Editing James Cracknell (section)

==Biography==
Cracknell began rowing whilst attending the independent [[Kingston Grammar School]]<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Tozer|editor-first=Malcolm |title=Physical Education and Sport in Independent Schools |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVCvtcUo4Y0C |publisher=John Catt Educational Ltd |year=2012 |isbn=9781908095442 |pages=288}}</ref> and rowed at the [[World Rowing Junior Championships|Junior World Championships]] in 1989 and 1990, winning a gold medal in 1990. He graduated from the [[University of Reading]] as a [[Bachelor of Science]] (BSc) in [[Human Geography]] in 1993, followed by a PGCE at the [[Institute of Education]] and a [[Master of Science]] (MSc) from [[Brunel University]] in 1999.<ref>‘CRACKNELL, James Edward’, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014</ref> Moving into the senior squad, Cracknell made numerous appearances in the [[World Rowing Championships]]; however, he did not win any medals prior to the [[1996 Summer Olympics]]. He qualified in the double scull for the 1996 Games, but fell ill with [[tonsillitis]] and was unable to race.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/dec/07/50-stunning-moments-steve-redgrave |title=50 stunning Olympic moments No4: Steve Redgrave's fifth gold medal |date=7 December 2011 |work=[[The Guardian]] |author=Rob Bagchi |location=London}}</ref><ref name="Grdn202406"/> In 1997, he won a seat in the men's coxless fours, with [[Steve Redgrave]], [[Matthew Pinsent]] and [[Tim Foster]]. With this crew, he won the [[World Rowing Championships]] in 1997, 1998 and 1999 (with [[Ed Coode]] replacing the injured Foster), and finally the gold medal at the [[2000 Summer Olympics]]. In August 2000, the month prior to winning gold in Sydney, he took part in a 3-part BBC documentary entitled [[Gold Fever (British TV series)|Gold Fever]]. This followed the coxless four team in the years leading up to the Olympics, including video diaries recording the highs and lows in their quest for gold.

With Redgrave then having retired, Cracknell swapped from rowing on strokeside to bowside to join Pinsent in the coxless pairs. The pair won the World Championships in 2001, when they also won the coxed pairs, and 2002. However, in 2003 a disappointing season was capped by a failure to win the World Championships, and Pinsent and Cracknell were shifted into the coxless four, with [[Steve Williams (rower)|Steve Williams]] and [[Alex Partridge]]. Ed Coode replaced the injured Partridge in time for the [[2004 Summer Olympics]] and this crew won the gold medal in Athens, beating world champions Canada by 0.08s.

He came second in the pairs division of the 2005–2006 [[Atlantic Rowing Race]] in "''Spirit of EDF Energy''", partnered by [[Ben Fogle]]. Although they took first place in the line honours of the pairs event (overall, they were third to finish the race behind the two men's fours), the use of ballast water during the race resulted in the pair being moved to second position of the pairs event in accordance with the race rules. The event helped raise money for [[Children in Need]].<ref name="bio">{{cite web|title=Official Biography|url=http://www.jamescracknell.com/biography.html|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090708075046/http://www.jamescracknell.com/biography.html|archive-date=8 July 2009|access-date=4 October 2009}}</ref>

They made landfall in [[Antigua]] at 07.13 [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]] on 19 January 2006, a crossing time of 49 days, 19 hours and 8 minutes. In February 2006, he announced his decision to retire from competitive rowing. Shortly after, ''[[Through Hell and High Water]]'', a [[BBC]]/[[Twofour]] television programme of Cracknell and Fogle's experience of the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] race, was aired. The pair wrote a book called ''The Crossing: Conquering the Atlantic in the World's Toughest Rowing Race'', about their trip.<ref name=bio />

On 4 March 2006, Cracknell's home was burgled: his Olympic gold medals were stolen, together with his wedding ring and a computer containing 20,000 words of a new book and family photographs.<ref>{{cite news |last=Steele |first=John |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1512026/Cracknells-gold-medals-and-wedding-ring-stolen.html |title=Cracknell's gold medals and wedding ring stolen |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=4 March 2006 |access-date=3 October 2009 |location=London}}</ref> The gold medals were subsequently recovered by a neighbour's dog where the thief had discarded them. The thief, Mark Murphy, 30, was caught and jailed.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2006-07-27|title=Olympic gold medal burglar jailed|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/5221572.stm|access-date=2021-02-04}}</ref>

He ran the [[London Marathon]] on 23 April 2006, in a time of 3 hours, finishing over an hour ahead of his rowing teammate Matthew Pinsent.

In January 2008 Cracknell set up Threshold Sports with Julian Mack and Charlie Beauchamp.

In December 2008 he set off yet again with former teammate from the Atlantic Row, Ben Fogle, and Dr Ed Coats (the winner of a nationwide search),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3160941/James-Cracknells-race-to-the-South-Pole.html|title=James Cracknell's race to the South Pole|first=Bryony|last=Gordon|date=8 October 2008|access-date=31 October 2017|website=Telegraph.co.uk}}</ref> this time to take part in the inaugural Amundsen Omega3 South Pole Race. The team traversed the 473.6 miles suffering frostbite, infected blisters, dramatic weight-loss, pneumonia and exhaustion and came second<ref name="Grdn202406"/> only to a pair of [[Norway|Norwegians]] (over 20 hours<ref>[https://www.sparks.org.uk/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=442]{{dead link|date=April 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>). The BBC aired a 5 x 1-hour, prime-time Sunday night series of the adventure, ''[[On Thin Ice (TV series)|On Thin Ice]]'' (Twofour), in June–July 2009. The series was accompanied by a self-penned book of the race, ''Race to the Pole'' (MacMillan).<ref name=bio />

In July 2008 Cracknell competed in the European Triathlon Championships for GBR for his age group and in November 2009 he took part in the [[New York City Marathon|New York Marathon]]. In April 2009, James completed the 125-mile non-stop [[Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Marathon|Devizes to Westminster Canoe Marathon]] in a two-man racing K2 kayak with canoe partner Bernie Shosbree.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/7994645.stm|title=Non-stop canoeing race continues|date=11 April 2009|access-date=31 October 2017|website=News.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>
[[File:JamesCracknell.jpg|thumb|right|250px|James Cracknell at the London Triathlon 2007]]
In August 2009 Cracknell attempted to break the non-stop Land's End to John O'Groats mixed tandem world record along with Olympic gold medallist [[Rebecca Romero]]. The pair got just past Johnstone Bridge in Scotland before being forced to stop due to problems with Romero's knees. They were on course to break the record by over three hours.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/record-attempt.aspx|title=Deloitte Ride Across Britain: End to End - UK Cycling Events|website=Deloitte Ride Across Britain|access-date=31 October 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804102747/http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/record-attempt.aspx|archive-date=4 August 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The attempt was to launch the 2010 Ride Across Britain that Cracknell's company organised

In April 2010 Cracknell became the highest placed Briton ever in the 25-year history of the [[Marathon des Sables]], finishing 12th. His exploits were filmed for a Discovery Channel documentary ''The Toughest Race on Earth'' to be aired in October 2010. This highest ever placing was beaten in 2013 by another Briton, Danny Kendall who finished 10th.<ref>[http://www.marathondessables.com/resultats/resultats.php?langue=en&epreuve_id=2013#]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414084403/http://www.marathondessables.com/resultats/resultats.php?langue=en&epreuve_id=2013|date=14 April 2014}}</ref>

Six months after his cycling accident which damaged his frontal lobe (see below), Cracknell competed in the [[Yukon Arctic Ultra]]. He finished second in the 430-mile race across the frozen Alaskan countryside, beaten only by British cyclist Alan Sheldon who beat Cracknell's 163:20 with his own 99:30.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arcticultra.de/en.php?Race_Info:Past_Results:Results_2011 |title=Results 2011 |access-date=2011-08-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006155139/http://www.arcticultra.de/en.php?Race_Info:Past_Results:Results_2011 |archive-date=6 October 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Cracknell's participation in the race was filmed for the documentary The Coldest Race on Earth aired on the Discovery Channel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discoveryuk.com/the-loop/coldest-race-on-earth/|title=Homepage|website=Discoveryuk.com|access-date=31 October 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410121638/http://www.discoveryuk.com/the-loop/coldest-race-on-earth|archive-date=10 April 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Cracknell ran the 2012 London Marathon in just under three hours, one of the fastest celebrities, but behind [[Nell McAndrew]]. In 2017, he ran a time of 
2:43:12, making him one of the fastest notable [[List of non-professional marathon runners|non-professional marathon runners]].<ref>{{cite web|url=
https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/motivation/g776170/celebrities-who-have-run-marathons/| title=50 celebrities you didn't know were marathon runners| date=24 April 2020|publisher=Runnersworld.com|accessdate=17 August 2023}}</ref>

In 2018, Cracknell enrolled at [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]]<ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/olympic-rower-james-cracknell-to-marry-woman-he-met-as-mature-student-at-cambridge-university-kxf0w9hfm | title= Olympic rower James Cracknell to marry woman he met as mature student at Cambridge | work=The Times| date=25 January 2021|access-date=13 April 2021| last1= Ellery | first1= Ben }}</ref> to study for a [[MPhil]] degree in [[human evolution]].<ref name="masters">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/13/james-cracknell-oldest-boat-race-competitor-rowing-cambridge-oxford|title=James Cracknell set to become oldest Boat Race competitor at 46|date=13 March 2019|last=Bryant|first=Tom|website=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=19 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="Grdn202406"/> On 7 April 2019, Cracknell became the oldest competitor, and oldest winner, for [[Cambridge University Boat Club|Cambridge]] in the [[The Boat Race 2019|2019 Boat Race]]; at the age of 46 he became the oldest rower in the [[The Boat Race#Statistics|event's history]] by 10 years.<ref name="indep">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rowing/2019/03/14/46-year-old-james-cracknell-selected-cambridge-become-oldest/|title=James Cracknell selected by Cambridge at 46 to become oldest-ever Boat Race competitor|last=White|first=Jim|date=14 March 2019|access-date=19 March 2019|website=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref>

In 2019, Cracknell participated in the [[Strictly Come Dancing (series 17)|seventeenth series]] of ''[[Strictly Come Dancing]]'', where he was partnered with professional dancer [[Luba Mushtuk]]. He was the first celebrity to be eliminated from the show after losing the dance off to [[David James (footballer, born 1970)|David James]] and [[Nadiya Bychkova]].
He competed in the third series of ''[[Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=All-Star line-up revealed for third series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins {{!}} Channel 4 |url=https://www.channel4.com/press/news/all-star-line-revealed-third-series-celebrity-sas-who-dares-wins |website=www.channel4.com}}</ref> In 2021, Cracknell again ran the London Marathon with a time of 2:55:39.<ref>{{Cite web |title=James Cracknell {{!}} runbritain rankings |url=https://www.runbritainrankings.com/runners/profile.aspx?athleteid=44506 |access-date=2022-09-12 |website=www.runbritainrankings.com}}</ref>