Tim_Foster_(rower)
Tim Foster
English rower
Timothy James Carrington Foster, MBE (born 19 January 1970) is an English rower who won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.[1]
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Timothy James Carrington Foster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1970-01-19) 19 January 1970 (age 54) Bedford, Bedfordshire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Bedford Modern School | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Joy Fahrenkrog | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University team | University of London Boat Club Oxford University Boat Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | GB Rowing Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Jürgen Gröbler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | July 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on 5 March 2014. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
He began rowing at Bedford Modern School and competed in the World Rowing Junior Championships in 1987 and 1988.[2] In the latter he competed in a pair with Matthew Pinsent.[1] He became the first British rower to win gold medals at two consecutive Junior Worlds. From there he proceeded into the senior squad.[1]
In 1993 he underwent back surgery but was straight back in the boat for the 1994 season, winning Bronze in the coxless four at the World Championships.[1] This boat stayed together until the 1996 Olympics, where they won Bronze.[1]
Following his Olympic medal, he continued his university studies at Oxford, competing in the 1997 Boat Race.[3]
In 1997 he won a seat in the coxless four alongside Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell.[1] In the run up to the Olympics, he again needed back surgery and time off after severing tendons in his hand by punching a window at a boat club party.[1] In August 2000, the month prior to winning gold in Sydney, a three-part BBC documentary entitled Gold Fever was broadcast.[1] This followed the coxless four team in the years leading up to the Olympics, including video diaries recording the highs and lows in the quest for gold.[1] Despite the problems Foster had had, he was in the final crew and they won the gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.[4] He was awarded an MBE for his part in this in 2001.[5][6]
After Sydney, he retired from international rowing, and retired as an active rower in July 2001.[1] After a stint coaching at the University of London Boat Club, he joined the UK Sport-sponsored Elite Coach Programme in 2004.[7] In January 2007, he became the head coach of the Swiss national rowing squad.[8] He remained in this role until 2012, and now works as a business coach.
At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Foster proposed to Joy Fahrenkrog, a four-time member of the United States Archery Team.[9] The pair met in 2000 while Joy was studying at the London School of Economics and rowing for the University of London Boat Club.[9] His brother Jason was the team manager for the England Rowing Team and head of rowing at George Watson's College, Edinburgh.[10]
- Olympic Medals: 1 Gold, 1 Bronze[11]
- World Championship Medals: 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze[11]
- Junior World Championship Medals: 2 Gold[11]
- Blue Boat Appearances: 1 (0 wins)[11]
Olympic Games
- 2000: Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Matthew Pinsent, Steve Redgrave)[11]
- 1996: Bronze, Coxless Four[11]
- 1992: 6th, Eight[11]
World Championships
- 1999: Silver, Eight[11]
- 1998: Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Matthew Pinsent, Steve Redgrave)[11]
- 1997: Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Matthew Pinsent, Steve Redgrave)[11]
- 1995: Silver, Coxless Four[11]
- 1994: Bronze, Coxless Four[11]
- 1993: Injured, did not compete in World Championships[11]
- 1991: Bronze, Eight[11]
- 1990: 4th, Coxless Four (with Martin Cross, Peter Mulkerrins, Gavin Stewart)[11]
- 1989 – Bronze, Eight[11]
Junior World Championships
- Four Men in a Boat (2004) ISBN 0-297-84725-2[1]
- Ross, Rory; Foster, Tim (1 April 2019). Four men in a boat. ISBN 9781780227467. OCLC 870978841.
- School of the Black and Red, by Andrew Underwood, updated 2010
- "An evening with Tim Foster MBE - Oxford Brookes University". www.brookes.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
- Rob Bagchi (7 December 2011). "50 stunning Olympic moments No4: Steve Redgrave's fifth gold medal". The Guardian.
- "Tim Foster MBE - Olympic Speaker - Champions Olympic". Champions Olympic Speakers. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
- "Gold medallists rewarded". 30 December 2000. Retrieved 1 April 2019 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
- "British International Rowing Office - Biographies". Archived from the original on 14 October 2006. Retrieved 18 January 2007.
- "Foster takes top Swiss rowing job". BBC News. 19 December 2006.
- "Joy Fahrenkrog, Timothy Foster". 6 June 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2019 – via NYTimes.com.
- "Rowing - George Watson's College". Gwc.org.uk. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- "Tim Foster MBE - Olympic Rowing Gold Medalist - Gordon Poole Agency". Gordon Poole Agency Ltd. Retrieved 1 April 2019.