Mohamed Karim Sbihi (born 27 March 1988) 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 ...

. He is a three-time Olympian and Olympic medal winner. He won a gold medal in the

coxless four A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on t ...

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, and at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

he was in the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight. He returned to the eight for the 2020 Tokyo games, again winning bronze.

Early life

Sbihi was born in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

to a British mother and a Moroccan father. He attended Hollyfield Secondary School in Surbiton, before studying

Sport Science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...

with Health, Nutrition & Exercise at St. Mary's University College, Twickenham on a sports scholarship from 2006 to 2010. Before he joined the rowing team he played both association football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. At the age of 15, he was identified as a potentially successful oarsman by a talent-spotting programme and joined the GB Rowing World Class Start programme. Sbihi finished first in the junior men J15 category at the 2003 Great Britain Indoor Rowing Championships.

Career

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the eight. In 2013, he was part of the men’s eight that won gold at the

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of th ...

. In 2014 he won gold medals in the coxless four at both the

European Rowing Championships The European Rowing Championships is an international Rowing regatta organised by FISA (the International Rowing Federation) for European rowing nations, plus Israel which, though not a member of the European federation is treated as a Europea ...

in Belgrade and the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Amsterdam. In 2015, he won gold at the

for the third consecutive year, this time in the eight again. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sbihi was part of the GB coxless four. The team won the gold medal, Britain's fifth consecutive gold in the event. He won a bronze medal at the

2017 World Rowing Championships The 2017 World Rowing Championships were the 47th edition of the World Rowing Championships that were held from 24 September to 1 October 2017 in Sarasota, Florida. Host selection During 2013, Plovdiv and Sarasota, Florida both applied to hos ...

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

, as part of the coxless four. He then won a bronze medal at the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, as part of the eight with James Rudkin, Alan Sinclair,

Tom Ransley Thomas Matthew Ransley (born 6 September 1985) is a retired British rower. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro he was part of the British crew that won the gold medal in the eight, was twice a World Champion and in 2015 was the Eur ...

, Thomas George, Oliver Wynne-Griffith,

Matthew Tarrant Matthew T Tarrant (born 11 July 1990) is a British rower. Rowing career Tarrant won a gold medal in the eight at the 2014 World Championships in Bosbaan, Amsterdam. He was part of the British team that topped the medal table at the 2015 Worl ...

, Will Satch and Henry Fieldman and won another bronze medal the following year at the

2019 World Rowing Championships The 2019 World Rowing Championships were held in Ottensheim, Austria from 25 August to 1 September 2019. Apart from Ottensheim, the right to host the championships was contested by Hamburg in Germany, Račice in the Czech Republic, and Varese ...

Ottensheim Ottensheim is a municipality in the district of Urfahr-Umgebung in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. In July 2008 it hosted the World Rowing Championships, and it did so again in 2019. History First settlements in this area date from about 4 ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

as part of the eight with George, Rudkin, Josh Bugajski, Jacob Dawson, Wynne-Griffith, Tarrant, Thomas Ford and Fieldman. In 2021, he won a European gold medal in the eight in

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

, Italy. Sbihi was selected as one of

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their Great Britain at the Olympics, British Olympic team. The brand was developed after Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the nation's poor perfor ...

's two flag bearers for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, on 23 July 2021, which he described as a "huge honour". He became Great Britain's first ever Muslim flag bearer.

Honours

Sbihi was made a

member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the Queen's

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

list for services to rowing.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sbihi, Mohamed 1988 births Living people English male rowers People from Kingston upon Thames Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in rowing English Muslims English people of Moroccan descent Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Rowers from Greater London British male rowers World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire