Matthew Langridge (born 20 May 1983) 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 ...

. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight. He was the 2015 European Champion in the men's pair, along with James Foad. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro he was part of the British crew that won the gold medal in the men's eight.

Biography

Junior

Matthew was born in Crewe, Cheshire, and grew up in the town of Northwich, attending

Hartford High School Hartford Church of England High School is a voluntary aided Church of England secondary school on Neot Road in Hartford, Cheshire, for students aged between eleven and sixteen. The school has dual specialist college status in both languages an ...

and gaining his A Levels at St Nicholas Catholic High School. He started rowing at Northwich Rowing Club being coached by Paul Rafferty. At his first

World Rowing Junior Championships The World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 December of the year in which he reaches the age of ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in 2000 he narrowly missed out on a medal coming fourth in the double scull with Pete Wells of

Queen Elizabeth High School, Hexham Queen Elizabeth High School (QEHS) is a coeducational high school and sixth form located in Hexham, Northumberland, England. History The school was founded in 1599. Thomas Stackhouse, afterwards an Anglican clergyman and theologian, was headma ...

. A few weeks earlier they had lost out in the final of the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, to the Danish double of Kalizan and Samuelsen. In 2001 he was the first ever junior British oarsman to win the gold medal in the

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 ...

s event in the

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in No ...

, Germany in 2001. Later that year, he broke the British

Indoor Rowing Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

record for 2,000m in the J18 category, posting a time of 5 minutes and 59 seconds.

Senior

Matthew raced at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens in the Men's Double Sculls with Matthew Wells, and missed out by 0.06 seconds on a place in Final A. They won Final B, ranking them 8th overall, as the A final included 7 crews (rather than the typical 6) due to a tie for 3rd between Norway and USA in semi-final A. In the 2007 season he won two

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Gold Medals, in a pair with Colin Smith at

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

, and in an eight at

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, before winning the bronze medal in the pair 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, ...

in Munich. He won the bronze medal at the 2007 British Indoor Rowing Championships in the Men's Heavyweight category. In the 2008 Summer Olympics he was selected to compete in the Men's Eight in Beijing. In the run-up to the games, he won silver at the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

event, bronze in Lucerne, and gold in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

. At the Beijing Olympics he rowed in the 7 seat of the men's eight, qualifying for the final in the fastest time of either heat, 1.8 seconds ahead of the pre-games favourites, Canada. In the final, despite a late charge from Great Britain, the eight was narrowly beaten by Canada, with Langridge winning a silver medal. He was part of the British squad that topped the medal table at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in

Bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper C ...

, where he won a gold medal as part of the coxless four with

Richard Egington Richard Phillip Egington (born 26 February 1979 in Warrington, Cheshire) is a British rower. He won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics for Great Britain in the men's eight. He was part of the British squad that topped the medal table at ...

, Tom James and Alex Gregory. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight. He competed at the

2014 World Rowing Championships The 2014 World Rowing Championships were the 44th edition of the World Rowing Championships and were held from 24 to 31 August 2014 at Bosbaan, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the second occasion on which the event had been held in Amsterdam, or ...

in Bosbaan,

, where he won a silver medal as part of the coxless pair with James Foad and was part of the British team that topped the medal table at the

2015 World Rowing Championships The 2015 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 2015 at Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette in France. Description The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by FISA (the ...

Lac d'Aiguebelette Lac d'Aiguebelette is a natural lake in the commune of Aiguebelette-le-Lac, within the department of Savoie, France. Geography Description With a surface area of 5.45 km2 and a depth of 71 meters it is one of the largest natural lakes of F ...

in France, where he won a silver medal as part of the coxless pair with James Foad. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro he was part of the British crew that won the gold medal in the men's eight. Soon afterwards, he retired from professional rowing and spent a year working as a rowing coach for The Grange School, Hartford.

After Rowing

In October 2020, Matt qualified as a Commercial Pilot.

Honours

Langridge was awarded the 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.

Achievements

Olympics

*2016

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 ...

– GOLD, Eight, (7) *2012 London – BRONZE, Eight, (2) *2008 Beijing – SILVER, Eight (7) *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 ...

– 8th, Double (stroke)

World Championships

*2015

– Silver, Coxless Pair (stroke) *2014

– Silver, Coxless Pair (stroke) *2011

– Gold, Men's Four *2010

Lake Karapiro Lake Karapiro () is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River at Karapiro, south-east of Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by the damming of the Waikato River to store water for the 96-megawatt Karapir ...

– 4th, Men's Four *2009

– Gold, Men's Four *2007

– Bronze, Coxless Pair (stroke)

World Cups

*2008

– Gold, Eight (7) *2008 Lucerne – Bronze, Eight (3) *2008

– Silver, Eight (3) *2007

– Gold, Eight (7) *2007

– Gold, Coxless Pair (stroke)

Junior World Championships

*2001

– Gold, Single Scull

References

External links

*
– Concept 2 British Indoor Rowing Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langridge, Matthew 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Crewe Sportspeople from Northwich English male rowers Olympic rowers of Great Britain Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in rowing Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Members of Leander Club British male rowers World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Members of the Order of the British Empire European Rowing Championships medalists