Paul Griffin (rower)

Paul Griffin ( born September 1, 1979 in Tralee ) is an Irish rowers and cross-country skiers.

Career

Rowing

Griffin began early with the rowing at the Muckross Rowing Club in Killarney and later at the Fossa Rowing Club. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens he belonged to the lightweight coxless four and was with Richard Archibald, Eugene Coakley, Niall O'Toole and at the end of sixth. At the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne in 2005 Griffin was the first to win a gold medal for his country. For shortly afterwards held World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan in 2005, he won silver with the lightweight coxless four. Then Griffin was honored for his achievements in rowing with the Kerry Sports Star Award. Three years later, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he reached in the same discipline with the team to tenth place. The World Rowing Championships 2006 at the Dorney Lake at Eton he reached the lightweight four, together with Gearoid Towey, Eugene Coakley, Richard Archibald and the bronze medal.

Cross-country skiing

Since the 2008/ 09 season, Griffin is active as a cross-country skiers for his home country and completed in February 2009, his first competitions in Alpine Cup. In the Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, he started 50 km free in the discipline, but has been overtaken it and counted at the end of the 61st. The taking place after the World Cup FIS races Griffin went either not starting or scored only rear seats. At the U.S. Championships 2010 in Anchorage, he scored the 99th Place. Only twelve days later he reached number 36 from a total of 37 starters at the FIS race in Bozeman.