07 Dec 2011
Tufte popular in 2010
Tufte, from Norway, featured as January’s athlete of the month for 2010 and he finished up the year as the clear leader in terms of public interest in the Athlete of the Month stakes. Tufte may not have seen many wins at the World Championship level, but he manages to put it all together when it really counts – at the Olympic Games. Tufte has won back-to-back Olympic gold in the single in 2004 and 2008.
Tufte is well-known for his gutsy attitude and tough training regime and his utter love of the sport of rowing. Here is his profile from January.
Following Tufte in the popularity stakes is a rower new this year to the single sculling world. Malcolm Howard of Canada was World Rowing’s Athlete of the Month for August and came in behind Tufte in the number of people interested in what he had to say.
Howard became an Olympic Champion in the men’s eight in 2008 and leading up to the Beijing Olympics nearly his entire international rowing career has revolved around sweep rowing and the eight. For Howard 2010 became the year of the single. He hit the ground running winning the B-final at the first Rowing World Cup of the year then managing two A-final finishes at the subsequent Rowing World Cup. Howard became the single sculler to watch for 2010. His profile is here.
Julien Bahain came in just behind Howard as the third most read Athlete of the Month for 2010. France’s Bahain is no stranger to the single and is currently the top French single sculler. He started off this year by finishing fourth at the first Rowing World Cup in the men’s single event.
But Bahain is better known for his team boat success. Bahain, 24, has medalled at the last two World Rowing Championships in the double sculls and at the 2008 Olympics he was a bronze medallist in the quadruple sculls. Bahain’s profile is here.
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