George Spencer Bridgewater (born 18 January 1983) is a former New Zealand rower who competed in the pair at international level with Nathan Twaddle. The pair began representing New Zealand together in 2004 and won bronze medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Bridgewater went to his third Summer Olympics in 2016 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

Rowing career

Bridgewater was born in 1983 in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, New Zealand. He rowed for the Avon club based in Christchurch, and won several titles at New Zealand Rowing Championships, beginning in 2002. Bridgewater and Twaddle finished fourth in the pairs final at the Athens Olympics. They won a gold medal 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 Gifu Prefecture, Japan, in 2005, in the Magic 45 minutes where four New Zealand crews won gold medals. The pair finished second in the 2006 and 2007 World Rowing Championships. In 2008, following the Beijing Olympics, Bridgewater matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he was part of the winning crew in the 155th

University Boat Race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. There are separate men's a ...

on 29 March 2009, rowing at seven. While at Oxford, Bridgewater stroked the

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, w ...

1st Eight in

Summer Eights Eights Week, also known as Summer Eights, is a four-day regatta of bumps races which constitutes the University of Oxford's main intercollegiate rowing event of the year. The regatta takes place in May of each year, from the Wednesday to the ...

, bumping Balliol College to finish 3rd on the river. In the

2009 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2009 were announced on 31 December 2008 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis,Saint Christopher. to ...

, Bridgewater was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to rowing. Later that year he graduated from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The School is a provider of management education and is consistently ranked as one of the world's top business schools. Oxford School of Management ...

with an MBA. He worked for

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

in Singapore, but returned to New Zealand in June 2014 to prepare for the 2016 Olympics. He competed in the quadruple sculls at Rio with Nathan Flannery, John Storey, and Jade Uru, and the team came tenth.

Private life

Bridgewater has two children.

References

External links

Rowing New Zealand page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgewater, George 1983 births Living people New Zealand male rowers Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Olympic rowers for New Zealand Olympic bronze medalists for New Zealand Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in rowing Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Alumni of Saïd Business School Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers from Wellington City New Zealand expatriates in Singapore World Rowing Championships medalists for New Zealand Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics