James Cracknell Bio - Biography

Name James Cracknell
Height
Naionality English
Date of Birth 5-May-1972
Place of Birth
Famous for Rower
James Cracknell is a British rowing champion and double Olympic gold medalist and adventurer. Cracknell is married to TV and radio presenter Beverley Turner; they have three children. In the New Year Honours List, 2004, he was appointed OBE for services to sport. He is also a trained geography teacher, as stated in an episode of BBC comedy quiz School's Out.

James Cracknell began rowing whilst attending Kingston Grammar School and rowed at the Junior World Championships in 1989 and 1990, winning a gold medal in 1990. He graduated from the University of Reading with a Bachelor of Science in Human Geography in 1993. Moving into the senior squad, Cracknell made numerous appearances in the World Rowing Championships; however, he did not win any medals prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics. He qualified in the double scull for the 1996 Games, but fell ill with tonsilitis and was unable to race. In 1997, he won a seat in the men's coxless fours, with Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and Tim Foster. With this crew, he won the rowing World Championships in 1997, 1998 and 1999 (with Ed Coode replacing the injured Foster), and finally the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In August 2000, the month prior to winning gold in Sydney, he took part in a 3-part BBC documentary entitled Gold Fever. This followed the coxless four team in the years leading up to the Olympics, including video diaries recording the highs and lows in their quest for gold. With Redgrave then having retired, Cracknell swapped from rowing on strokeside to bowside in order to join Pinsent in the coxless pairs. The pair won the World Championships in 2001, when they also won the coxed pairs, and 2002. However, in 2003 a disappointing season was capped by a failure to win the World Championships, and Pinsent and Cracknell were shifted into the coxless four, with Steve Williams and Alex Partridge. Ed Coode replaced the injured Partridge in time for the 2004 Summer Olympics and this crew won the gold medal in Athens, beating world champions Canada by 0.08s.

In December 2008 he set off yet again with former team-mate from the Atlantic Row Ben Fogle, and Dr. Ed Coats (the winner of a nationwide search), this time to take part in the inaugural Amundsen Omega3 South Pole Race. The team traversed the 473.6 miles suffering frostbite, infected blisters, dramatic weight-loss, pneumonia and exhaustion and came second only to a pair of Norwegians (over 20 hours). The BBC aired a 5 x 1 hour, prime-time Sunday night series of the adventure, ‘On Thin Ice’ (TwoFour), in June/July 2009. The series was accompanied by a self-penned book of the race, Race to the Pole (MacMillan).

James Cracknell Photos