Josh West
Josh was selected in the men's eight for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and won a silver medal.
Twice a World Championship silver medallist, a World Championship bronze medallist and four times Cambridge Blue, Josh represented GB in the eight at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He raced in the eight in the 2007 World Cup series winning a bronze medal in Amsterdam. Josh won a bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships in the eight. He raced in the eight in the 2008 World Cup series finishing 2nd, 3rd and 1st.
Josh was born and brought up in the USA and started rowing aged 17 as a freshman at Yale where he studied geology and international studies. He raced in the Harvard versus Yale race in 1998.
Josh decided to continue his studies at Cambridge and joined CUBC in 1998, where he has raced in four Boat Race crews, winning in 1999 and 2001.
In 1999 he won the Ladies Plate at Henley Royal Regatta and after impressing in the GB Senior Selection Trials in 2001, where he paired with Rick Dunn, he won his first GB vest in the eight that finished 5th in the World Championships that year.
The following year Josh moved into the four, replacing the injured Ed Coode, and won silver at the World Championships, finishing just 0.2 seconds behind the winning Germans.
In 2003 he again rowed in the four that won silver at the World Championships.
In 2004 Josh raced in the men's eight at all three of the season's World Cup regattas.
At the Olympic Games in Athens the men's eight was troubled by illness at the semi–final stage and finished 9th overall.
In 2005, Josh spent the winter concentrating on completing his doctorate at Cambridge while maintaining his training and he finished 3rd in the pair at the GB Rowing Senior Trials. At the Eton, Munich and Lucerne World Cups he raced in the pair before joining the eight that went on to perform well at the 2005 World Championships in Gifu, Japan, finishing 4th. In 2006 he was also selected into the eight which finished 5th in the final of the 2006 World Championships at Eton.
He was also part of the British men's eight which finished 5th in the final of the 2006 World Championships at Eton.
Josh took up a teaching and research post at Oxford University in 2006 and his interests are travelling, geology and sleeping.
