Josh West

Early life

Josh West has Jewish descent and was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States: his mother is American, and his father is British.

Rowing career

He attended Yale University for his undergraduate degree. At Yale, he learned to row under Freshman Coach Justin Moore and Varsity Coach Dave Vogel. He participated in the 4-mile (6.4 km) Varsity Eights version of the Harvard-Yale Boat Race his senior year (1998) but lost to Harvard. As an undergraduate he was a member of the literary society, St. Anthony Hall.

In 1999, Josh attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge for postgraduate study as a Marshall Scholar, and simultaneously earned a spot in the Blue Boat for The Boat Race against Oxford University. Earning a seat in Cambridge's Blue Boat every year until 2002, West and the "Light Blues" defeated the "Dark Blues" twice in those four years (1999 & 2001). In 2000, West lined up against former Yale teammates Alexander Reid and Eirik Lilledahl, who were the stern pair of the victorious Oxford crew. At 6 ft 9.5 in (2.070 m), West is the tallest recorded oarsman to participate in The Boat Race. He also twice won May Bumps headships with Caius Boat Club.

Building on his Cambridge successes, West eventually became a member of the British National Rowing Team and won two silver medals (2002 & 2003) with the British Four and one bronze medal (2007) with the British Eight at the World Rowing Championships.

West's most recent success came in the Eight rowing for Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, where the British crew picked up a Silver Medal in a close finish behind the Canadians.

West is currently a faculty member in Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California.