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Joseph Clarke, (born 3 November 1992) is a British slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2009, specializing in the K1 (kayak) and KX1 (extreme kayak/kayak cross) events. He is the 2016 Olympic champion in the K1 event, a double World champion in the kayak cross discipline, and has won medals at World and European Championships.


Early life

Clarke was born in
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
, Staffordshire. He first tried canoeing during a trip with The Scout Association at the age of eight. He then applied to join the Stafford and Stone Canoe Club, but was rejected for being too young. He was given the chance to reapply through his middle school's canoeing club during year six at Walton Priory Middle School, but as they only had eight places available which were greatly oversubscribed he was required to write a letter to demonstrate why he deserved a place. His application was successful and he began training with the club, competing in his first race in 2004 at the age of 11. Clarke supports local team Stoke City F.C. Clarke attended Alleyne's Academy high school, after going to his middle school Walton Priory Middle School. At the age of 15 he contracted bacterial meningitis which caused an abscess behind one eye. He was in hospital for two weeks and was treated with
intravenous Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutrie ...
antibiotics, after which he made a full recovery.


Career

Clarke made his debut for the British junior team in 2009, winning junior European Championship silver medals in the K1 team event in 2009 and 2010. He has trained at the Lee Valley White Water Centre since 2012. He won a European Championship under-23 silver medal in the individual K1 in 2013, and World Championship silver medals in the under-23 team event in 2013 and 2014. At senior level, he won six medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with three golds (Kayak cross:
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
,
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, K1 team:
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), one silver (K1 team: 2022) and two bronzes (K1 team:
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
,
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
). He also won 5 medals (2 silvers and 3 bronzes) at the
European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...
, including a bronze medal in the K1 event at the
2023 European Games The 3rd European Games ( pl, III Igrzyska Europejskie, Igrzyska Europejskie 2023), informally known as Kraków-Małopolska 2023, is a scheduled international sporting event to be held in Kraków and Małopolska, Poland in 2023. All Olympic sports h ...
in Kraków. Clarke was selected for the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
after winning the individual K1 at the British selection trials in October 2015. At the Olympics he qualified for the final of the K1 event with the third fastest time in the semi-final. He won gold in the final with a time of 88.53 seconds, the first time a British competitor had won gold in this event. Clarke was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to canoeing. In 2018, Clarke guest starred in the third episode of the fourth series of the CBBC children cooking show Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch. Clarke narrowly missed out on selection for the tokyo 2020 olympics. Following the postponement of the games, Clarke tried to force British Canoeing to abandon the selected athletes and have a new selection process for the olympic team. Unfortunately for Clarke this idea was rejected and British Canoeing have decided to stand by the existing team selection to allow these athletes to focus on the postponed games.


World Cup individual podiums


Results


2009


2010


2011


2012


2013


2014


2015


2016


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Joseph 1992 births English male canoeists Living people Sportspeople from Stoke-on-Trent Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in canoeing British male canoeists Members of the Order of the British Empire Medalists at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships Canoeists at the 2023 European Games European Games bronze medalists for Great Britain European Games medalists in canoeing