Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Bradford, England |
19 April 1979 |||||||||||||||||||||
Residence | Combe Down, England | |||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 189 cm (6 ft 2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 92 kg (203 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Men's rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Double Sculls | |||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Leander Club | |||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Matthew Wells (born 19 April 1979) is a British Olympic rower. He has competed in multiple Olympic Games and World Championships, and won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Wells was born in Bradford and grew up in Hexham, where he learnt to row on the River Tyne as a pupil at Queen Elizabeth High School.
In 1996 he won the Single sculls at the Coupe de la Jeunesse, and won gold in the Double sculls at the World Rowing Junior Championships in 1997. He took bronze at the World Under 23 Rowing Championships in 1999, after missing out on competition for a year due to injury.
In 2000, he took gold in the Single sculls at the World Under 23 Rowing Championships, then represented Great Britain at the 2000 Summer Olympics, finishing in ninth place.
In 2003, Wells came fifth in the World Rowing Championships in Milan in the men's Double sculls with Ian Lawson. In 2004, he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics with Matt Langridge in the men's Double sculls, narrowly missing out on the final but winning the B final to finish seventh overall.
Transferring to the Quad sculls in 2005, he won a bronze in the World Rowing Cup at Lucerne, the first world-level medal ever to be won by a GB men's quad. This crew went on to finish 7th in the World Rowing Championships.