Edward Coode, MBE (born 19 June 1975) is a British

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is d ...

, twice World Champion and Olympic Gold medalist.

Early life

Born in Cornwall in 1975, Coode boarded at

Papplewick School Papplewick School is a non-selective independent day and boarding preparatory school for boys aged 6–13 (Years 2–8) in Ascot, England. It occupies a 15-acre semi-rural campus across from Ascot Racecourse. History It was founded in 1947 a ...

and Eton College. He studied marine biology at

University of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick univer ...

and

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

, Oxford, and rowed in the Oxford crew at the 1998

Boat Race Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other w ...

Career

Coode won his first World Championship in 1999, as a substitute in the British men's coxless four, rowing with

Steve Redgrave Sir Steven Geoffrey Redgrave (born 23 March 1962) is a British retired rower who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championships gold ...

Matthew Pinsent Sir Matthew Clive Pinsent, (; born 10 October 1970) is an English rower and broadcaster. During his rowing career, he won 10 world championship gold medals and four consecutive Olympic gold medals. Since retiring, he has worked as a sports b ...

and James Cracknell. When

Tim Foster Timothy James Carrington Foster, MBE (born 19 January 1970) is an English rower who won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Career He began rowing at Bedford Modern School and competed in the World Rowing Junior C ...

returned to the four, Coode was put into the coxless pair with

Greg Searle Gregory Mark Pascoe Searle (born 20 March 1972) is a British Olympic rower educated at Hampton School and London South Bank University. Career Greg Searle is an Olympic gold medalist, winning the coxed pairs event at the 1992 Barcelona Olym ...

. They finished fourth at the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug language, Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport ...

having led for most of the race and being overtaken by three crews in the last 600 m, finishing 12/100th of a second (about 2 feet) out of third place. In 2001, he won a second World Championship in the men's coxless four with Steve Williams,

Rick Dunn Richard C. E. C. Dunn (born 8 March 1976) is a British rower. He won a gold medal at the 2001 World Rowing Championships in Lucerne with the men's coxless four. He represented Great Britain at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the coxless pair, where ...

and

Toby Garbett Toby Garbett (born 14 November 1976 in Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from ...

. In 2002, he missed the World Championships due to injury,

Josh West A. Joshua West (born 25 March 1977) is a dual citizen British-American Olympic rower and Earth Sciences professor. He is a two-time World Championship silver medalist, a World Championship bronze medalist, and a four-time Cambridge Blue, and r ...

taking his place in the coxless four, and was in the men's eight in 2003 that won the bronze at that year's world championships. With the injury to

Alex Partridge Alexander Matthew Partridge (born 25 January 1981 in San Francisco) is a British rower, and an Olympic silver and bronze medallist. Education Partridge started rowing at Monkton Combe School, Bath, and attended Oxford Brookes University to ...

, Coode was moved from the eight to the coxless four for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, rowing with Pinsent, Cracknell and Williams. In a close race with World champions Canada, they won gold.

Retirement

In October 2004, Coode announced he was retiring from rowing – taking a year out to travel in South America and then study for a law degree at University of the West of England in Bristol. Following two years at university he spent two years as a trainee solicitor at Bristol firm

Burges Salmon Burges Salmon LLP is a law firm based in Bristol, England. About Burges Salmon Burges Salmon is a UK law firm with a national and international client base, including FTSE-listed companies, government departments, public bodies, executives a ...

, before qualifying and joining family law firm Coodes Solicitors, which has branches across Cornwall.

Personal life

Coode was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the

2005 New Year Honours New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; and ...

for services to sport. On 17 September 2005 Coode married

Clare Smales Clare Smales (born 30 August 1975) is a British journalist. She was educated at St Mary's School, Shaftesbury and University College, Durham (English Literature). She worked at the ''Mail on Sunday'' newspaper from 1998 until 2003 as a feature w ...

in the St Mary's and St Julian's Church, Maker, Cornwall. Their daughter Beatrice Mary Arundell Coode (Bee) was born in February 2007. Their second daughter Ottilie Mary Loveday was born in March 2009.Births, Marriages and Deaths – Times Online
/ref> Their first son Johnny was born at Christmas 2011 and their second son Wilfred was born in July 2013.

Achievements

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

Medals: 1 Gold * World Championship Medals: 2 Gold, 2 Bronze * Junior World Championship Medals: 1 Silver * Oxford University

Blue Boat The Blue Boat is the highest level boat representing the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge in the universities' annual rowing races on the River Thames, The Boat Race and Women's Boat Race. As of 2016, the women's first VIII ...

(lost)

Olympic Games

*2004 – Gold, Coxless four (with James Cracknell, Steve Williams,

) *2000 – 4th, Coxless pair (with

)

World championships

*2003 – Bronze, Eight *2001 – Gold, Coxless four (with Steve Williams,

) *1999 – Gold, Coxless four (with

, James Cracknell) *1998 – 7th, Eight *1997 – Bronze, Coxed four

Junior World championships

*1993 – Silver, Coxless four

References

External links

Ed Coode – The London Speaker Bureau
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coode, Ed 1975 births Living people English male rowers British male rowers Olympic rowers of Great Britain Rowers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics English Olympic medallists Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain People educated at Papplewick School People educated at Eton College Alumni of Newcastle University Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Members of the Order of the British Empire Members of Leander Club Sportspeople from Cornwall Oxford University Boat Club rowers Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain