James began rowing while he was a student at KGS.
He rowed at the Junior World Championships in 1989 and 1990, winning a gold medal in 1990.
With an extraordinary career on the water that includes winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2004 Athens Olympics, six world titles and victory as part of the Cambridge crew in the 2019 Boat Race, where he was the oldest athlete to ever compete.
James is also a veteran endurance athlete, having competed in the Atlantic Rowing Race to raise money for Children in Need, the London and New York Marathons, the Amundsen Race to the South Pole and the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert.
James is currently Men’s Head Coach at Vesta Rowing Club in London and has previously held a coaching position at
Cambridge University Boat Club.
James, who was appointed OBE for “services to sport” in the 2005 New Year Honours List, will take up the role in September.
James said, “KGS is a special place. A fully co-educational school in a great town by the Thames, with its
own boathouse on one of the best stretches of water in the country. It is wonderful to be returning as
Director of Rowing and I am excited about having the opportunity to work with the students, showing them
that the skills required to perform in rowing will help them to perform academically and vice versa. More
than that, it will be a lot of fun and will enrich their school experience, as it did mine.”
Head Master Stephen Lehec added, “Having learned to row from the RC Sherriff Boathouse at KGS, we are
absolutely thrilled to welcome James home, where he will coach the next generation of athletes at Kingston
Grammar School. We look forward to seeing him inspire our students in much the same way as he was
inspired as a student at Kingston Grammar School.”
