Matthew Langridge MBE (born 20 May 1983) is a British rower. At the

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

in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight. He was the 2015 European Champion in the men's pair, along with James Foad. At the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in Rio de Janeiro he was part of the British crew that won the gold medal in the men's eight.

Biography

Junior

Matthew was born in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

, Cheshire, and grew up in the town of

Northwich Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane, east of Chester, south of Warrington and south of Ma ...

, attending Hartford High School and gaining his A Levels at St Nicholas Catholic High School. He started rowing at Northwich Rowing Club being coached by Paul Rafferty. At his first

World Rowing Junior Championships The World Rowing U19 Championships, former name World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 Decemb ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

in 2000 he narrowly missed out on a medal coming fourth in the double scull with Pete Wells of

Queen Elizabeth High School, Hexham Queen Elizabeth High School (QEHS) is a coeducational high school and sixth form located in Hexham, Northumberland, England. History The school was founded in 1599. Thomas Stackhouse, afterwards an Anglican clergyman and theologian, was headma ...

. A few weeks earlier they had lost out in the final of the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at

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

, to the Danish double of Kalizan and Samuelsen. In 2001 he was the first ever junior British oarsman to win the gold medal in the

single scull A single scull (or a scull), abbreviated as a 1x, is a racing shell designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly semi-circular in cross-se ...

s event in the

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

, Germany in 2001. Later that year, he broke the British

Indoor Rowing Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

record for 2,000m in the J18 category, posting a time of 5 minutes and 59 seconds.

Senior

Matthew raced at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens in the Men's Double Sculls with Matthew Wells, and missed out by 0.06 seconds on a place in Final A. They won Final B, ranking them 8th overall, as the A final included 7 crews (rather than the typical 6) due to a tie for 3rd between Norway and USA in semi-final A. In the 2007 season he won two

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

Gold Medals, in a pair with Colin Smith at

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, and in an eight at

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 ...

, before winning the bronze medal in the pair at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in Munich. He won the bronze medal at the 2007 British Indoor Rowing Championships in the Men's Heavyweight category. In the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

he was selected to compete in the Men's Eight in Beijing. In the run-up to the games, he won silver at the

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 ...

event, bronze in

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 ...

, and gold in

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 ...

. At the Beijing Olympics he rowed in the 7 seat of the men's eight, qualifying for the final in the fastest time of either heat, 1.8 seconds ahead of the pre-games favourites, Canada. In the final, despite a late charge from Great Britain, the eight was narrowly beaten by Canada, with Langridge winning a silver medal. He was part of the British squad that topped the medal table at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in

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 coxless four with Richard Egington, Tom James and Alex Gregory. At the

in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight. He competed at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Bosbaan,

, where he won a silver medal as part of the coxless pair with James Foad and was part of the British team that topped the medal table at 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 the Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette-le-Lac in France. Description The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by ...

Lac d'Aiguebelette The Lac d'Aiguebelette (; Lake of Aiguebelette) is a natural lake north of the Chartreuse Mountains in the French Alps and just west of the Chaîne de l'Épine in the Jura Mountains. It is located within five Communes of France, communes in the Sa ...

in France, where he won a silver medal as part of the coxless pair with James Foad. At the

in Rio de Janeiro he was part of the British crew that won the gold medal in the men's eight. Soon afterwards, he retired from professional rowing and spent a year working as a rowing coach for The Grange School, Hartford.

After rowing

In October 2020, Langridge qualified as a commercial pilot.

Honours

Langridge was awarded the MBE in the Queen's 2017 New Year Honours list for services to rowing.

Achievements

Olympics

*2016

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

– GOLD, Eight, (7) *2012 London – BRONZE, Eight, (2) *2008 Beijing – SILVER, Eight (7) *2004

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

– 8th, Double (stroke)

World Championships

*2015

– Silver, Coxless Pair (stroke) *2014

– Silver, Coxless Pair (stroke) *2011

– Gold, Men's Four *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 ...

– 4th, Men's Four *2009

– Gold, Men's Four *2007

– Bronze, Coxless Pair (stroke)

World Cups

*2008

– Gold, Eight (7) *2008

– Bronze, Eight (3) *2008

– Silver, Eight (3) *2007

– Gold, Eight (7) *2007

– Gold, Coxless Pair (stroke)

Junior World Championships

*2001

– Gold, Single Scull

References

External links

*
– Concept 2 British Indoor Rowing Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langridge, Matthew 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Crewe Sportspeople from Northwich English male rowers Olympic rowers for Great Britain Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in rowing Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Members of Leander Club British male rowers World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Members of the Order of the British Empire European Rowing Championships medalists 21st-century English sportsmen