Thomas Ford (rower)
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 Ford at the 2020 Summer Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Thomas Ford | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 October 1992 Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relative | Emily Ford (sister) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Coxless four, Eight | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Leander Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Thomas Ford (born 3 October 1992) is a British national representative rower.[1] He is an Olympic and two-time world champion in the men's eight event.[2]
Ford was rowing for the Newcastle University Boat Club when he first represented for GB at the U23 level. Following graduation he joined the Leander Club.[1] At the 2016 Henley Royal Regatta in a Leander crew he rowed to victory in the Ladies' Challenge Plate for men's intermediate eights.[1]
In 2022, he won the Grand Challenge Cup (the blue riband event at the Henley Royal Regatta) stroking a composite Leander/Oxford Brookes crew. In 2023 again in Leander Club colours he stroked a Leander/Oxford Brookes eight to another Grand Challenge Cup victory.[3]
International representative career
Ford made his representative debut for Great Britain in the men's U23 eight which raced at the 2013 U23 World Rowing Championships in Ottensheim.[4] That crew finished overall sixth. In 2014 he again made selection in the GB eight for the U23 World Championships.[4]
In 2017 Ford moved into the Great Britain men's senior squad and raced in the eight at World Rowing Cups I & III and at that year's European Championships. At the 2017 World Rowing Championships he raced a coxed pair with Timothy Clarke and steered by Harry Brightmore to an overall fourth placing.[4]
With Jacob Dawson, Adam Neill and James Johnston, Ford held a seat in the Great Britain coxless four in the 2018 international season and won a bronze medal at the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria,[5] Ford won a silver medal in the British eight at the 2019 European Rowing Championships[6] and then won bronze at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Ottensheim, Austria in the eight with Thomas George, James Rudkin, Josh Bugajski, Moe Sbihi, Jacob Dawson, Oliver Wynne-Griffith, Matthew Tarrant and Henry Fieldman.[7]
In 2021, he won a European gold medal in the eight in Varese, Italy.[8] [9] At that year's delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics Ford stroked the Great Britain men's eight. They finished 3rd their heat but proceeded through a repechage to make the Olympic final. In the final they rowed level with the ultimate winner New Zealand at each mark but finished with a bronze medal being pipped for silver in the last 500m by the fast finishing German crew.[4]
Ford became a world champion stroking the British eight to victory at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. He had earlier that season won gold at the 2022 European Rowing Championships.[10] In 2023 he won a second successive World Championship gold medal again as the strokeman in the men's eight at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade.[11]
He won a gold medal as part of the Great Britain eight at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[12]
In July 2025, Ford will be awarded an honorary degree from Keele University.[13]
