Thomas Lange

Rower Thomas Lange was regarded as one of the most successful scullers in the world along with Pertti Karppinen, Peter-Michael Kolbe and Vyacheslav Ivanov. Lange won the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, representing East Germany, and again at the 1992 Barcelona Games, representing re-unified Germany. In 1996, he added a bronze medal at Atlanta.

Lange also won Youth World Championship gold medals in 1980 (double sculls), 1981-82 (single sculls), and was then double sculls world champion in 1983 and 1985. In the single sculls he won the world title in 1987, 1989 and 1991. Lange also gained eight national single sculls and three double sculls titles, and one with the quadruple sculls.

In 1997, after the end of his active career, Lange received the coveted Thomas-Keller-Medal of the International Rowing Federation (FISA). In 1992, he received the fair-play prize of the German Olympic Society (DOG) for his unselfish financial support of his Estonian competitor Jüri Jaanson in his Olympic preparations. Lange was also awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sports award. In 2020 he was inducted into the German Sports Hall of Fame.

Lange’s father Gerhard was a high-ranking officer in the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security) in the former GDR, and committed suicide in 1990, on the day the Berlin wall fell. Thomas Lange became a surgeon by profession, and worked with the University Clinic at Ratzeburg.