Ondřej_Synek

Ondřej Synek

Ondřej Synek

Czech rower (born 1982)

Ondřej Synek (Czech pronunciation: [ˈondr̝ɛj ˈsɪnɛk]; 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, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017. He won Olympic silver medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and 2012 Summer Olympics in London.[1][2] 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, who Synek had regularly been beating the previous couple years. In London he was co favored for gold with Drysdale after trading gold and silver at the previous two World Championships, but fell short to Drysdale in the final.

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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.[3] 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.[4][5] 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,[6] but in June 2021 he announced on his Facebook page that he will not be going to Tokyo.[7] In September 2021 Synek announced his retirement.[8]

References

  1. [1]
    Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ondrej Synek". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  2. [2]
    "London 2012 single sculls 1x men – Olympic Rowing". London2012.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  3. [3]
    Matilda Bywater. "Third Time Lucky? Ondrej Synek goes for Olympic Gold". RowGlobal.com. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  4. [4]
    "Rio ONLINE: Ondřej Synek má bronz ve skifu | iSport.cz". Isport.blesk.cz. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  5. [5]
    "Další medaile! Veslař Ondřej Synek přidal BRONZ! O zlatu nevídaně rozhodovaly centimetry". O2sport.cz. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  6. [6]
    Anderson, Ian (7 September 2016). "Mahe Drysdale's rowing rival Ondrej Synek plans to contest 2020 Tokyo Olympics". Auckland Now. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  7. [7]
    "Ondřej Synek". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  8. [8]
    Hašek, Martin (23 September 2021). "Veslař Synek ukončil kariéru: Chtělo se mi brečet, ale jsem velkej kluk". CNC. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
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