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The GB Rowing Team is the high performance arm of British Rowing. Rowing is the nation’s most continuously successful Olympic sport, having won a gold medal in every Olympic Games since 1984, and has won six Paralympic golds since the sport was introduced to the Paralympic Games programme in 2008.
GB Rowing Team
Rower // Lightweight Men's Squad Date of Birth: 28th Jan 1988 (34 years old) Club: Molesey BC Height: 180.00 Hometown: Kirriemuir
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Former World and reigning European champion Sam Scrimgeour was named as the lightweight men's spare for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Sam Scrimgeour raced in the lightweight men’s pair for nearly all of the Rio Olympiad, winning medals at four successive World Championships, and was an established member of a very competitive lightweight men’s squad.
Scrimgeour decided to retire from international rowing at the end of the 2017 season, in which he raced in the lightweight men’s pair with Joel Cassells.
Sam is a former World Champion and reigning European Champion in the lightweight men's pair
©Peter Spurrier/Intersport Images
2016
European Champion Lightweight Men's Pair
World Bronze Medallist Lightweight Men's Pair
2015
World Champion Lightweight Men's Pair
2014
European Silver Medallist Lightweight Men's Pair
2013
2012
European Silver Medallist Lightweight Men's Four
2010
World U23 Bronze Medallist Lightweight Men's Quadruple Scull
After claiming the World title in 2015, Sam and Joel Cassells continued their lightweight men’s pair partnership in 2016 and won an impressive hat-trick of gold medals – at the European Championships in Brandenburg and the World Cups in Lucerne and Poznan.
Sam, who had won the GB Rowing Team Trials alongside Jono Clegg, then went to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as the lightweight men’s spare before heading back to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to renew his partnership with Joel at the World Championships. They won their heat and semi-final to extend their unbeaten record but were edged into third place in a thrilling final and had to settle for bronze medals.
He had started 2015 as part of a new-look lightweight men’s four with Jono, Mark Aldred and Chris Bartley, finishing fourth at the European Championships in Poznan. Sam and Jono then moved to the lightweight pair for the World Cup regattas in Varese and Lucerne, winning silver at both.
Sam was joined in the boat by Joel Cassells for the World Championships in Aiguebelette and the pair produced an impressive performance to win gold by a three-second margin.
Sam was also in the lightweight pair during 2013 and 2014. He was partnered by Mark Aldred in the first year, winning World Cup gold at both Eton Dorney and Lucerne before claiming bronze at the World Championships in Chungju.
The following season saw Sam and Jono win silver at the European Championships in Belgrade and, after narrowly missing out on a medal at Aiguebelette, return to the podium with a third-placed finish at the Lucerne World Cup. They stepped up again at the World Championships in Amsterdam and only just missed out on a silver medal after a strong performance in the final.
Sam made the leap to the senior squad in 2012 when he raced at the European Rowing Championships in Varese, winning a solid silver medal in the lightweight men’s four with Adam Freeman-Pask, Will Fletcher and Jono Clegg.
He had won gold in the lightweight four at the 2009 National Championships before making his first GB Rowing Team appearance at the 2010 World U23 Championship in Brest, winning a bronze medal in the lightweight quad.
Sam went on to compete in the lightweight men’s double with Jamie Kirkwood at the FISU World University Rowing Championships in Hungary, finishing eighth.
Club: Molesey BC Boat: Lightweight Men’s Squad Role: Rower Learnt to Row: Strathclyde University Boat Club Original Club(s): Strathclyde University Boat Club, Glasgow Rowing Club, Imperial College BC Original Coach(es): Don McLachlan, Rob Morgan
Sam started rowing in 2005 in his first year at Strathclyde University where he studied for and achieved a Masters in Aero-Mechanical Engineering. Before then his plan had been to fly helicopters for a living or be a rally driver – Colin McRae was a big hero of his.
Chris Hoy is his current sporting hero and Sam is a keen cyclist himself. In April and May 2008 he biked 7,001km in 59 days from Singapore through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, finishing in Hanoi.
He also enjoys working on the farm where he grew up in Scotland and describes home as his perfect travel destination – “I can see my family and drive tractors.”
Sam used to play the cello but he loves all music that isn’t hardcore heavy metal or trance. Particular favourites are Milky Chance, M People, Clean Bandit, Kings of Leon, Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, Imagine Dragons and Runrig.
Gogglebox is his favourite TV show and the original Italian Job is the film of choice for Sam, whose ideal post-competition meal is a Sunday roast with all the trimmings.
Sam is Lottery funded through UK Sport.
