[2] Tufte started rowing at age 17, initially as a means to improve his handle on motor cross.

[3] They preserved their elite ranking all through 2000 and won the silver medal in the men's double scull at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

He was fourth at the World Rowing Cup I, second at WRC II, then won gold at WRC III in the June before heading to the 2004 Athens Olympics, where in the men's single scull he beat the Estonian Jueri Jaanson to win his first Olympic gold medal.

He won his heat and his quarter-final, finished second in his semi but brought it home in the final beating out Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and relegating Drysdale to a bronze position.

He returned to the elite level in the single scull but found himself outside the top placings in the 2014 international season.

[3] He lifted in 2015 and at that year's World Championships managed a fourth place behind his old rivals Synek, Drysdale and the Lithuanian Mindaugas Griskonis.

[3] Tufte's career was reborn in 2016 when he paired up with his Horten Roklubb clubmate, the world champion Kjetil Borch in a double scull.

[2] When not rowing, Tufte earns a living growing cereals at the family farm in the Nykirke part of Horten, and he also works as a fire-fighter.