David Bewicke-Copley

David learnt to row at Eton College and still keeps in touch with Alex Henshilwood (his school coach) today, as he was a very important mentor during his early days in the sport. 

From school David went to Princeton University after competing at his first U23 World Championships in 2016. He raced on the collegiate circuit in the USA from 2017-2020 and competed at 3 more U23 World Championships concurrently. He won a gold medal at his final U23 Worlds which was special, as it was GB’s first ever win in that event. After graduating, he spent a year rowing at Oxford Brookes and then was invited into the GB team in 2021.

David was part of an undefeated Men’s Eight in his first season in the team and became a senior World Champion in 2022. The following season he retained his seat in the eight, but picked up an injury right before the first race which ruled him out for the remainder of the 2023 season, and the following 2024 Olympic season too. Missing out on the Paris Olympics was devastating for David, but forced him to look inwards and gave him the fire to undergo a block of treatment including surgeries and return to the team to push towards an Olympic seat in LA.

David has a personal interest in behavioral finance which his undergraduate degree in Legal, Political and Economic Anthropology played a big part in developing. While he was bed-bound around his surgeries, he enrolled in online business school courses to make use of the rare block of free time to develop that interest further. He now spends much of his free time reading and keeping up to date in that field.

David was raised on a cattle and organic arable farm in the midlands, and he credits most of my strength and endurance to long days in his youth working on the farm with his Dad and siblings! He wanted to be a professional athlete throughout his childhood, and before rowing he played hockey for his region. Originally he hoped to go to the Olympics as a hockey player, before being encouraged that he was much more the build for rowing and making the switch at 16.