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| Nationality | German | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1987-05-23)23 May 1987 (age 38) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 74 kg (163 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country | Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Coxless four, Eight | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Ruderverein 'Treviris 1921' e.V. Trier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Richard Schmidt (born 23 May 1987) is a German former representative sweep-oarrower. He is a six time world champion, a four time Olympian, an Olympic gold & silver medallist and held a seat in the German senior men's eight — the Deutschlandachter — constantly from 2009 to 2021. He rowed at seven when the Deutschlandachter at the 2017World Rowing Cup II set a world's best time of 5.18.68, which was still the standing world mark as of 2023.[1]
He was in the German crew when it won the gold medal in the men'seight[2] competition at the2012 Summer Olympics inLondon. At the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro, he rowed in Germany'smen's eight which won the silver medal[3] and again he rowed in the German men's eight atTokyo 2021 and won his second Olympic silver medal. In 2024, he received theThomas Keller Medal, the highest honor awarded by theWorld Rowing Federation.[4]
Schmidt's club rowing was fromRuderverein Treviris 1921 in Trier, Germany. His international representative debut was at the junior level, when he won consecutive medals in the German coxless four at theWorld Rowing Junior Championships in 2004 and 2005.[5] In 2007, he raced at theWorld Rowing U23 Championships in Glasgow in acoxless four withSebastian Schmidt, Fokke Beckmann andKristof Wilke where they won a gold medal. In Autumn 2007, that crew finished in second place at theEuropean Rowing Championships inPoznań after taking a long break from the sport.[5]
In 2008, Schmidt rowed with Beckmann at the World Cup opener inMunich in thecoxless pair and at the end of the season was selected in the German eight for the U23 World Championships, where they placed fourth.[5] During this time, the seating of the German men's eight was reorganised prior to the2008 Olympic Games, Schmidt was selected as a travelling reserve for Beijing. He raced in the semi-finals with Marco Neumann,Gregor Hauffe, andUrs Käufer in the coxless four asFilip Adamski andToni Seifert were ill. The newly composed team had surprisingly reached the final, however Neumann was then replaced withJochen Urban. The boat finished in sixth place.[6]
In the new Olympiad, the coxless four formed the core of the re-built German eight, in which Schmidt then won his first World Championship title at the2009 World Rowing Championships.[5] In 2010 at the World Rowing Cup I he rowed in a coxless pair withKristof Wilke but within a month he secured his seat in the German eight rowing in theEuropean Championships in September and then atWorld Championships where they defended their World Championship title.[5] With Schmidt solid in the five seat, the German crew won their third consecutive title at the2011 World Championships.[5] At the2012 Olympics in London, the favoured German eight won the gold medal with a crew consisting ofFilip Adamski,Andreas Kuffner,Eric Johannesen,Maximilian Reinelt, Richard Schmidt,Lukas Müller,Florian Mennigen,Kristof Wilke andcoxswainMartin Sauer.[2][5]
After his first Olympic success, Richard Schmidt rowed on and remained constant in the German eight who since 2010 have been strong, permanent rivals against theBritish men's eight. From 2013 to 2015, the German team won gold each year at the European Rowing Championships but come the World Championship finals, the Great Britain pipped them each time by a margin of less than one second relegating the German eight to three consecutive silver medals.[5] In the lead-up toRio 2016 Germany again finished either first or second at each regatta in the international season. In Rio the German crew won their heat but in the final were again beaten by Great Britain with a 1.33 second margin. Schmidt now had his second Olympic medal – a silver.[5]
In 2017 Schmidt,Malte Jakschik, the strokeHannes Ocik and coxswainMartin Sauer were the only members of the German Olympic eight who rowed on. The eight was rebuilt around the stern three of Ocik, Schmidt & Jakschik. He remained throughout their dominant season campaign, winning gold at the European Championships, two World Rowing Cups and ultimately at the2017 World Rowing Championships inSarasota, Florida where the German eight were again crowned as world champions.[5] In June 2017 at theWorld Rowing Cup II in Poznan they set a new world's best time for the eight, taking 0.67 seconds off a 2012 mark set by Canada.[1] The German crew with every man holding the same seat, continued their European and world dominance throughout 2018 winning at three World Rowing Cups, the 2018 European Championships and then defending their world title at the2018 World Rowing Championships inPlovdiv.[5] There were a handful of changes to the German eight in 2019 but Schmidt remained at seven for another successful international season culminating in his sixth world championship title at the2019 World Rowing Championships inOttensheim.[5]
The German men's eight's 2019 performances qualified that boat forTokyo 2020.[5] By the time of the 2021 selections for those delayed Olympics, Schmidt was still in the crew and set to make his third Olympic rowing appearance.[5] At thatTokyo 2021 Olympic regatta he rowed in his final international appearance for Germany to an Olympic silver medal.[5]
Schmidt studied engineering and undertook his PhD in engineering.[7] For his Olympic medal achievements he has twice been awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf by German Federal PresidentJoachim Gauck.[8][9] Since 2019 he has been an athlete representative on theWorld Anti-Doping Agency's Athlete Committee.[10]
Thomas Keller Medal recipients | |
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See also:Thomas Keller |
