Oliver Zeidler is a three-time world champion in single sculls, two-time European champion and multiple World Cup winner. He holds a Master of Laws in tax sciences.
Olli Zeidler’s dream of the Olympics lay dormant from an early age. Born on July 24, 1996, he grew to a height of 2.03 m by the age of 18. His body weight is 105 kg and he needs a size 48 shoe. He wasn’t interested in rowing at all in his youth, but freestyle swimming instead. In 2014 he was the German champion in this discipline, in 2016 he won the German championship with the 4 x 200 meter relay team and still missed out on qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. After the sudden end of his swimming career, Olli was looking for a new sporting challenge and very quickly took to the water in a single rowing boat.
Oliver Zeidler Lecture topics
- Sport and Business: what we can learn from sport
Topics: Ambition, determination, focus, team spirit, organization, dealing with pressure situations and competition, knowledge of your own body and its capabilities, self-confidence. In each case personally documented with experiences from sport and professional life. Addressing and discussing the experiences and problems of the audience (previous topics: Everyday working life, starting a business, motivation, individual sport and team spirit, …)
- Dealing with stress: Success instead of despair
Topics: Stress and pressure situations, dealing with and consequences of the “wrong” attitude, positive mindset. Why and for what do I…, positive and negative stress. Personal examples with possible solutions (extreme situations: most important race, expectations, …) Individual attitude and situation are decisive, experiences of the participants
- Time management: Achieving more in the same amount of time
Topics: Planning times, making processes more efficient, introducing routines, “3 areas of life” priorities, motivation, free time, examples from my everyday life (weekly planning, my routines and priorities) personal tips for the audience and workshop participants
- Fitness and work: more productive, focused and creative through sporting balance
Topics: Sport as a balance, stress reduction, time for yourself, building resilience, healthy through everyday office life, movement, flexibility, feeling good, neuroathletics, examples from my everyday life (inconspicuous) exercises for in between
His family environment was perfect for rowing. His grandfather Hans-Johann Färber won the gold medal for Germany in the Lake Constance four in 1972. His father Heino was junior world champion and his sister Judith was a two-time medal winner at the Olympic Games in Seoul and Barcelona. Oliver Zeidler joined the Donau-Ruder-Club Ingolstadt in 2017 and has been competing for the Frankfurt rowing club Germania since 2022.
Olli Zeidler: “Getting to know your own limits, pushing them, constantly improving. That’s why I fell in love with this tough rowing business.”
Olli Zeidler already had his physical fitness from swimming. He also trained hard, not only on the water, but also on the ergometer in his parents’ basement. He achieved his first international successes back in 2017 and ended the 2018 season with an exceptional run of success. Sports experts and journalists are interpreting this as the start of a German rowing fairytale. And indeed, Oliver Zeidler won his first world championship title in September 2019. After the coronavirus break, he continued his winning streak and won his second and third world championship titles in the men’s single sculls in 2022 and 2023.
Oliver Zeidler is writing a unique story. One that only sport can write. And one that rarely happens.
Oliver Zeidler’s professional life began in 2015 with an apprenticeship as a tax clerk at Deloitte in Munich. He continued with his bachelor’s degree while still in training. Working at Deloitte, studying and getting into rowing ran in parallel from 2017. Olli Zeidler himself ensured that this triple burden continued beyond 2019, when he successfully completed his Bachelor’s degree with an LL.B. in Accounting & Taxation. In 2020, he started his Master’s degree at the University of Münster and graduated in 2021 with an LL.M. in Taxation.
Oliver Zeidler is the world’s fastest tax expert in a rowing boat and likes to refer to himself as a “hobby athlete at the top of the world”.