Olympic medallists and history-makers hanging up oars

A host of top rowers from around the world have announced their decisions to step away from the sport in the months since the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games – all leaving significant legacies on and off the water.

Among the most-decorated rowers to confirm their retirements since Paris is three-time Olympic medallist Kerri Williams. The New Zealander won bronze in the women’s four in Paris, after taking gold in the women’s pair and silver in the women’s eight at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

In a decade of international rowing, Williams won six World Rowing Championship titles, and her eight-year partnership with Grace Prendergast produced one of the best women’s pairs in history.

“The team we formed and the things we overcome through the eight years is something I’m really proud of. We just really strived to achieve everything we could in that combination and more,” Williams says now.

Her retirement this year comes after a break in 2023, which she originally thought would be the end of her career, but Williams says it gave her the drive to push on for Paris.

“I knew going into Paris that I probably was going to retire afterwards because I was so satisfied with my career,” she says. “The last year in the four was so rewarding because it was so different to any other year I had rowed. To get on the podium in Paris, I didn’t think that was going to be possible or achievable.”

Williams says she wants to stay connected to rowing, but for the time being has a “craving” to try something new. She has just started a new job, working in sales for a New Zealand wine and spirits company.

“When I finished rowing I always wanted to do something in wine or liquor which is quite odd for an athlete, I guess. It’s been a really cool transition,” Williams explains.

“I was able to have a lot of time off after Paris and a lot of family time and downtime. It’s really nice to get into a job and use my brain in a different capacity and learn new things. It’s such a challenge but I’m enjoying it.”

She leaves deep connections to the sport, but says: “My fondest memories are always going to be the people that I met and the friends that I made. I really loved being part of the NZ women’s sweep squad for the past 10 years.”

Williams is not the only women’s sweep Olympic medallist to have retired recently. Also stepping away from rowing are Ireland’s Aifric Keogh, who made history as part of the Irish women’s four that won a first-ever Olympic women’s rowing medal, bronze in Tokyo; Britain’s Karen Bennett, who picked up silver in the women’s eight at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games; fellow Briton and two-time Olympian Rebecca Edwards; and Denmark’s Nikoline Laidlaw, a key member of the ‘Danish Sweephearts’ squad who qualified the women’s eight for Paris.

Swiss pair step away

The men’s sweep world has also seen some notable retirees. Harry Brightmore, cox of the British men’s eight that swept to gold in Paris after two successive world titles, is now assistant coach at Oxford University Boat Club. Romania’s Marius Cozmiuc and Dutchman Niki van Sprang have also hung up their oars, after racing each other in both the men’s pair and men’s eight on multiple occasions.

Most recently, men’s pair world champions and Olympic bronze medallists Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich of Switzerland both announced their retirements.

Roeoesli says he made the decision to step away “over a long period of time”, after processing the emotions of the Olympics.

“I can look back on a tremendously enjoyable career and I am immensely grateful for everything I was able to experience in rowing. I would take the same path again in a heartbeat,” he says. “But now I feel that I’m about to embark on a new chapter with new challenges that I’m really looking forward to. I will put just as much passion into my new goals and visions as I have put into rowing.”

Roeoesli adds: “Rowing was the best school of life I could ever ask for. I learned to persevere, to work hard for a goal and to believe in my wishes and dreams. I also learned that much more is possible than you think. I learned to deal with defeat and to set myself realistic goals.”

His new goal is focused on food production, following lessons learned when he was doing a masters degree at the University of Oxford – while also racing the Boat Race.

“I quickly realized that in food production we have an extremely large influence on our livelihoods today, but also in the future. This motivated me to put my knowledge into practice, get involved in farming and get my own hands on the job,” Roeoesli says.

He is now undertaking a two-year course with the ultimate goal of setting up his own farm and becoming a farmer.

Sculling’s pioneers move on

The men’s single sculls field is also changing. Former world champion and two-time Olympic medallist Kjetil Borch has announced his retirement; Borch was part of a superb generation of men’s single scullers, taking on the mantle for Norway from Olaf Tufte. His achievements include bronze in Rio and silver in Tokyo, but illness and injury hampered his preparations for Paris. He ended up competing in the men’s double sculls at what would be his final Olympic Games.

Trailblazers Dara Alizadeh and Stephen Cox are also retiring. Bermudian Alizadeh and Zimbabwean Cox are among only a tiny handful of rowers to have ever represented their two countries at the Olympic Games. Cox made his Olympic debut in Paris, while Alizadeh competed in both Paris and Tokyo in his eye-catching pink boat.

Similarly, Uganda’s first-ever Olympic rower, Kathleen Noble, has retired – but hopes to leave a legacy of building rowing up in her country.

As well as their men’s pair, Switzerland has had other notable retirements. Chief among these is Jeannine Gmelin. The former women’s single sculls world champion retired initially in January 2023, following the tragic death of her influential coach Robin Dowell, but made a comeback to compete in the women’s double sculls in Paris.

In December last year, Gmelin wrote on her Instagram account: “A chapter full of passion comes to an end, and a new one begins. The values I learned in sport – discipline, resilience, and the balance between focus and intuition – now guide me far beyond the water.”

Alongside fellow Swiss retirees, lightweight scullers Patricia Merz and Frederique Rol, Gmelin is now planning to inspire others through speaking and running rowing camps.

Although lightweight rowing at the Olympic Games has officially ended, there have been relatively few formal retirement announcements from lightweights so far. However, Paris 2024 lightweight women’s double sculls silver medallist Ionela Cozmiuc has confirmed she is ending her career, coinciding with the retirement of her husband Marius. The Cozmiucs carried the Romanian flag at the Paris opening ceremony, and Ionela ended things on a high with the lightweight women’s single sculls title at the 2024 World Rowing Championships in Canada.

Paralympic champions end on a high

The para-rowing world has also said farewell to a host of top names. Norway’s Birgit Skarstein – six-time world champion and Tokyo 2020 PR1 women’s single sculls champion and Paris 2024 silver medallist – has ended her incredible career in both rowing and cross-country skiing. Skarstein is still making her voice heard, however, and spent much of January 2025 advocating for athletes and disabled people at the World Economic Forum in Davos. She has also just published a children’s book about sport.

“Sport is about so much more than medals – it is about breaking barriers, finding solutions and seeing what we can achieve together,” Skarstein said in her retirement post on Instagram.

Paralympic champions Gregg Stevenson (Great Britain) and Jed Altschwager (Australia) have also both retired. Altschwager was the inaugural PR3 mixed double sculls champion in Paris alongside Nikki Ayers, while former Royal Engineer commando Stevenson retired unbeaten after a superb partnership with Lauren Rowles. Both are also the current world champions and world best time holders in their events.

And in Paris, Dutch rowers Corne de Koning and Esther van der Loos confirmed they were moving away from competitive rowing. The duo reformed their PR2 mixed double sculls partnership for Paris, but missed out on the A-final. De Koning had won silver in Tokyo with Chantal Haenen and is also a four-time world champion in the PR2 men’s single sculls.

De Koning, however, has not stopped his sporting career and is now trying out wheelchair basketball, as well as posting videos of himself rowing, cycling and skiing – expect him to make a splash on a new stage.