Matthew Langridge (born 20 May 1983) is a British rower. At the

2012 Summer 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 ...

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 James Foad (born 20 March 1987) is an English rower. 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 Matt Lang ...

. At 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 ...

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 Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

, Cheshire, and grew up in the town of

Northwich {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

, attending Hartford High School 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 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

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 Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thre ...

, 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 sculls event in the World Rowing Junior Championships in

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 Nor ...

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

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 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 of ...

, and in an eight at

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, before winning the bronze medal in the pair at the World Championships 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 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

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 States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

World Cup event, bronze in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

, 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 John ...

. 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 The 2011 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 28 August to 4 September 2011 at Lake Bled in the Slovenian city of Bled. The annual week-long rowing regatta is organized by World Rowing Federation Worl ...

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,

Tom James Thomas James MBE (born 11 March 1984) is a British rower, twice Olympic champion and victorious Cambridge Blue. In a British coxless four in 2012 he set a world's best time which still stood as of 2021. Background and early life James was bor ...

and

Alex Gregory Alexander John Gregory, (born 11 March 1984) is an English rower and a two-time Olympic Gold medallist from 2012 and 2016 in the Coxless four. Education Alex Gregory was educated at the Richard Pate School in Cheltenham, then Bredon Hill Mi ...

. At the

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 ...

Bosbaan The Bosbaan is a rowing lake situated in the Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest) in Amstelveen, Netherlands. Amstelveen is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands and is part of the metropolitan area of Amsterdam. Confusingly, all built struc ...

, 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 Int ...

at Lac d'Aiguebelette in France, where he won a silver medal as part of the coxless pair with James Foad. At the

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 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 ...

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 b ...

– 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 Lac d'Aiguebelette – Silver, Coxless Pair (stroke) *2014

– Silver, Coxless Pair (stroke) *2011

– Gold, Men's Four *2010 Lake Karapiro – 4th, Men's Four *2009

– Gold, Men's Four *2007

– Bronze, Coxless Pair (stroke)

World Cups

*2008

– Gold, Eight (7) *2008

– 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