ZEIDLER Oliver

Date of Birth: 24 Jul 1996

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Olympic Scholarship

Height (m/ft): 2.03/6'7''

Place of birth: DACHAU

Birth Country:

Germany

Place of residence : MUNICH

Residence Country:

Germany

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Rowing	Men's Single Sculls	7

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Sea Forest Waterway	Men's Single Sculls Heat 6 #6	Finished
	Sea Forest Waterway	Men's Single Sculls Quarterfinal 4 #70	Finished
	Sea Forest Waterway	Men's Single Sculls Semifinal A/B 2 #108	Finished
	Sea Forest Waterway	Men's Single Sculls Final B #126	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

World Championships

Year	Location	1x
2019	Linz, AUT	1
2018	Plovdiv, BUL	6

European Championships

Year	Location	1x
2021	Varese, ITA	1
2020	Poznan, POL	4
2019	Lucerne, SUI	1

Rank	Event	Year	Location	Result
1	Single Sculls	2021	Zagreb, CRO	6:49.78
2	Single Sculls	2018	Lucerne, SUI	6:59.45
3	Single Sculls	2021	Sabaudia, ITA	6:39.47
3	Single Sculls	2018	Linz, AUT	6:47.27
3	Single Sculls	2018	Belgrade, SRB	6:46.23
5	Single Sculls	2019	Poznan, POL	7:27.12
13	Single Sculls	2019	Rotterdam, NED	6:57.42

Legend
DNF - Did Not Finish, DNS - Did Not Start, EXC - Excluded

The Terminator, Olli. (sxulls.de, 01 Jan 2020)

Travelling. (worldrowing.com, 01 Mar 2020)

Occupation:

Athlete, Finance

Law - FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management, Germany

Partner Helen Scholtissek

Languages spoken:

Donau-Ruder-Club Ingolstadt [Germany]

Heino Zeidler [personal, father], GER

Sporting relatives:

His grandfather, Hans-Johann Farber, represented the Federal Republic of Germany in rowing at three Olympic Games from 1968-1976, winning gold in the men's four in 1972 and bronze in the same event in 1976. His father Heino Zeidler also competed in the sport internationally, finishing fourth at the world championships on two occasions and winning gold in the men's pairs at the 1991 Junior World Championships in Banyoles, Spain. His uncle, Matthias Ungemach, represented Germany at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, finishing fourth in the men's four in 1992, while his aunt, Judith Zeidler, competed in the sport at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games, winning gold in the women's eight in 1998 and bronze in 1992. His sister, Marie-Sophie Zeidler, has competed in rowing at international level, including at the world championships in 2019. His partner Helen Scholtissek has competed in swimming at national level in Germany. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Sep 2020)

Other sports:

He won a gold medal in the men's open category at the 2019 World Indoor Championships in Long Beach, CA, United States of America. He also competed in swimming at international level, winning a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2014 European Junior Championships in Dordrecht, Netherlands. (sport1.de, 02 Jun 2019; worldrowing.com, 25 Feb 2019)

He tried rowing as a teen, but did not take it up seriously until September 2016 when he asked his father to coach him. (worldrowing.com, 01 Mar 2020; fom.de. 17 Mar 2020)

He initially tried rowing at age 15, but did not enjoy it. "After two oar strokes, I fell into the water. I knew it was not for me." He then attempted to establish a career as a swimmer. "I failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro [in swimming], that was a huge setback and after the Olympics my training group broke up. After that I no longer had fun swimming and decided it was no longer worth all the hard work. I then asked my father to teach me to row." (worldrowing.com, 01 Mar 2020; volksfreund.de, 11 Dec 2019; fom.de. 17 Mar 2020)

To win a medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (sxulls.de, 01 Jan 2020)

Winning gold in the men's single at the 2019 World Championships in Linz Ottensheim, Austria, less than three years after taking up the sport. "To move from an absolute beginner to becoming world champion in the singles, which is considered the strongest rower in the world, is of course a story that is special and nobody could have written a better script. I could never have dreamt of something like that. When I sat in the boat the first time in 2016 I tipped over and fell into the water, but luckily things turned out well." (fom.de. 17 Mar 2020)

Norwegian rower Olaf Tufte. (worldrowing.com, 01 Mar 2020)

In 2019 he was named Newcomer of the Year at the German Sports Personality of the Year awards. (gluecksspirale.de, 19 Dec 2019)

General Interest

General
FAMILY DYNASTY IN TOKYO
His family is hoping to have four members present in an official capacity at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, including Oliver and his father and coach Heino, as well as his sister Marie-Sophie and her coach, grandfather Hans-Johann Farber. "My father is my project partner. We started it together and will bring it to an end together. It is wonderful to have a father-son story like ours. I have brilliant individual training. It is better than if I was at the national training centre, where a coach is in charge of five single rowers. And the success has proved us right." However, he does not believe he naturally inherited his family's rowing abilities. "I don't think rowing is genetic. I have learnt from my family that you have to work hard and be serious. That is the secret to success." (sueddeutsche.de, 24 Sep 2019; zdf.de, 15 Dec 2019; Team Deutschland YouTube channel, 05 May 2019; sporthilfe.de, 04 Apr 2020)

FROM SWIMMING TO ROWING
He was a competitive swimmer in his youth and switched to rowing after failing to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He says there are many similarities between the sports. "Athletes from both sports are used to long and hard training, so the endurance and power is comparable. Mentally, you have the ability to push yourself to the absolute limit in most of the Olympic sports including swimming and rowing. So, thinking like an athlete has helped me with hard fights in rowing too." (worldrowing.com, 01 Mar 2020)

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

Timing and scoring provided by OMEGA. Results powered by Atos