Joshua Booth (born 9 October 1990) is an Australian

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...

. He is a triple Olympian and Olympic silver medal winner from

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. He rowed in the Australian men's eight at the

London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Rio 2016 ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

and 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo 2020 Olympics Joshua has two miniature groodles, Albie and Lenny; and lives in Melbourne.

Club and state career

Born in Melbourne, Booth was educated at Deepdene Primary School and learnt to row at Scotch College in Melbourne. He studied medicine at

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

. Booth's senior club rowing was from the Melbourne University Boat Club. On ten consecutive occasions from 2011 to 2021 Booth was seated in the Victorian men's eight who contested the

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nat ...

at Interstate Regatta within the

Australian Rowing Championships Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

. In those crews he saw three

victories in 2015, 2016 and 2021 (on two occasions with Booth at stroke) and six second places.

International representative rowing

Booth made his Australian representative debut in 2010 when selected in the Australian men's U23 eight to contest the

World Rowing U23 Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic s ...

in Brest, Bulgaria. That crew finished in ninth place. That same year he was picked in a senior Australian coxless four who placed seventh at the

2010 World Rowing Championships The 2010 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 31 October to 7 November 2010 on Lake Karapiro near Cambridge, New Zealand. The annual week-long rowing regatta was organised by FISA (the International Ro ...

in Lake Karapiro. In 2011 Booth secured a seat in the Australian men's senior eight. They raced at the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne before contesting the

2011 World Rowing Championships The 2011 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 28 August to 4 September 2011 at Lake Bled in the Slovenian city of Bled. The annual week-long rowing regatta is organized by World Rowing Federation (FISA) ...

in Bled, Slovenia and finishing in fourth place. In the 2012 Olympic year Booth held his seat in the eight rowing at two World Rowing Cups in the Olympic lead up. He rowed in the six seat of the

men's eight An eight is a rowing boat used in the rowing (sport), sport of competitive rowing (crew). It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with Sweep (rowing), sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain (rowing), coxswain, or "cox". Each of th ...

at the 2012 Summer Olympics to a sixth placing. After appearing in the event, he was expelled from the Australian team as a result of an incident in which he broke windows at two small businesses in the Surrey town of

Egham Egham ( ) is a university town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magn ...

while drunk. Having apologised and paid damages to the owner of the damaged properties, he was released without charge by British police. Booth continued to row at the highest Australian level from the first year of the new Olympiad. He was selected in a coxless four for the 2013 World Rowing Cup I in Sydney and then in 2014 at the World Rowing Cup I he raced in both the Australian eight and in a coxless four. However, in neither of those years did he represent at a World Championship. In 2015 he was back in the Australian senior eight for the World Rowing Cup III and then for the

2015 World Rowing Championships The 2015 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 2015 at Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette in France. Description The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by FISA (the In ...

in Aiguebelette where the eight finished in ninth place. In 2016 along with

Josh Dunkley-Smith Joshua Dunkley-Smith (born 28 June 1989 in Geelong, Australia) is an Australian former representative rower. He was a national champion, a dual Olympian, two-time silver Olympic medal winner, and won medals at five World Rowing Championships. ...

, Will Lockwood and Alexander Hill, Booth was selected in the Australian men's

coxless four A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on t ...

to compete at

. They won their heat and semi-final and took the silver medal in the final behind Great Britain.Booth at World Rowing
/ref> In their second regatta of the 2018 international season and in an Australian selection eight racing as the Georgina Hope Rinehart National Training Centre, in honour of Rowing Australia patron,

Gina Rinehart Georgina Hope Rinehart (née Hancock, born 9 February 1954) is an Australian mining magnate and businesswoman. Rinehart is the Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting, a privately owned mineral exploration and extraction company founded by ...

, Booth won the 2018

Grand Challenge Cup The Grand Challenge Cup is a rowing competition for men's eights. It is the oldest and best-known event at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing ...

at the

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thr ...

. The fourth Australian men's eight to ever do so. The following week at the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Booth rowed in the Australian eight to silver medal in a thrilling 0.14 second finish behind Germany. The stage was set for the close competition that played out at the 2018 World Championships in Plovdiv. In their heat the Australian eight finished 5/100ths of a second behind the US and then in the final, Germany dominated and took gold but 2/10ths of a second separated 2nd through to 4th and the Australians took silver, a bowball ahead of Great Britain with the US out of the medals. Booth rowed at seven and came home with a silver world championship medal. In 2019, Booth was again selected in the Australian men's sweep squad for the international representative season. In an effort to qualify the men's pair for the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, different combinations were tried. At the World Rowing Cup II in Poznan and rowing behind the dual world champion Alex Hill, Booth won a gold medal in the Australian men's coxless pair. For the World Rowing Championships III in Rotterdam, Booth was back in the Australian eight which rowed to 6th place. Booth was then selected to race in the Australian men's eight at the

2019 World Rowing Championships The 2019 World Rowing Championships were held in Ottensheim, Austria from 25 August to 1 September 2019. Apart from Ottensheim, the right to host the championships was contested by Hamburg in Germany, Račice in the Czech Republic, and Varese ...

in Linz, Austria. The eight were looking for a top five finish at the 2019 World Championships to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. The eight placed second in their heat and fourth in the final and qualified for

Tokyo 2020 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

. In Tokyo the Australian men's eight placed fourth in their heat, fourth in the repechage and sixth in the Olympic A final. Had they repeated their repechage time of 5:25:06 they would have won the silver medal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Joshua 1990 births Living people Australian male rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers from Melbourne Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in rowing Olympic silver medalists for Australia World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia Sportsmen from Victoria (state)