Andy Holmes
Andrew John Holmes was a British rower.Biography
Holmes was born in Uxbridge, Greater London, and was educated at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, west London, where he was coached by Olympic rowing silver medallist Jim Clark. After leaving school, he rowed for Kingston Rowing Club and then Leander Club. At the age of 19, he won the Thames Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.
He rowed twice in the Olympic Games with Sir Steve Redgrave. He was a gold medalist in the men's coxed four in 1984 and in the men's coxless pair in 1988, when he also took bronze in the coxed pair. He also rowed for England in the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland. winning the coxed four and the coxless pair competitions.,
He retired from rowing in 1990 and severed most contacts with the sport. His daughter only discovered her father's gold-medal-winning pedigree when reading about him in a book at school.
He died in London in 2010 after contracting Weil's disease, a severe form of leptospirosis, which results from contact with urine from infected animals or ingesting water contaminated with urine from infected animals.
