Tim Baillie

Who is Tim Baillie?

Timothy Mark Baillie MBE is a Scottish slalom canoer who represents Britain. From Westhill in Aberdeenshire, he has competed since the mid-1990s initially in the K-1 category, but later on switching to C-2. He is the Olympic Champion in the C-2 event from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Baillie and his partner Etienne Stott won two bronze medals in the C-2 team event at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. They also won a bronze medal in the C-2 event at the 2009 European Championships at the Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre, Nottingham, England and came in fourth place at the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell. They won another silver and a bronze in the C-2 team event at the European Championships alongside the other UK boats of David Florence/Richard Hounslow and Daniel Goddard/Colin Radmore. In 2012 they were a part of the British team that won gold at the European Championships in Augsburg in the C-2 team event. They are British Premier Division Champions and British Open Champions.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Baillie and partner Etienne Stott qualified through the heats for the C-2 event on 30 July, and subsequently progressed to the semi-final. The semi-final consisted of one run each, with the six best competitors qualifying for the final. Baillie and Stott finished in sixth place, taking the final spot and consequently qualifying for the final. As a result of their sixth place finish, the slowest qualifying time out of the six remaining competitors, Baillie and Stott ran first in the final, securing a time of 106.41. The time was not beaten, with Baillie and Stott winning the gold medal in front of a 12,000 strong home crowd at the Lee Valley White Water Centre on 2 August. Fellow British boat of David Florence and Richard Hounslow finished second with a time of 106.77. Baillie and Stott's success was described as "unexpected" and a "surprise", with the pair describing winning gold as "mad".