Mark John Hunter MBE (born 1 July 1978) is a retired

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 ...

Rowing career

Hunter was born in

Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross. The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and he attended Havering Sixth Form College. While representing

Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities include Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham, Lo ...

in the

London Youth Games The London Youth Games is an annual multi-sport event held in London, England. The London Youth Games offer competitive opportunities for young people aged 7 to 18 (who live or go to school in London) across approximately 30 sports every year. ...

, he took part in some of his early rowing competitions. In 2007 he partnered Zac Purchase in the Great Britain Lightweight Men's Double Scull. They won medals at each World Cup Regatta through the season. At the

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international Rowing (sport), rowing regatta organized by International Rowing Federation, FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer ...

in Munich-Oberschleissheim they won a Bronze medal. The following year, their double dominated the lightweight event, winning all of their races, and finishing the season as Olympic champions. After a year off in 2009, they took Gold at the 2010 World Championships at Lake Karapiro in New Zealand. He was part of the British squad that topped the medal table at 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, adjoining the Slovenian city of Bled. The annual week-long rowing regatta is organized by World Rowing Federatio ...

Bled Bled (; ,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper Carniolan regio ...

, where he won a gold medal as part of the lightweight double sculls with Zac Purchase. In 2013, Hunter announced his retirement from competitive rowing.

Coaching

During his year off after the 2008 Olympics, he was an assistant coach of

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Women's rowing program.

Awards

He was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours, and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from the

University of East London University of East London (UEL) is a public university located in the London Borough of Newham, London, England, based at three campuses in Stratford, London, Stratford and London Docklands, Docklands, following the opening of University Squar ...

(UEL) in November 2009. In 2009, Hunter was inducted into the London Youth Games Hall of Fame, and he was also granted an MBE for his services to rowing.

Personal Life

As of 2024, Hunter works in management consultancy, for EY Lane4.

Achievements

Olympics

* 2012

– Silver, Lightweight Double Scull * 2008

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

– Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (stroke)

World Championships

* 2011

– Gold, Lightweight Double Scull * 2010

Lake Karapiro Lake Karapiro () is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River at Karapiro, south-east of Cambridge, New Zealand, Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by the damming of the Waikato River to store water for ...

– Gold, Lightweight Double Scull * 2007

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

– Bronze, Lightweight Double Scull

World Cups

* 2012

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

- Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (stroke) * 2010

– Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (stroke) * 2008

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

– Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (stroke) * 2008

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 ...

– Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (stroke) * 2008

– Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (stroke) * 2007

– Silver, Lightweight Double Scull * 2007

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

– Silver, Lightweight Double Scull * 2007

Ottensheim Ottensheim is a municipality in the district of Urfahr-Umgebung in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. At its rowing venue, Regattastrecke Ottensheim, it has hosted numerous international rowing competitions, including various World Rowing Champ ...

– Bronze, Lightweight Double Scull * 2005

– 6th, Lightweight Double Scull * 2005 Eton – 4th, Lightweight Double Scull

Nations Cup

* 1999 – 8th, Heavyweight Double Scull * 1998 – 9th, Heavyweight Double Scull * 1997 – 10th, Heavyweight Quadruple Scull

GB Rowing Team Senior Trials

* 2011 – 4th, Lightweight Single Scull 2008–2009 Coached for UCLA Women's Rowing Team

Footnotes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Mark English male rowers British male rowers Living people Olympic rowers for Great Britain Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics English Olympic competitors Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain 1978 births Rowers from London Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Members of Leander Club Stewards of Henley Royal Regatta World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain People educated at Havering Sixth Form College