# Jüri Jaanson

Jüri Jaanson (born 14 October 1965) is the most successful Estonian rower of all time and the winner of five medals at World Rowing Championships.

## Biography

Jaanson was born in Tartu, and had to overcome a particularly challenging childhood, brought on by a severe case of pneumonia at the age of 2. Doctors gave antibiotics which saved him, but which also left him almost completely deaf. He attended a school for the deaf until he obtained a primitive hearing aid at the age of 12, allowing him to attend a regular school. Still, being a loner, he struggled with fitting in. At Tartu University, when a coach introduced him to rowing, he took to it passionately, in fact so passionately that he left the university to focus on rowing. He wears hearing aids on a regular basis and was also seen wearing them during his rowing competitions.
He became World Champion in Tasmania 1990 in the single sculls event. In 1995, he won the Diamond Challenge Sculls (the premier singles sculls event) at the Henley Royal Regatta, rowing for the Parnu Rowing Club.
In 2004 at age 38, he won an Olympic silver medal in the single sculls event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In Beijing 2008 he won his second Olympic silver medal, this time in the double sculls event with Tõnu Endrekson and became Estonia's oldest Olympic medal winner with the age of 42 years, 10 months and two days. He is a member of the SK Pärnu rowing club located in Pärnu. In 2007, Jaanson became the oldest rower ever to win a World Cup event at the age of 41 in Amsterdam.
Jaanson is among four athletes to compete in rowing at six Olympics, with Romanian Elisabeta Lipă in 2004, Canadian Lesley Thompson (cox) in 2008, and Australian James Tomkins.
On 18 November 2010, Jaanson announced ending his career. In July 2011 he was awarded with the Thomas Keller Medal, the highest honor in rowing.
He is also a member of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu for the Reform Party.

## Olympic Games

* 1988 Seoul – 8th Single sculls
* 1992 Barcelona – 5th Single sculls
* 1996 Atlanta – 18th Single sculls
* 2000 Sydney – 6th Single sculls
* 2004 Athens – Single sculls
* 2008 Beijing – Double sculls (with Tõnu Endrekson)

## World Championships

* 1989 Bled, Yugoslavia – Single sculls
* 1990 Tasmania, Australia – Single sculls
* 1991 Vienna, Austria – 12th Single sculls
* 1995 Tampere, Finland – Single sculls
* 1997 Aiguebelette, France – 13th Single sculls
* 1998 Cologne, Germany – 14th Single sculls
* 1999 St. Catharines, Canada – 7th Single sculls
* 2001 Luzerne, Switzerland – 7th Single sculls
* 2003 Milan, Italy – 7th Single sculls
* 2005 Gifu, Japan – Quadruple sculls (with Andrei Jämsä, Tõnu Endrekson and Leonid Gulov)
* 2007 Munich, Germany – Double sculls (with Tõnu Endrekson)

## European Championships

* 2008 Marathon, Greece – Quadruple Sculls (with Tõnu Endrekson, Andrei Jämsä and Allar Raja)

## Rowing World Cup

Overall wins
* Single sculls: 1990, 1995
* Quadruple sculls: 2005
* Double sculls: 2007
Jüri Jaanson Rowing World Cup appearances :
| # | Date | Venue | Country | Position | Class | Crew |
| 1990 |||||||
| 1. | 5–7 April 1990 | Mission Bay, San Diego | United States | FA 3rd | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 2. | 11–13 May 1990 | Mannheim | West Germany | FA 1st | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 3. | 1–3 June 1990 | Rostadion | Norway | FA 1st | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 4. | 29 June-1 July 1990 | Bosbaan, Amsterdam | Netherlands | FA 3rd | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 5. | 13–15 July 1990 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | FA 1st | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 1991 |||||||
| 6. | 5–7 April 1991 | Mission Bay, San Diego | USA | FA 5th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 7. | 8–10 April 1991 | Piediluco | Italy | FA 6th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 8. | 24–26 May 1991 | Wedau, Duisburg | Germany | FA 6th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 9. | 31 May-2 June 1991 | Hjelmsjoe, Örkelljunga | Sweden | FB 7th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 1992 |||||||
| 10. | 3–5 April 1992 | Mission Bay, San Diego | USA | FB 7th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 11. | 1–3 May 1992 | Fühlinger See, Cologne | Germany | FB 7th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 12. | 29–31 May 1992 | Bagsværd, Copenhagen | Denmark | FA 2nd | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 13. | 12–14 June 1992 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | FA 5th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 1994 |||||||
| 14. | 15–17 July 1994 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | FB 7th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 1995 |||||||
| 15. | 2–4 June 1995 | Hazewinkel | Belgium | FA 1st | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 16. | 16–18 June 1995 | Paris | France | FA 1st | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 17. | 30 June-2 July 1995 | Henley-on-Thames | Great Britain | FA 1st | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 18. | 7–9 July 1995 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | FA 1st | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 1998 |||||||
| 19. | 29–31 May 1998 | Oberschleissheim, Munich | Germany | FB 7th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 1999 |||||||
| 20. | 9–11 July 1999 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | FB 12th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 2000 |||||||
| 21. | 1–3 June 2000 | Oberschleissheim, Munich | Germany | FA 3rd | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 22. | 23–25 June 2000 | Vienna, Austria | Austria | FB 8th | Double scull | (b) Tõnu Endrekson, (s) Jüri Jaanson |
| 23. | 14–16 July 2000 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | SA/B 2 | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 2001 |||||||
| 24. | 13–15 July 2001 | Oberschleissheim, Munich | Germany | FA 5th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 2002 |||||||
| 25. | 1–3 August 2002 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | FB 9th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 2003 |||||||
| 26. | 29–31 May 2003 | Idroscalo, Milan | Italy | R4 | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 27. | 19–21 June 2003 | Oberschleissheim, Munich | Germany | FC 13th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 2004 |||||||
| 28. | 7–9 May 2004 | Lake Malta, Poznań | Poland | FA 1st | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 29. | 18–20 June 2004 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | R1 | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |
| 2005 |||||||
| 30. | 26–28 May 2005 | Dorney Lake, Dorney | Great Britain | FA 1st | Quad scull | (b) Jüri Jaanson, Leonid Gulov, Tõnu Endrekson, (s) Andrei Jämsä |
| 31. | 8–10 July 2005 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | FA 1st | Quad scull | (b) Jüri Jaanson, Leonid Gulov, Tõnu Endrekson, (s) Andrei Jämsä |
| 2007 |||||||
| 32. | 1–3 June 2007 | Danube, Linz/Ottensheim | Austria | FA 5th | Double scull | (b) Tõnu Endrekson, (s) Jüri Jaanson |
| 33. | 22–24 June 2007 | Bosbaan, Amsterdam | Netherlands | FA 1st | Double scull | (b) Tõnu Endrekson, (s) Jüri Jaanson |
| 34. | 13–15 July 2007 | Rotsee, Lucerne | Switzerland | FA 1st | Double scull | (b) Tõnu Endrekson, (s) Jüri Jaanson |
| 2008 |||||||
| 35. | 20–22 June 2008 | Lake Malta, Poznań | Poland | FA 3rd | Double scull | (b) Tõnu Endrekson, (s) Jüri Jaanson |
| 2009 |||||||
| 36. | 18–20 June 2009 | Oberschleissheim, Munich | Germany | FC 12th | Single scull | Jüri Jaanson |