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. He won Olympic silver medals at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

in Beijing and

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London. In Beijing he came in as the chief rival of Mahé Drysdale, 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 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 has been consistently selec ...

, who Synek had regularly been beating the previous couple years. In London he was jointly favored for gold with Drysdale after trading gold and silver at the previous two 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. However, he had narrowly missed in both Beijing and London. His quest for Olympic gold failed for a third consecutive time in Rio as he took bronze in the single sculls behind both Drysdale and the surprising Damir Martin. As a five-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 win 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 officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Synek, Ondrej 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav Rowers from the Central Bohemian Region 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 for 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 21st-century Czech sportsmen