Norwegian rower, coach and administrator who was instrumental in modernising his sport and expanding its global reach
Thor Nilsen, who has died aged 92, was an international rower, coach and administrator who helped to maintain his sport’s status as an Olympic event during an era when it might otherwise have fallen by the wayside.
As development director of FISA, the World Rowing Federation (now known as World Rowing), from 1981 to 1997, Nilsen was instrumental in modernising the sport, including by initiating round-the-year drug tests in 1981 (a rare thing in sport at the time), and setting up a new lightweight division in 1996.