Call for nominations : 2022 Thomas Keller Medal and Distinguished Service Award

Nominations have opened for rowing’s most prestigious award, the 2022 Thomas Keller Medal and for the 2022 World Rowing Distinguished Service to International Rowing.

Thomas Keller Medal

The Thomas Keller Medal is the highest distinction in the sport of rowing. It is awarded to recognise an exceptional international rowing career as well as exemplary sportsmanship and legendary aspect.

To be nominated for the Thomas Keller Medal the following five factors are taken into consideration:

1. Success at the international level
2.  “Type” of career
3.  Technical mastery of the sport
4. Sportsmanship
5. “Legendary” aspect

The award was named in honour of the late President of World Rowing (previously FISA), Thomas Keller (Thomi). Born in 1924, Keller was elected President of World Rowing in 1958 as a 34-year-old, and was then the youngest-ever president of an international sports federation. Keller spontaneously awarded the World Rowing Medal of Honour to single scullers Peter-Michael Kolbe (Germany) and Pertti Karppinen (Finland) following the 1988 Olympic Games to commemorate one of the greatest rivalries in the history of the sport, thereby recognising their exceptional talent and sportsmanship. This shaped the idea for the eventual Thomas Keller Medal which was initiated by the Keller family and first awarded in 1990. Thomas Keller passed away in office in 1989.

Each year the winner is carefully selected by the Thomas Keller Medal Committee which includes Keller’s son Dominik Keller. The aim is to ensure that the true values in which Thomas Keller so strongly believed are represented.

In 2021, the award went to Olaf Tufte of Norway. Tufte was the first Norwegian ever to win the men’s single sculls World Champion title and won back-to-back gold medals in the men’s single sculls at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Previous winners include Eskild Ebbesen (Denmark), Vaclav Chalupa (Czech Republic), Iztok Cop (Slovenia), Elisabeta Lipa (Romania), Steve Redgrave (Great Britain), Kim Brennan (Australia) and Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (New Zealand)

See the 2021 winner, Olaf Tufte, here.
Nominate for the 2022 award here.

World Rowing Distinguished Service to International Rowing

The public nomination process for the 2022 World Rowing Distinguished Service to International Rowing is now open.  This award recognises an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the development of international rowing. Nominees are considered based on their contribution to the sport made through grass-roots development, involvement in the organisation of large rowing events and long-term service to rowing.

Rowing is not limited to the crews on the water, it takes an enormous amount of off-water support and there are many who have contributed long past they retired from competitive rowing. The Distinguished Service Award acknowledges individuals for their service to the sport in the broadest sense. It is about their lifelong effort to make rowing accessible to all and to shape the future of the sport.

The Award was first presented in 2002 and the list of winners is remarkable. It includes names synonymous with rowing such as Norway’s Thor Nilsen and Anita DeFrantz of the United States. Nilsen was recognised for his work in rowing development; DeFrantz for her leadership in rowing and beyond. In 2021, the Distinguished Services Award went to Peter and Dick Dreissigacker of the United States.

For more information click here. To nominate, click here.

Nominations close for both awards on 15 October 2022.