Moe Sbihi

Mohamed Karim Sbihi MBE (born 27 March 1988) is a British rower. He is a dual Olympian and twice Olympic medal winner. He won a gold medal in the coxless four at 2016 Rio Olympics, and at the 2012 London Olympics he was in the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight.[2]

For the Moroccan mathematician, minister of culture, see Mohamed Amine Sbihi.

Mohamed Sbihi
MBE

Personal information
Nickname(s)	Moe
Nationality	British
Born	(1988-03-27) 27 March 1988 Kingston upon Thames, England
Alma mater	St Mary's University, Twickenham
Height	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)[1]
Weight	103 kg (227 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Sport	Rowing
Event(s)	Coxless four, Eight
Club	Molesey Boat Club
Medal record Men's rowing Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Coxless four 2012 London Eight World Championships 2013 Chungju Eight 2014 Amsterdam Coxless four 2015 Aiguebelette Eight 2010 Karapiro Eight 2011 Bled Eight 2017 Sarasota Coxless four 2018 Plovdiv Eight 2019 Ottensheim Eight European Championships 2014 Belgrade Coxless four 2016 Brandenburg Coxless four 2015 Poznan Eight 2019 Lucerne Eight

Early life

Sbihi was born in Kingston upon Thames to a British mother and a Moroccan father.[3] He studied Sport Science with Health, Nutrition & Exercise at St. Mary's University College, Twickenham on a sports scholarship from 2006 to 2010. Before he joined rowing team he played both association football and basketball.

At the age of 15, he was identified as a potentially successful oarsman by a talent-spotting programme and joined the GB Rowing World Class Start programme.[4][5] Sbihi finished first in the junior men J15 category at the 2003 Great Britain Indoor Rowing Championships.[6]

Career

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the eight.[7]

In 2013, he was part of the 8 men team that won gold at the World Rowing Championships. In 2014 he won gold medals in the coxless four at both the European Rowing Championships in Belgrade and the World Championships in Amsterdam.[8] In 2015, he won gold at the World Championships for the third consecutive year.[9]

In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sbihi was part of the team GB coxless four. The team won the gold medal, Britain's fifth consecutive gold in the event.[10][11]

He won a bronze medal at the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida, as part of the coxless four.[12] He then won a bronze medal at the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, as part of the eight with James Rudkin, Alan Sinclair, Tom Ransley, Thomas George, Oliver Wynne-Griffith, Matthew Tarrant, Will Satch and Henry Fieldman[13] and won another bronze medal the following year at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Ottensheim, Austria as part of the eight with George, Rudkin, Josh Bugajski, Jacob Dawson, Wynne-Griffith, Tarrant, Thomas Ford and Fieldman.[14]

Honours

Sbihi was awarded the MBE in the Queen's 2017 New Year Honours list for services to rowing.[15]

References

1. Majendie, Matt (11 February 2016). "Moe Sbihi interview: Top British rower aiming to make up for pain of 2012 Olympics". The Independent. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
2. Barretto, Lawrence (2 August 2012). "Olympics rowing: GB bronze in men's eight won by Germany". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
3. Caroline Cheese. "Human to Hero: Fast faith – Muslim rower's Olympic dilemma". CNN. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
4. "Mohammed Sbihi learning fast about rowing demands". The Daily Telegraph. London. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
5. Robert Kitson (3 May 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Champions aren't made easily, says Mohamed Sbihi". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
6. "Live-written Commentary". The Rowing Foundation.
7. Barretto, Lawrence (2 August 2012). "Olympics rowing: GB bronze in men's eight won by Germany". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 6 April 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
8. "New Zealand on a roll ahead of World Rowing Championships". Sportal. 22 August 2014. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
9. Ling, Thomas (5 August 2016). "Rio Olympics 2016: Who is Mohamed Sbihi?". Radio Times.
10. "Rio Olympics 2016: Great Britain win gold in men's four". BBC Sport. 12 August 2016.
11. Sbihi, Moe (26 August 2016). "Mohamed Sbihi: The tears, parties and selfies of a gold medallist in Rio". i News.
12. "2017 World Championship" (PDF). 2017 World Rowing Championships. World Rowing. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
13. "2018 World Championship results" (PDF). World Rowing.
14. "2019 Eight results" (PDF). World Rowing.
15. "Team GB stars dominate New Year's Honours List". Team GB. 30 December 2016.

External links

• Moe Sbihi at FISA WorldRowing.com
• Moe Sbihi at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)