27 Jan 2012
Thomas Keller Medal Finalist: Eskild Ebbesen (DEN)
Ebbesen last competed internationally in 2008 when he scored his third Olympic gold medal. His rowing career spans nearly 20 years, beginning as a junior in 1990 and since then Ebbesen has added six World Championship titles to his winnings and still holds the World Best Time in the lightweight men’s four, set in 1999.
From very early in his career Ebbesen was named in the Danish lightweight men’s four. This four became known as the Golden Four, Guldfireren, after going on a winning spree that lasted from the 1996 Olympics through the 1999 World Rowing Championships.
At the 2000 Olympics, the lightweight four, with Ebbesen on board, in three seat, had a crew change due to injury. The crew finished third. Ebbesen moved into the new Olympic cycle with his crew back at the top again. At Athens, in 2004, Ebbesen again became an Olympic Champion. He then retired as the world’s most successful lightweight.
Ebbesen describes what their race plan was: "Our strategy, for every race, was always to be first, to be number one from the beginning of the race. A fast start was important. It became natural for us to do a high stroke rate. It then escalated. I don't think we have many strokes under 40."
After Athens, Ebbesen put his energy into his family and business doing mainly running and cycling for fitness, but he found that he wasn’t finished with rowing. Three years later Ebbesen was back in the four. The crew initially hovered around the upper end of the B-final, sometimes qualifying for the the A-final. By the time they reached Beijing in 2008, stroked by Ebbesen, the four had made it back to the top and Ebbesen won his third Olympic gold medal.
Ebbesen is a finalist for rowing’s most prestigious award, the Thomas Keller Medal. Nominated through public submissions, Ebbesen has the characteristics that qualify him for the award (click here to view).
The Thomas Keller Medal winner will be decided by the Thomas Keller Medal Committee and will be announced in June. The medal will be presented to the recipient during the final stage of the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, from 9 to 11 July 2010.
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