Martin Cross

Martin Patrick Cross (born 19 July 1957) is a male retired British oarsman.

For the Australian rules footballer, see Martin Cross (footballer).

Martin Cross
Personal information
Born (1957-07-19) 19 July 1957
London
Sport
ClubThames Tradesmen's RC, Chiswick
Medal record
Men's rowing
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
1984 Los Angeles Coxed four
1980 Moscow Coxless four
World Championships
1978 KarapiroCoxless four
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
1986 Edinburgh coxed four

Early life and education

Born in London, Cross was educated at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School[1] He studied at Queen Mary, University of London, rowing for the college boat club.[2]

Career

Rowing

Cross won the gold medal in the coxed four at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics with Steve Redgrave, Richard Budgett, Andy Holmes, and Adrian Ellison.[3]

He won a gold medal representing England in the coxed four, at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.[4][5] he also won silver medals in the coxless fours at the World Junior Championships in 1975 and in the coxless pairs at the World Championships in 1985, and bronze medals in the coxless fours at the World Championships in 1978 and 1979 and the Olympics in 1980, and in the eight at the World Championships in 1991.

He has been described by his close friends as "An inspiration to not just the rowing world, but the whole of the sporting world."[6] Cross now lives with his wife, three children and two dogs in London.

Writing and journalism

He published an autobiography, Olympic Obsession in 2001,[7] and is currently working part-time as a history and politics teacher at Hampton School. He writes about rowing for The Guardian and co-commentates with Greg Searle for the International Rowing Federation on the World Rowing Cup and World Rowing Championships events.[8]

Media appearance

Cross appears as a cameo in the 2004 romantic hit The Notebook. Although his work is uncredited, his character of "Rower" appears first in the credits list – something which co-star Ryan Gosling has described as "well-deserved." The Canadian once commented, "I could not expect to be credited above an Olympic gold medalist! It was such an honor to appear on the same list as Martin, and I'm pleased to be able to call him my friend." Coincidentally, Cross also taught Gosling how to row in order to ensure that the film's famous lake scene was authentic.

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References
  1. "Who wants to be a cox?". Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  2. "Alumni". QMUL Boat Club. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  3. "Profile". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
  4. "1986 Athletes". Team England.
  5. "Athletes and results". Commonwealth Games Federation.
  6. "Who are some of the most famous alumni of QMUL?". tutored.me. 9 February 2016. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  7. Olympic Obsession: The Inside Story of Britain's Most Successful Sport. Breedon Books ISBN 978-1-85983-233-2
  8. "The official site of World Rowing - worldrowing.com".
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