Kieran Martin West (born 18 September 1977) is a retired

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

and

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

who represented

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Education

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 ...

, West was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

, in south-east

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, before going to Christ's College, Cambridge in 1995, to study for a BA in

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and

Land Economy In economics, land comprises all naturally occurring resources as well as geographic land. Examples include particular geographical locations, mineral deposits, forests, fish stocks, atmospheric quality, geostationary orbits, and portions of th ...

, followed by a PGCE in Mathematics three years later. On graduating from his second degree he taught Mathematics at

King's College School, Wimbledon King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London a ...

for two years, before returning to his studies in 2004. Changing discipline, he first read for an MA in

War Studies War studies, sometimes called polemology, is the multi-disciplinary study of war. It pertains to the military, diplomatic, philosophical, social, political, psychological or economic dimensions of human conflict. The word ''polemology'' deriv ...

at King's College London, and then a PhD in

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Strategy and

Military Intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Sporting career

Early career

West was introduced to rowing by his father, Richard, and began coxing at

Kingston Rowing Club Kingston Rowing Club (KRC) is a rowing club in England founded in 1858 and a member club of British Rowing. The club is located on the River Thames at Kingston upon Thames, downstream and north-east of Kingston Bridge and Kingston Railway Bri ...

aged 10. When he quickly outgrew this role he started sculling, and entered his first race in November 1989, going unbeaten for over 2 years. He won the

National Rowing Championships The British Rowing Championships usually take place every year. The event is held at the National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepont Holme Pierrepont is a hamlet and civil parish located south-east of the city of Nottingham in Nottingham ...

in a

single scull A single scull (or a scull) is a rowing boat designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly semi-circular in cross-section in order to mini ...

at his age category when 15, then trialled for the British under-18 rowing team. Although initially successful, he suffered a severe lower back injury and was forced to retire from sport for three years to undergo intensive physiotherapy.

The Boat Race

For his first two years at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

West rehabilitated himself back into a boat, finally rowing again in spring 1997. After a term of rowing for his

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

in the

May Bumps The May Bumps (also May Races, Mays) are a set of rowing races, held annually on the River Cam in Cambridge, England. They began in 1887 after separating from the Lent Bumps, the equivalent bumping races held at the end of February or start of M ...

he rowed in the

Goldie crew in 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 wate ...

coxed by Olympian Suzie Ellis, losing to Isis by two and a third lengths. West represented Great Britain for the first time in 1998, and made the Cambridge

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 ...

in 1999, rowing in the six seat, a position he would take in all his Cambridge crews. Considered by many to have been one of the fastest crews the Club had produced, Cambridge went on to win comfortably in the second fastest time in

history. Selected to represent Great Britain again that summer, and with the opportunity to go to his first

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, West took a year out of his studies to concentrate on his rowing. While away he was elected President of the Cambridge University Boat Club for the 2001

campaign. Despite having lost both the

and the Isis-Goldie Race in 2000, Cambridge comfortably beat Oxford exactly six months after West's Sydney final. Goldie also beat Isis that year, giving Cambridge the clean sweep, the last time this would happen for six years. West was subsequently voted 'Cambridge Sports Personality of the Year, 2000/2001'. Although he initially finished at

in 2001, West returned in 2005 and rowed in the 2006

. Cambridge were favourites for the 2006 Race but rough conditions on the day led to Cambridge taking on a significant amount of water and coming close to sinking, leaving Oxford to pull away to victory. The following year, Cambridge were even stronger favourites and, with five returning members of the 2006 crew, were keen to put the record straight. After a tighter than expected early section of the race, Cambridge pulled away after twelve minutes to win. As the rules of the

state that no athlete can participate in more than four races as an undergraduate and four races as a graduate (the "Rankov Rule"), this was West's last for Cambridge. Throughout the season, the crew had been accompanied by an ethnographer, Mark De Rond, who subsequently wrote a book on the season's experiences, ''The Last Amateurs: To Hell and Back with the Cambridge Boat Race Crew''. West joined the British rowing team after the 2007 Boat Race, but retired from international rowing two months later to concentrate on his academic studies. West's three wins from four Boat Races makes him one of the most successful Cambridge rowing Blues, after

Chris Baillieu Christopher Latham Baillieu MBE (born 12 December 1949) is an English former rower who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics and in the 1980 Summer Olympics representing Great Britain. He was the first chairman of British Swimming, from 2001 to ...

who won four from four, while the eight years between his first and last Cambridge appearances is the longest span in

history. West was also the first member of

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

to win a gold medal at the

while still a student.

International rowing

West's international rowing career began in 1998, when he competed for Great Britain with Mark Hunter in the Double Scull at the under-23 World Rowing Championships in Ioannina,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. The following year he was selected to row in the Men's Eight 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 1999, he was selected as part of an eight, coached by

Martin McElroy Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

and

Harry Mahon Harold Thomas Mahon (15 January 1942 – 19 May 2001) was a New Zealand rowing coach. He coached international crews from New Zealand, Switzerland, South Africa and Great Britain to success at World Championships and Olympic Games. He also coach ...

. It was second at all three regattas in the 1999

Rowing World Cup The World Rowing Cup is an international rowing competition organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It began in 1997 and comprises three regattas (apart from in 2001 when there were four) held throughout early summer. In each ev ...

, broke the British record on two occasions and came close to breaking the world record. At the

it briefly led the final, the first British eight ever to do so, before taking a silver medal behind the 1997 and 1998 World Champions, USA, the highest finish position of a British Eight at a

. West took a year out of his studies to concentrate on preparing for the

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

. The crew had two changes from the previous year and was even more successful in the early season, taking two gold medals and one silver from the

and becoming the first British Eight to win the event outright. At the

Britain were the joint favourites for the gold medal, alongside the USA, who had not raced internationally that season. A poor row in the first round, West's 23rd birthday, saw them lose to a strong Australian crew, but they won the

repechage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...

. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

Britain led from start to finish to win the gold medal for the first time since the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games, with West being the youngest member of the crew, and the first member of Cambridge University to win at the Olympics while still a student. Australia took the silver. The crew of Andrew Lindsay,

Ben Hunt-Davis (Francis) Benedict Hunt-Davis MBE (born 15 March 1972) is a former British competition rower and an Olympic champion. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2001 New Year Honours list. Early life Hunt-Davis was ed ...

, Simon Dennis,

Louis Attrill Louis Mark Attrill MBE is a British rower and Olympic gold medallist. Career Attrill took up rowing at Shanklin Rowing Club on the Isle of Wight and won novice at Milford regatta. The following year he furthered his interest in the sport at I ...

Luka Grubor Luka Grubor MBE (born 27 December 1973) is a retired rower, born in Zagreb, who competed internationally for Yugoslavia, Croatia and Great Britain, as well as for Oxford in the 1997 Boat Race. Grubor won a gold medal in the men's eight at the ...

, Kieran West,

Fred Scarlett Fred Scarlett MBE (born 29 April 1975 in Ashford) is an English Olympic gold medalist as a British rower. He took up rowing at The King's School Canterbury, and was Captain of Boats in his final year. At Oxford Brookes University, he won ...

Steve Trapmore Stephen Patrick Trapmore (born 18 March 1975) is an English rowing coach and former rower who represented Great Britain at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He is currently the High Performance Coach within the Great Britain Olympic Rowing pro ...

and Rowley Douglas were all subsequently awarded the

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

for "services to rowing" in the

2001 New Year Honours The 2001 New Year Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British honours system, where New Year's Day, 1 January, is marked in several Commonwealth countries by appointing new members of orders of chivalry and recipient ...

. Though selected for the British Eight in 2001, West was unable to compete at the

due to a rib injury followed by a shoulder injury sustained earlier that season. The following year West stroked the British Coxed Four to a gold medal at the 2002

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. The crew also contained two of the 2000 British Eight,

and

, and two members of the 2001 Cambridge

, Tom Stallard and Christian Cormack. The following year West and Stallard were again in the Coxed Four and took a silver medal at 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, ...

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. West continued rowing internationally for the next three years, in the Men's Eight at the

2004 Athens 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), ...

, stroking the Eight to fourth place at the 2005 World Championships in Gifu, and back in the six seat of the Eight at the 2006 World Championships in

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

. He retired from international rowing in March 2008.

Sporting achievements

In the course of his rowing career West won every major international and domestic rowing event: the

, the

, the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, the

Head of the River Race The Head of the River Race (HORR) is an against-the-clock ('processional') rowing race held annually on the River Thames in London, England between eights, other such races being the Schools' Head of the River Race, Women's Head of the River Rac ...

, the

Head of the River Fours The Fuller's Head of the River Fours (HOR4s) is a processional rowing race held annually on the Tideway of the River Thames in London on the Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney. History The idea for a Tradesmen's Tideway Head Race for ...

, and he came out of retirement in 2008 to win the

Visitors' Challenge Cup The Visitors Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs and has similar qualifying rules ...

at Henley Royal Regatta, in a composite crew representing

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

and

. West remains a member of

. His last race was for Pembroke College Boat Club first men's eight, in the 6 seat, who were one of only two crews in the Mays first division to receive blades in 2009, the other being

Magdalene College Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mar ...

Boat Club. West's older brother, Damian, is also an international oarsman, who rowed for

Oxford University Boat Club Oxford University Boat Club (OUBC) is the rowing club for male, heavyweight oarsman of the University of Oxford, England, located on the River Thames at Oxford. The club was founded in the early 19th century. The Boat Race The club races agai ...

in the 1996

and for Great Britain from 1993 to 1997. City of Cambridge Rowing Club owns a men's eight named in West's honour: ''Kieran West, MBE''. The boat was originally owned by Christ's College, Cambridge, where West was studying during his first period at Cambridge.

Personal life

West was born with a

cleft lip and palate A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The ...

. On 8 August 2009, West married Lourina Pretorius a former student at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, from South Africa. The following month, he started work at McKinsey & Co. in London, where he was employed for eight years. He now works in private healthcare. The couple lives in Buckinghamshire and has two daughters.

Sporting Achievements

Olympic Games

* 2004

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

– 9th, Eight * 2000 Sydney – Gold, Eight

World Championships

* 2006

– 5th, Eight * 2005 Gifu – 4th, Eight * 2003

– Silver, Coxed Four * 2002

– Gold, Coxed Four * 1999 St. Catharines – Silver, Eight

The Boat Race

* 2007 – Won * 2006 – Lost * 2001 – Won (President) * 1999 – Won

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:West, Kieran Olympic rowers of Great Britain Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 1977 births Living people Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge People educated at Dulwich College English male rowers English Olympic medallists Cambridge University Boat Club rowers Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain McKinsey & Company people Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic medalists in rowing World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2000 Summer Olympics