Richard Schmidt

Richard Schmidt (born 23 May 1987) is a German former representative sweep-oar rower. He is a six time world champion, a four time Olympian, an Olympic gold & silver medallist and held a seat in the German senior men's eight — the Deutschlandachter — constantly from 2009 to 2021. He rowed at seven when the Deutschlandachter at the 2017 World Rowing Cup II set a world's best time of 5.18.68, which was still the standing world mark as of 2023.

He was in the German crew when it won the gold medal in the men's eight competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he rowed in Germany's men's eight which won the silver medal and again he rowed in the German men's eight at Tokyo 2021 and won his second Olympic silver medal. In 2024, he received the Thomas Keller Medal, the highest honor awarded by the World Rowing Federation.

Representative rowing career Schmidt's club rowing was from Ruderverein Treviris 1921 in Trier, Germany. His international representative debut was at the junior level, when he won consecutive medals in the German coxless four at the World Rowing Junior Championships in 2004 and 2005. In 2007, he raced at the World Rowing U23 Championships in Glasgow in a coxless four with Sebastian Schmidt, Fokke Beckmann and Kristof Wilke where they won a gold medal. In Autumn 2007, that crew finished in second place at the European Rowing Championships in Poznań after taking a long break from the sport.

In the new Olympiad, the coxless four formed the core of the re-built German eight, in which Schmidt then won his first World Championship title at the 2009 World Rowing Championships. For his Olympic medal achievements he has twice been awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf by German Federal President Joachim Gauck. Since 2019 he has been an athlete representative on the World Anti-Doping Agency's Athlete Committee.

Rowing palmares 2004: Bronze medal World Rowing Junior Championships – M4- 2005: Silver medal World Rowing Junior Championships – M4- 2007: Gold medal World Rowing U23 Championships – M4- 2007: Silver medal European Rowing Championships – M4- 2008: 4th place World Rowing U23 Championships – M8+ 2008: 4th place European Rowing Championships – M8+ 2008: 6th place Beijing Olympics – M4- 2009: Gold medal World Rowing Championships – M8+ 2010: Gold medal European and World Rowing Championships – M8+ 2011: Gold medal World Rowing Championships – M8+ 2012: Gold medal London Olympics – M8+ 2013: Gold medal European Rowing Championships – M8+ 2013: Silver medal World Rowing Championships – M8+ 2014: Gold medal European Rowing Championships – M8+ 2014: Silver medal World Rowing Championships – M8+ 2015: Gold medal European Rowing Championships – M8+ 2015: Silver medal World Rowing Championships – M8+ 2016: Silver medal Rio de Janeiro Olympics – M8+ 2017: Gold medal European and World Rowing Championships – M8+ 2018: Gold medal European and World Rowing Championships – M8+ 2019: Gold medal European and World Rowing Championships – M8+