James Thompson (rower)

James Thompson ( born November 18, 1986 in Cape Town ) is a South African rower and Olympic champion in 2012 in the lightweight coxless four.

Sporting career

The 1.82 -meter rowing Thompson for the sports club of the University of Pretoria.

His first international success was the third place in the four with coxswain at the Junior World Championships in 2003. Another international medal winning Thompson in 2007 when he was awarded the silver medal in the lightweight two coxless along with Matthew Brittain at the U23 World Championships. Both sat by the World Rowing Championships in 2007 in the South African lightweight coxless four, with which they occupied the 21th Place. 2008 Thompson and Brittain again won silver at the U23 World Championships. 2009 Thompson met with Andrew Polasek in the lightweight two without at the World Championships in Poznan and finished in twelfth place.

2010 Thompson rowed in the World Cup in the lightweight coxless four in the cast Polasek, Lawrence Ndlovu, Thompson and Brittain. For the World Rowing Championships in 2010 was a reshuffle: With Anthony Knight, James Thompson, John Smith and Lawrence Ndlovu of South African foursome finished in eleventh place. Also eleventh place was taken by the South African four in the cast Thompson, Brittain, Smith and Paladin in the World Rowing Championships 2011. In World Cup 2012 South Africa's four occurred in Lucerne in the cast Thompson, Brittain, Smith and Ndlovu and took second place behind the Chinese quad, but lay before the British and the Danes. In the 2012 Olympics, the Chinese did not reach the finals, the South African foursome with Thompson, Brittain, Smith and Ndlovu won Olympic Gold in front of the hosts from the UK and the Olympic title holders from Denmark. This gold medal was the first Olympic gold medal for South African rowers at all and the second medal after bronze in the coxless pairs in 2004.