British · Truro, Cornwall · Born 27 July 1981British Olympic rowing champion who won three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the men's four, establishing himself as one of Britain's greatest rowers.
Pete Reed suffered a stroke in 2016 caused by a congenital heart defect that had gone undetected through three Olympic gold medals and a career built on having, by some measurements, the largest lung capacity ever recorded in an athlete. The discovery ended his rowing career outright, a genuinely abrupt stop for someone who'd spent over a decade defining what physical output looked like in the men's four. He rebuilt his life afterward around medicine, training to become a doctor rather than staying inside elite sport in a coaching or media capacity -- a career pivot that's about as complete a change in direction as a retired Olympian can make, moving from testing the outer limits of his own physiology to treating other people's. Reed's three consecutive Olympic golds in the men's four, at Beijing, London, and Rio, came with different crews across three different Games, evidence the boat's dominance during that era wasn't built around any single irreplaceable rower -- Reed included, whatever his individual physical numbers suggested about how unusual his own engine was.
Three consecutive Olympic gold medals in men's four
Lasting Impact
One of Britain's most successful Olympic rowers and key member of the golden generation
Career Honours
- Olympic Gold 3x (2008,2012,2016)
- World Champion 3x
- Olympic Gold 2008 Men's Four
- Olympic Gold 2012 Men's Four
- Olympic Gold 2016 Men's Four
- World Champion 2009
- World Champion 2011
- World Champion 2015
British Athletes