Andy Holmes

Who was Andy Holmes?

Andrew Jeremy Holmes MBE was a British rower.

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 Fours in 1984 and in the Men's Coxless Pairs in 1988, when he also took bronze in the coxed pair. He also rowed in the 1986 Commonwealth Games, winning the coxed fours and the coxless pairs.

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 a water-borne disease, Leptospirosis, that comes from contact with rat urine or ingesting water contaminated with rat urine. It is known commonly as 'Weil's disease'.