Jüri Jaanson

Jüri Jaanson (born 14 October 1965) is the most successful Estonian rower of all time and the winner of five medals at World Rowing Championships. He became World Champion in Tasmania 1990 in the single sculls event. 14 years later, at age 38 he won an Olympic silver medal in the single sculls event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[1] In Beijing 2008 he won his second Olympic silver medal, this time in the double sculls event with Tõnu Endrekson.[2] He is a member of the SK Pärnu rowing club located in Pärnu. In 2007, Jaanson became the oldest rower ever to win a World Cup event at the age of 41 in Amsterdam.[3]

Jüri Jaanson

Jüri Jaanson in 2011
Medal record
Men's rowing
Representing Estonia
Olympic Games
2004 Athens Single Sculls
2008 Beijing Double Sculls
World Championships
Representing Soviet Union
1990 Tasmania Single Sculls
1989 Bled Single Sculls
Representing Estonia
1995 Tampere Single Sculls
2005 Gifu Quadruple Sculls
2007 Munich Double Sculls
European Championships
2008 Marathon Quadruple Sculls

Jaanson was born in Tartu, and had to overcome a particularly challenging childhood, brought on by a severe case of pneumonia at the age of 2. Doctors gave antibiotics which saved him, but which also left him almost completely deaf. He attended a school for the deaf until he obtained a primitive hearing aid at the age of 12, allowing him to attend a regular school. Still, being a loner, he struggled with fitting in. At Tartu University, when a coach introduced him to rowing, he took to it passionately, in fact so passionately that he left the University to focus on rowing.[4] He wears hearing aids on a regular basis and was also seen wearing them during his rowing competitions.

Jaanson is among four athletes to compete in rowing at six Olympics, with Romanian Elisabeta Lipă in 2004, Canadian Lesley Thompson (cox) in 2008, and Australian James Tomkins.

On 18 November 2010, Jaanson announced ending his career. In July 2011 he was awarded with the Thomas Keller Medal, the highest honor in rowing.[5]

He is also a member of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu for the Reform Party.

Olympic Games

World Championships

European Championships
  • 2008 Marathon, Greece – Quadruple Sculls (with Tõnu Endrekson, Andrei Jämsä and Allar Raja)

Rowing World Cup

Overall wins

  • Single sculls: 1990, 1995
  • Quadruple sculls: 2005
  • Double sculls: 2007
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See also

References
  1. "2004 Summer Olympics – Athens, Greece – Rowing" Archived 18 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "First Finals day at the 2008 Olympic Rowing Regatta" Archived 26 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Who to Watch in Lucerne
  4. "For Estonian, Barcelona place to show true colors Rower no longer cog in Soviet machine"
  5. "Jueri Jaanson awarded rowing's highest distinction"
Awards
Preceded by
Jaan Ehlvest		 Estonian Sportsman of the Year
1990		 Succeeded by
Tiit Sokk
Preceded by
Ago Markvardt		 Estonian Sportsman of the Year
1995		 Succeeded by
Erki Nool
Preceded by
Andrus Värnik		 Estonian Sportsman of the Year
2004		 Succeeded by
Andrus Veerpalu
Preceded by
James Tomkins		 Thomas Keller Medal
2011		 Succeeded by
Václav Chalupa
Summer Olympics
Preceded by
Heino Lipp		 Flagbearer for  Estonia
Atlanta 1996		 Succeeded by
Tõnu Tõniste
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