James Edward Cracknell is a British rowing and endurance athlete born May 5, 1972, a double Olympic gold medalist and six time world champion in rowing. He won gold in the coxless four at both the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics, added six World Championship gold medals in the coxless four and coxless and coxed pairs between 1997 and 2002, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2005. He later became known as an endurance athlete, rowing the Atlantic, undertaking South Pole expeditions and running marathons, survived a serious cycling accident in 2010 that caused a traumatic brain injury, became an advocate for cycling helmet safety afterward, and competed in the 2019 Boat Race at age 46 as its oldest ever competitor while studying human evolution at Cambridge.
Facts
Career HighlightDouble Olympic gold medalist and winner of six world championship titles in rowing. 2 Classification
Competition Category FAQs
What happened to James Cracknell in 2010?
He suffered a traumatic brain injury during a 2010 charity challenge in Arizona and has since made a strong recovery.
In July 2010 Cracknell was attempting to run, cycle, swim and row from Los Angeles to New York in 16 days when he was found comatose on a desert highway near Winslow, Arizona. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury, probably as a result of being side-swiped by the wing mirror of a passing petrol tanker. He has made a strong recovery from his injuries.
Why was James Cracknell's 2019 Boat Race appearance unusual?
At 46 he was older than any other rower in the race by nearly a decade.
In 2018 Cracknell enrolled at Cambridge University to study for a Masters degree in human evolution and made a return to rowing. That led to a winning appearance in the 2019 Oxford-Cambridge boat race. At 46 he was older than any other rower to take part by nearly a decade.
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Source Wikipedia, James Cracknell
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Nationality
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Source Wikipedia, James CracknellLead sentence 1tier 2Quote, Lead sentence 1
James Edward Cracknell, (born 5 May 1972) is a British rowing and endurance athlete, double Olympic gold medalist and winner of six world championship titles.
Sources
1. Olympedia: James Cracknell - Olympedia
OlympediaBiographyQuote, Biography
In the winter of 1996-97 he was chosen to partner multiple Olympic champions Steven Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent in a new four with the long term aim of competing at the Sydney Olympics.
2. Wikipedia, James Cracknell
WikipediaLead section, first sentence
James Edward Cracknell, (born 5 May 1972) is a British rowing and endurance athlete, double Olympic gold medalist and winner of six world championship titles.
Plays: Rowing, lead paragraph, plays
James Edward Cracknell, (born 5 May 1972) is a British rowing and endurance athlete, double Olympic gold medalist and winner of six world championship titles.
Competed In: Olympic Games, Article text
James Edward Cracknell, (born 5 May 1972) is a British rowing and endurance athlete, double Olympic gold medalist and winner of six world championship titles.
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