Tom James (rower)

Thomas James MBE (born 11 March 1984) is a British rower, twice Olympic champion and victorious Cambridge Blue.

Having won a bronze medal in 2001 with GB Junior eights and silver in 2002 at the World Rowing Junior Championships, James won his first senior international vest in 2003.

He stroked the Great Britain Eight, which won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Milan.

Following this success, James decided that training for the Olympics and studying for his engineering degree were incompatible.

He took a year off from his studies at Cambridge, and trained with the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames.

The buildup to the Olympics for the GB Men's Rowing Squad was somewhat disrupted due to illness, injury and variable form.

James fell ill the night before the Heat in the Olympic competition – a devastating blow and whilst he returned for the repechage, the crew failed to make the final.

He went up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 2002, obtaining his undergraduate degree in engineering in 2007.

Whilst at Cambridge University, James was a member of Cambridge University Boat Club (CUBC) and took part in The Boat Race four times in five years between 2003 and 2007 (taking a year off to train for the 2004 Summer Olympics).

Having concentrated his efforts on the Olympics in 2004, James returned to Cambridge in 2005.

Both universities had extremely strong intakes that year, with Cambridge boasting several world champions and the Oxford crew including Olympic silver medalist Barney Williams.

Oxford won the epic contest by 2 lengths in a time of 16 minutes 41 seconds.

He was elected president of CUBC for the 2006–07 academic year.

In 2006, the weather was particularly bad, and Cambridge lost again, this time by 5 lengths.

After taking a break from international rowing, James returned to the British Team in 2006, forming a pair with Oxford rival Colin Smith.

The duo raced to a surprise silver behind reigning world champions New Zealand at the Lucerne World Cup regatta to earn selection for the world championships at Eton's Dorney Lake, making the final and finishing sixth.

After three years of disappointment, James returned to the boat race one final time in 2007, this time as President of CUBC.

In a race where Cambridge were strong favourites based on the team members' individual successes, the light blues showed their class by staying in touch while Oxford had the advantage, and pushing on with tidier rowing from the halfway point.

They rowed on to win by a length and a quarter, finally providing James with a victory at the fourth attempt.

In Summer 2007 he was subbed in for Alex Partridge in the flagship British rowing boat, the coxless four, which won Henley Royal Regatta in July 2007 and then took silver seven days later in the Lucerne World Cup Regatta.

He was then selected in the GB coxed four for the world championships in Munich, but was promoted to the bow seat of the eight when the original incumbent fell ill on the morning of the heats.

The crew made the final, securing GB qualification for the Beijing Olympics, and took the bronze behind Canada and Germany.

Reunited with Colin Smith in a pair, James finished second at the GB final trials regatta in March, 2008, to put himself well on course for a place at his second Olympics.

He was then selected for the GB coxless four along with Andy Triggs-Hodge, Steve Williams and Pete Reed.

After a difficult early season, with both James and Triggs-Hodge picking up injuries, the four raced together for the first time in Poznan in the final World Cup event of the season, finishing third.

The GB four then dominated their heats and semi finals at the Olympics Beijing.

In the final, however, the Australian four led for most of the way.

Only a dramatic push by the British boat in the closing stages made the difference; they won the nail-biting final to become gold medallists in a time of 6 minutes 6.57 seconds, beating the Australian four by 1.28 seconds.

At the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia, James raced in the men's four with crew-mates Matt Langridge, Ric Egington and Alex Gregory winning a gold medal ahead of Greece in second and Australia in third.

In a British coxless four in 2012 he set a world's best time which still stood as of 2021.

James was born in Cardiff and spent part of his childhood in Berlin, Germany as his father was an officer in the British Army, but considers his hometown to be the village of Coedpoeth, near Wrexham.

James was educated at Packwood Haugh School near Ruyton-XI-Towns, and then at The King's School, Chester.

He was a keen sportsman and played football and rugby before being diagnosed with Osgood–Schlatter disease, forcing him to switch to rowing instead.

While at King's, he was schoolmates and shared a boat with fellow Olympian Chris Bartley.

During the 2012 World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, James rejoined Gregory in the fours while Reed and Triggs Hodge were switched over from the pairs.

They set a new world record during the heats at the second regatta with a time of 5:37.86.

At the Olympics, they beat main rivals Australia in the semi-finals, and then repeated their win in the final.

For James, Reed and Triggs Hodge, it was their second gold medal in the category, following their win in Beijing four years prior.

All British gold medal winners at the 2012 Olympics were honoured with appearing on Royal Mail postage stamps, and having a post box in their home town painted gold.

James' "golden" post boxes are located in Wrexham and Coedpoeth.