Josh West

Joshua West (born 25 March 1977 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States) is a British rower who attended Yale for his undergraduate degree. At Yale, he learned to row under Freshman Coach Justin Moore and Varsity Coach Dave Vogel. He participated in the 4-mile Varsity Eights version of the Harvard-Yale Boat Race his senior year (1998) but lost to Harvard. As an undergraduate he was a member of the literary society, St. Anthony Hall.

In 1999, Josh attended Cambridge University for graduate school as a Marshall Scholar and simultaneously earned a spot in the Blue Boat for The Boat Race against Oxford University. Earning a seat in Cambridge's Blue Boat every year through 2002, Josh and the "Light Blues" bested the "Dark Blues" twice in those four years (1999 & 2001). In 2000, Josh lined up against former Yale teammates Alexander Reid and Eirik Lilledahl, who were the stern pair of the victorious Oxford crew. At 6 ft 9.5 in, Josh is the tallest recorded oarsmen to participate in The Boat Race.

Building on his Cambridge successes, Josh eventually became a member of the British National Rowing Team and won two silver medals (2002 & 2003) with the British Four and one bronze medal (2007) with the British Eight at the World Rowing Championships.

Josh's most recent success came in the 8 rowing for Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/4514261.stm BBC SPORT | Other Sport | GB rowing sets sights on Beijing ] ] , where the British crew picked up a Silver Medal in a close finish behind the Canadians. [ [http://iviesinchina.com/2008/08/17/canada-powers-to-gold-in-race-loaded-with-ivies/ West and Co. Take Second in Race Loaded with Ivies] ]

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