Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birth name | Zachary Jake Nicholas Purchase | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | Team GB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Citizenship | British | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England | 2 May 1986|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 11 st (70 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | Felicity Purchase-Hill (2012–present) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | ZacPurchase.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Men's rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Lightweight Double Sculls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Marlow Rowing Club, Upton Rowing Club, Evesham Rowing Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Zachary Jake Nicholas Purchase-Hill MBE (born 2 May 1986) is a retired English rower.
Purchase won an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Both medals were won in the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls. He has also won three gold, one silver and a bronze at the World Rowing Championships.
Purchase was born in Cheltenham to Nicholas Purchase and Sara Holyer on 2 May 1986. Originally a competitive swimmer, Purchase started rowing in 1999 whilst a pupil at the King's School, Worcester. [1] Whilst at school, he also passed Grade 8 on the Saxophone with a Merit.
Following school, Purchase joined the British Rowing team as a Junior rower.
His main discipline was sculling with the majority of his international medals being won in the Lightweight Men's Double Scull with Mark Hunter.
In 2002, Purchase won his first international medals, a gold and silver at the Coupe de la Jeunesse and competed at the World Rowing Junior Championships the following two years. In 2003, aged 17, Purchase won the Fawley Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.
in 2005, Purchase competed at the World Rowing U23 Championships in Amsterdam where he won a gold medal. He entered the Senior World Rowing Championships three weeks later and won a silver medal. Both medals were achieved in the Lightweight Men's Single Scull.
By 2006, Purchase was a full-time member of the senior British Rowing, based in Caversham, Berkshire. The same year saw him suffer a ligament injury in his left wrist, which stopped him training between January – May. Regardless of this, his competed at the World Rowing Championships in Eton, Berkshire that summer and won his first World Championship title, achieving a World Record in the Lightweight Men's Single Scull.
Following his success in 2006, Purchase moved to the Lightweight Men's Double Scull in order to train for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Purchase achieved a bronze medal with Hunter in this category at the 2007 World Rowing Championships in Munich, Germany.
In 2008, Purchase went on to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing following an incredible season where Purchase & Hunter also won the World Rowing Cup.
Purchase won another two gold medals at the 2010 and 2011 World Rowing Championships, in New Zealand and Slovenia respectively.
He won his second Olympic medal (silver) at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Since retiring from rowing, Purchase has taken part in a number of public events and TV shows, including Who Wants To Be A Millionaire , Friday Night with Jonathan Ross , Ready Steady Cook , Three Men in a Boat and A Question of Sport .
On 27 November 2008, Zac Purchase officially named an eight rowing boat at The King's School, Worcester in honour of his Olympic Gold Medal win.
He regularly gives motivational speeches and hosts away days for businesses, schools and charities. He is also a qualified Personal Trainer.
Purchase was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to sport and collected his award in June of that year. [2]
Purchase married long-term partner Felicity Purchase-Hill (née Hill), also a former pupil and rower at the King's School, Worcester, shortly after the 2012 Summer Olympics at St Paul's Cathedral in London. The wedding was covered by Hello . They have two daughters, born in 2015 & 2018.
Iztok Čop is a Slovenian rower and Olympic gold medalist.
Alexander Matthew Partridge is a British rower, and an Olympic silver and bronze medallist.
Peter K. Reed OBE is a retired British Olympic rower. Reed is a three-times Olympic gold medallist – earning gold in the Men's coxless four at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and then a gold medal in the Men's eight at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He has also won five gold medals and three silver medals at the World Championships.
Frances Houghton MBE is a 5 time Olympic rower (2000–2016), 4 times World Champion and 3 times Olympic Silver medallist.
Andrew Triggs Hodge is a British former rower - a three time Olympic champion and four time world champion. In the British coxless four in 2012 he set a world's best time which still stood as of 2023.
Colin M. Smith is a Zimbabwean-born British rower, Olympic silver medallist and three times an Oxford Blue. He also possesses a degree in Law.
Thomas James MBE 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.
Matthew Langridge is a British 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 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.
David William Crawshay is an Australian former rower, an eleven-time national champion, an Olympic champion and medalist at World Championships. He represented Australia in rowing at three consecutive Olympic games from Athens 2004 to London 2012.
Mark John Hunter MBE is a retired British rower.
Richard Scott Chambers is a British rower, and is the brother of fellow rower Peter Chambers. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the silver medal in the lightweight men's four.
Ali Ibrahim was an Egyptian rower who competed at four Olympic Games. He also won multiple World Rowing Cup medals, including three silver medals and two bronze medals.
Peter Taylor is a former New Zealand rower. He became world champion in 2009 in men's lightweight double scull.
Hannah Every-Hall is an Australian former rower, a national champion, World Champion and Olympian. She is married to Michael Hall and they have a son named Harrison Hall
Martino Goretti is an Italian representative lightweight rower, a current (2019) world champion and a dual Olympian. He has represented at senior World Rowing Championships and World Rowing Cups consistently from 2005 to 2019. He is a four time world champion at the senior level who won three titles in Italian lightweight eights from 2005 to 2009 and then in 2019 won the lightweight single scull world title. He had previously won underage world championships as a junior and an U23.
Samuel Beltz is an Australian former lightweight rower. He is a 16-time national champion, a world champion and dual Olympian. He competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and represented Australia at the premier world class regattas over a fifteen-year period from 1999 to 2014.
Roderick Chisholm is a British lightweight class former rower who represented both Great Britain and Australia at world championships. He is an Australian national champion, a World Champion and a dual Olympian who competed at the world class level in both sculls and in sweep-oared boats.
Thomas Gibson is an Australian lightweight rower. He is a twelve-time Australian national champion, a world champion and a dual Olympian.
Paul O'Donovan is an Irish lightweight rower. He is a double Olympic champion in the lightweight double sculls where he set a new world's best time for that event and is a seven-time world champion in single and double sculls.
Adam Freeman-Pask is a British rower. He is a World Bronze medalist and European Silver medalist. He participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics In London.