Zac Purchase
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
 Zac Purchase |
||
| Men's Rowing | ||
Competitor for  Great Britain |
||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Gold | 2008 Beijing | Lightweight Double Sculls |
| World Championships | ||
| Gold | 2006 Eton | Lightweight Single Sculls |
| Gold | 2010 Karapiro | Lightweight Double Sculls |
| Gold | 2011 Bled | Lightweight Double Sculls |
| Silver | 2005 Gifu | Lightweight Single Sculls |
| Bronze | 2007 Munich | Lightweight Double Sculls |
Zachary Jake Nicholas 'Zac' Purchase MBE (born 2 May 1986) is an English rower.
Born in Cheltenham, Purchase started rowing in 1999 at the King's School, Worcester. He competed at the Junior World Rowing Championships in 2003 and 2004. In 2005 he competed on the World Cup circuit in the lightweight men's single sculls, finishing fourth at Dorney Lake and second at Munich-Oberschleissheim. Purchase became under-23 world champion at the 2005 world U-23 championships at Amsterdam, before taking silver at the 2005 World Rowing Championships at Gifu, Japan.In 2006, Purchase continued in the lightweight men's single and won his first World Cup event at Lucerne, before becoming the World Champion at the 2006 World Rowing Championships at Dorney Lake setting a new World Record.
In 2007 he partnered Mark Hunter in the Great Britain Lightweight Men's Double Scull. They medalled at each World Cup Regatta through the season. At the World Rowing Championships in Munich-Oberschleissheim they won a Bronze medal. The following year, their double dominated the lightweight event, winning all of their races, and finishing the season as Olympic champions in Beijing, setting a new Olympic Record. After a year off in 2009, he and Hunter won Gold at the 2010 World Championships at Lake Karapiro in New Zealand.
Purchase was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to sport and collected his award in June of that year.[1]
Purchase has also recently become engaged to long term partner Felicity Hill, also a former pupil and rower at the King's School, Worcester where they met.[2]
[edit] Achievements
[edit] Olympics
- 2008 Beijing – Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
[edit] World championships
- 2011 Bled – Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
- 2010 Lake Karapiro – Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
- 2007 Munich – Bronze, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
- 2006 Eton – Gold, Lightweight Single Scull
- 2005 Gifu – Silver, Lightweight Single Scull
- 2005 Amsterdam – Gold, Lightweight Single Scull (U23 World Championships)
[edit] World Cups
- 2008 Poznan – Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
- 2008 Lucerne – Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
- 2008 Munich – Gold, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
- 2007 Lucerne – Bronze, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
- 2007 Amsterdam – Silver, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
- 2007 Linz – Silver, Lightweight Double Scull (bow)
- 2006 Lucerne – Gold, Lightweight Single Scull
[edit] King's School Worcester Boat Naming
On 27 November 2008, Zac Purchase officially named an eight rowing boat at The King's School, Worcester in honour of his olympic gold-medal win.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
 |
This biographical article relating to British rowing is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- British rowers
- 1986 births
- People from Cheltenham
- Living people
- Olympic rowers of Great Britain
- Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for Great Britain
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
- People educated at King's School, Worcester
- Olympic medalists in rowing
- British rowing biography stubs
