11 Facts About Thomas Lange

Thomas Lange was born on 27 February 1964 and is a German rower who won two gold and one bronze Olympic medals in the single sculls.

Thomas Lange then went on to win the singles title in the next two Junior World Championships.

Thomas Lange first competed at the senior level in 1983, and at the age of 19, won the double sculls at the World Rowing Championships with Uwe Heppner, which they repeated in 1985.

Thomas Lange recovered by 1987 and won his first World Championship in the single sculls besting Pertti Karppinen and Peter-Michael Kolbe who between then had won 10 of the previous 12 World and Olympic titles.

Thomas Lange repeated this feat by winning the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Thomas Lange's father was a member of the Stasi and committed suicide.

In 1991, representing the unified Germany, Thomas Lange again won the world title in the single sculls.

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Thomas Lange was a repeat winner in the single.

For Thomas Lange, this was his fifth straight World Championship or Olympic victory in the single sculls.

Thomas Lange would go on to take third at the 1993 World championships and won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta, rowing for the Ruderverein Bollberg-Halle.

Thomas Lange took 1994 off to concentrate on his medical studies before finishing out of the running in the 1995 World Championships, and come back to claim a bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics behind Switzerland's Xeno Muller and Canada's Derek Porter.