Martin Cross

In 1975, Cross along with John Beattie, Robin Roberts and ian McNuff was a crew member of the Ealing High Schools coxless fours boat coached by their History Teacher David Tanner (later Sir David Tanner CBE) which won the silver medal at the World Junior Rowing Championships for Great Britain in Montreal behind East Germany and in front of West Germany. The following year he was part of the coxless four that finished 10th overall after a fourth-place finish in the B final at the 1977 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.[3]

In 1978 along with Beattie, David Townsend and McNuff he was a member of the British coxless four boat (coached by Tanner) which won the bronze medal in the 1978 World Rowing Championships at Karipiro, New Zealand behind Russia and East Germany. The following year in 1979 he was a member of the British coxless four boat (again with Beattie, Townsend and McNuff and coached by Tanner) which won the bronze medal in the 1979 World Rowing Championships at Bled, Yugoslavia behind East Germany and Czechoslovakia. In the 1980 Moscow Olympics with Beattie, Townsend and McNuff he was a crew member of the British boat which won the bronze medal in the Olympic coxless fours event behind East Germany and Russia. Coached by David Tanner

Cross won the gold medal in the coxed four at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics with Steve Redgrave, Richard Budgett, Andy Holmes, and Adrian Ellison.[4]

He won a gold medal representing England in the coxed four, at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.[5][6] He also won a silver medal in the coxless pairs at the World Championships in 1985 and a bronze medal in the eight at the World Championships in 1991.

He has been described by his close friends as "An inspiration to not just the rowing world, but the whole of the sporting world."[7] Cross now lives with his wife, three children and two dogs in London.

He published an autobiography, Olympic Obsession in 2001,[8] and is currently working part-time as a history and politics teacher at Hampton School. He writes about rowing for The Guardian and co-commentates with Greg Searle for the International Rowing Federation on the World Rowing Cup and World Rowing Championships events.[9]

Cross appears as a cameo in the 2004 romantic hit The Notebook. Although his work is uncredited, his character of "Rower" appears first in the credits list – something which co-star Ryan Gosling has described as "well-deserved." The Canadian once commented, "I could not expect to be credited above an Olympic gold medalist! It was such an honor to appear on the same list as Martin, and I'm pleased to be able to call him my friend." Coincidentally, Cross also taught Gosling how to row in order to ensure that the film's famous lake scene was authentic.