Oli Wilkes named to University of Edinburgh Sports Hall of Fame

Olympic Bronze medallist joins fellow rowers Dame Katherine Grainger and Polly Swann

Olympic Bronze medallist Oli Wilkes has been inducted into the University of Edinburgh Sports Hall of Fame. Wilkes, who won bronze in the Men’s Coxless Four at last summer’s Paris Olympic Games joins Olympic bronze medallist Aleksandra Kalucka, and three time Paralympian Stephen Clegg MBE as the 2025 inductees.

Upon his induction, Oli said: “I’m truly honoured to see my name among such legends as Chris Hoy, Katherine Grainger and my old flatmate Polly Swann!

“Edinburgh University kickstarted my international rowing career and gave me the confidence to aim for the Olympic team.”

A former swimmer, Oli began his rowing career at the University of Liverpool before heading to the Scottish capital to study for his MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems.

As a swimmer, Oli won a silver medal at the Youth National Championships as part of a 4x100m Freestyle relay team, a sign that greatness was to follow.

Whilst training in the performance programme at Edinburgh, Wilkes quickly moved up the ranks within the Great Britain Rowing Team trials process. He earned his first GB vest at the 2017 World Rowing U23 Championships in the Men’s Coxed Four, where he went on to win an impressive silver medal. It was a combination of this result and domestic success with the University of Edinburgh Boat Club that meant he was awarded University Blues in 2018.

Breaking into the senior squad, Oli raced in the men’s pair at World Cup II in 2021 and was selected as a non-travelling reserve for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He was selected in the Men’s four at the start of the 2022 season, but his dreams were cut short as he caught Covid in Belgrade before the start of World Cup I and watched his crew mates win gold from his quarantine hotel room, spending the rest of the season back as a reserve.

He fought his way back into the Men’s four in the 2023 season maintaining the crew’s unbeaten run. He has much fonder memories of Belgrade in 2023 as he became World Champion and qualified the boat for Paris 2024.

During last summer’s Olympics at Stade nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne, Oli, alongside David Ambler, Matt Aldridge, and Freddie Davidson, had a terrific regatta. The crew won their heat progressing straight through to the final before winning a sensational bronze medal in front of a roaring grandstand.