meter split time of the day. His time of 6:44.85 has been an Olympic record until Tim Maeyens of Belgium finished his heat at the 2012 London Olympics in a time of 6:42.52. 1998 season onwards Following his Olympic victory, Müller took a year off from rowing. In 1998, he won two World Cup race besting future rival Rob Waddell. But at the World Rowing Championships, Waddell had the best race of his life pushing Müller back to second. In the pre-season to the 1998 rowing calendar, Waddell set a world record on the indoor rowing machine. In 1999, Waddell went on to sweep the World Cup races and the World Championships, Müller getting second each time. Leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Müller entered World Cup race in Vienna, where he finally beat Waddell after four consecutive second-place finishes. Müller did not enter any other preliminary races, and Waddell won the World Cup race in Lucerne. Between the 1996 Olympics and the 2000 Olympics, Müller's record against Waddell was 3 out of 7. Both Waddell and Müller won all of their preliminary heats leading up to the Olympic finals. In the finals, in addition to his rival two-time reigning World Champion Rob Waddell, Müller faced former World Champion and Olympic silver medalist Derek Porter and rising star Marcel Hacker. It was the closest men's single scull final ever. They battled down the course with the lead changing several times. Müller gained the lead in the last 1000 meters, but Waddell stayed with him. Gradually, Waddell wore Müller down, passing him in the sprint. Despite having a chest cold, Müller held on for the silver medal. Hacker finished third and a disappointed Porter finished fourth. Just over two seconds – the length of a boat – separated first from fourth place. Retirement and career Having lived in the United States since 1992 (and attending Brown University) Müller became a naturalized citizen of the United States in early 2004. He then announced he would trial for the US team for the Athens Olympics. He had won all of the preliminary trial races. However, just before the start of the final set of trials, there were a number of high-profile killings of foreigners in Iraq as part of the Iraq War, and Americans were believed to be potential targets for violence at the Olympics by al-Qaeda. Müller pulled out of the