Ed Coode

Ed Coode travelled a traditional British route to be a top class rower via Eton School and Oxford University. He was part of the new intake into the national squad following the Atlanta Olympics and won a bronze medal in the coxed fours at his first appearance at the World Championships in 1997. He was switched to the eight with a view to taking a seat in that boat for the Sydney Olympics but an injury to Tim Foster meant that he was drafted into the coxless fours for the latter half of the1999 season. The crew, which also included Olympic legends Steven Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent, won the world title in a race Redgrave described as “the easiest win of my career”. Foster returned to action for Olympic year and Coode joined Greg Searle in the pair but their Olympic hopes were cruelly dashed when, after leading for most of the Sydney final, they were outsprinted and finished in fourth place. Coode won a second world title as part of the revamped British four in 2001 but injury forced him to take a prolonged absence from the sport and he lost his place in the boat. He won a bronze at the 2003 Worlds as part of the eight and it was in that boat he was scheduled to compete at the Athens Olympics. Six weeks before the 2004 Olympic Games were due to begin Coode again got the call to replace an injured rower and became part of the crew that successful defended the Olympic coxless fours title. This was the last race of his career and he returned to university to complete a law degree, and has since worked as a solicitor.