Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Born | Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, US [1] | August 17, 1997
Education | Drexel University [2] |
Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
Sport | |
Sport | Rowing |
Medal record |
Justin Best (born August 17, 1997) is an American rower. He competed in the men's eight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. [3]
When he was in middle school, Best suffered a concussion playing football that caused him to reconsider his athletic activities. After seeing The Social Network his parents were inspired by the Harvard rowing team scenes and he started rowing for the Newport Rowing Club. [4] He continued rowing while at Unionville High School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, [5] where he was part of an effort to petition the local school board to add rowing as a club sport. [6] In 2015, he was part of the men's eight that won a silver medal at the World Rowing Junior Championships. [7]
Best attended Drexel University, where he studied business and engineering. While competing for the Drexel Dragons, they won the Dad Vail Regatta team title all four years. [5] During his time at Drexel he also competed for the US National U23 squad in 2018 and 2019. [6] After being selected in 2020, [6] he competed in the one year delayed men's eight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. [8] After graduating, he worked as an investment analyst. [9]
The Drexel Dragons are the athletic teams of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Charles Livingston Grimes was an American competition rower and Olympic champion.
Caryn Davies is an American rower. She won gold medals as the stroke seat in women's eight at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. In April 2015 Davies stroked Oxford University to victory in the first ever women's Oxford/Cambridge boat race held on the same stretch of the river Thames in London where the men's Oxford/Cambridge race has been held since 1829. She was the most highly decorated Olympian to take part in either [men's or women's] race. In 2012 Davies was ranked number 4 in the world by the International Rowing Federation. At the 2004 Olympic Games she won a silver medal in the women's eight. Davies has won more Olympic medals than any other U.S. oarswoman. The 2008 U.S. women's eight, of which she was a part, was named FISA crew of the year. Davies is from Ithaca, New York, where she graduated from Ithaca High School, and rowed with the Cascadilla Boat Club. Davies was on the Radcliffe College (Harvard) Crew Team and was a member on Radcliffe's 2003 NCAA champion Varsity 8, and overall team champion. In 2013, she was a visiting student at Pembroke College, Oxford, where she stroked the college men's eight to a victory in both Torpids and the Oxford University Summer Eights races. In 2013–14 Davies took up Polynesian outrigger canoeing in Hawaii, winning the State novice championship and placing 4th in the long-distance race na-wahine-o-ke-kai with her team from the Outrigger Canoe Club. In 2013, she was inducted into the New York Athletic Club Hall of Fame. She has served as a Vice President of the U.S. Olympians Association and as athletes' representative to the Board of USRowing.
Marcus McElhenney is an American coxswain and attorney. He won a bronze medal in the men's eight at the 2008 Summer Olympics before a career in law and politics.
Bachelors Barge Club is an amateur rowing club located at #6 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuously operating boathouse in the United States. It went through renovations as part of the "Light Boathouse Row" initiative, in which new LED lights were fitted to each of the boathouses. Bachelors Barge Club is currently home to several programs, including the Conestoga High School Crew Team, and the Drexel University Crew Team, among several others.
Hamish Bryon Bond is a retired New Zealand rower and former road cyclist. He is a three-time Olympic gold medallist at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. He won six consecutive World Rowing Championships gold medals in the coxless pair and set the current world best times in both the coxless and coxed pair. He made a successful transition from rowing to road cycling after the 2016 Summer Olympics focussing on the road time trial. He returned to rowing for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, winning a gold medal in the men's eight.
Stephen Kasprzyk is an American rower. He competed in the Men's eight event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Grace Elizabeth Prendergast is a former New Zealand sweep rower. She is a 15-time national champion in the premier category, an Olympic champion, a five-time world champion and the current (2022) world champion in the coxless pair. She grew up in Christchurch, where she started rowing for the Avon Rowing Club in 2007. She competed at the Tokyo Olympics in two boat classes and won gold in the coxless pair and a silver in the eight and set a new world's best time in the pair. Various parties, including the World Rowing Federation, expected her to win medals in Tokyo. She was the highest ranked female rower in the world twice in a row in 2019 and 2021. Since 2014, her rowing partner in the coxless pair has been Kerri Gowler. Prendergast is also a Boat Race winner, having competed as part of Cambridge University Boat Club's (CUBC) women's crew in 2022. She retired from professional rowing in October 2022.
Paul O'Donovan is an Irish lightweight rower. He is an Olympic gold medallist in lightweight double sculls where he set a new world's best time for that event and is a five-time world champion in single and double sculls.
Christine Faith Roper is a Canadian rower.
Alexander Hill is an Australian representative rower. He is an Australian national champion, a dual Olympian, an Olympic gold and silver medallist and was the 2017 and 2018 world champion in the coxless four. He stroked the Australian men's coxless four to a gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics.
Michael Brake is a New Zealand rower. He is a dual Olympian and won Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020.
Thomas James Murray is a New Zealand rower. Born and raised in Blenheim, he is a member of New Zealand's national rowing team and has competed in the eight and in the coxless pair. In the smaller boat, he has medalled in two World Rowing Championships; bronze in 2017 and silver in 2019. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he competed with the eight and won gold in the same boat class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Murray has won four consecutive premier national titles in the coxless pair. He has been world champion in age group rowing events three times.
Caleb Shepherd is a New Zealand rowing cox. He holds the world best time in the men's coxed pair (2014) and represented at the Rio Olympics in the New Zealand eight. He coxed the New Zealand women's eight to their 2019 World Championship title and has been twice a world champion.
Felix Wimberger is a German representative rower. He is an Olympian, a two time senior world champion in the German men's eight- the Deutschlandachter, and a two time underage world champion. He competed in the men's coxless four event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He rowed in the two seat when the Deutschlandachter at the 2017 World Rowing Cup II set a world's best time of 5.18.68, still the standing world mark as of 2021.
Sam Bosworth is a New Zealand coxswain. He is an Olympic champion and was the first male coxswain to win an international elite rowing event in a female crew.
Alexander (Steve) Purnell is an Australian rower. He is an Olympic and national champion who has represented at underage and senior world championships. In 2018 in an Australian eight, he won the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. He rowed in the bow seat of the Australian men's coxless four to a gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics.
Kendall "Kenny" Chase is a current American rower who competes in international level events and has qualified to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She was a five-time World U23 champion and a World Junior silver medalist. She represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She is openly a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Matt Macdonald is a New Zealand rower. He won a gold medal in the men's eight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Phillip Wilson is a New Zealand rower. He won Olympic gold in the men's eight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He went to Wellington College in Wellington where he took up rowing.