James Clark (born 15 July 1950) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

who competed in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

, in the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

, and in the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

Rowing career

Clark won the coxless fours with

Lenny Robertson Leonard David Robertson (born 10 October 1950) is a British rower who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, in the 1976 Summer Olympics, and in the 1980 Summer Olympics. Rowing career Robertson won the coxless fours with Jim Clark, Bill Mason ...

Bill Mason Bill Mason (1929–1988) was a Canadians, Canadian naturalist, author, artist, filmmaker, and conservation movement, conservationist, noted primarily for his popular canoeing books, films, and art as well as his Documentary film, documentaries on ...

and Frederick Smallbone, rowing for the

Thames Tradesmen's Rowing Club The Thames Tradesmen's Rowing Club is a rowing club on the Tideway (upper estuary of the Thames) in West London, United Kingdom at University of London Boathouse, Hartington Road, Chiswick W4. Foundation and colours The club was established in ...

, at the inaugural 1972 National Rowing Championships. Later in 1972 the same crew was selected for Great Britain at the

, where they just failed to reach the final, finishing in fourth place in the semi-finals of the men's coxless four. Four years later at the

in Montreal he won the silver medal with the British boat in the eights competition, having also won the world silver medal in eights at the

1974 World Rowing Championships The 1974 World Rowing Championships was the fourth World Rowing Championships. It was held from 4 to 8 September 1974 (for men) and from 29 August to 1 September 1974 (for women) on the Rotsee in Lucerne, Switzerland. The event was significantl ...

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

. At the 1977 (Amsterdam) and 1978 (Karapiro NZ) World Rowing Championships, he won silver medals both years rowing with

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

in the coxless pair event. At the 1980 Games in Moscow he and his partner Chris Baillieu finished fourth in the double sculls contest. He won at Henley Royal Regatta a total of eight times and was selected for the GB national team from 1970 until his retirement from competition in 1982. During the early 1970s he was a physical education schoolmaster at Cardinal Vaughan Grammar School, where he taught and coached the future Olympic champion oarsman Martin Cross. Cross identifies Clark as a major influence and inspiration in his memoirs. Subsequently, Clark was master in charge of rowing at

Latymer Upper School Latymer Upper School is a public school in Hammersmith, London, England, on King Street. It derives from a charity school, and is part of the same 1624 Latymer Foundation, from a bequest by the English legal official Edward Latymer. There ...

, where among his early protégés there was the double Olympic rowing gold medallist,

Andy Holmes Andrew John Holmes MBE (15 October 1959 – 24 October 2010)

. In 1985 he was appointed, by Tor Nilsen, as an Italian national coach and ran the rowing programme at the Fiat Aviation Rowing club in Turin, Italy. He then became a DT teacher in the 90s and gained his MA in education. He retired from teaching in the summer of 2010.OLNews September 2010
James Clark also coached at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where his sculler

Beryl Mitchell Beryl Crockford (formerly Mitchell; née Martin; 26 June 1950 – 11 September 2016) was a world-champion and Olympic rower who represented Great Britain from 1975 to 1986. In 1985 she married Duncan Crockford and competed as Beryl Crockford aft ...

finished sixth in the final. In 1992 he was the chief Olympic coach to the Danish Rowing Team, where his crew finished seventh in the eights. His wife Lin Clark was one of the most prominent international oarswomen in Britain in the 1970s and 80s, initially as a heavyweight but later (from the early 80s on) as a lightweight. In 1985, coached by Jim and Mark Hayter she and Beryl Crockford (née Mitchell/Martin) were the world champion

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

double scull crew, and the following year, coached by Jim, she was in the silver-medal-winning lightweight coxless four and winner of the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Personal life

Jim is married to former Olympic athlete Lin Clark with whom he has one daughter, Jessica.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Jim 1950 births Living people British male rowers Olympic rowers for Great Britain Rowers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in rowing World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics