Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell

Rower // Men's Squad
Date of Birth: 13th Apr 1988 (36 years old)
Club: University of London Boat Club
Height: 192.00
Hometown: Durham

Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell profile image

Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell is a double world champion and former European gold medallist who was selected as one of two open-weight men's spares for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell progressed through the ranks of the GB Rowing Team, winning world gold during a successful junior career.

Nathaniel – universally known as “Noddy” – has also won medals at under-23 level and struck World Championship gold in 2014 and 2015.

Nathaniel made his GB Rowing Team debut as a junior in 2005 and has won World medals in every age group

On The Water

2015

World Champion Men's Coxed Pair

European Champion Men's Four

2014

World Champion Men's Eight

2011

World Silver Medallist Men's Eight

2010

World U23 Silver Medallist Men's Four

2009

World U23 Bronze Medallist Men's Eight

2006

World Junior Champion Men's Four

Rio 2016 Olympiad: 2013 – 2016

Reilly-O’Donnell was selected to partner Mat Tarrant in one of two GB men’s pairs for the 2016 season and they got off to a strong start, winning an impressive gold at the Varese World Cup. They then won bronze at the Lucerne World Cup, only being denied silver by the Netherlands in a photo finish. Another close race at the Poznan World Cup saw them finish fourth, just behind fellow Brits Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes. Reilly-O’Donnell and Tarrant went to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as spares for the heavyweight men’s sweep squad.

Reilly-O’Donnell spent most of 2015 in the men’s four and started the season in style as he, Alan Sinclair, Scott Durant and Tom Ransley successfully defended GB’s title at the European Championships in Poznan.

After a fifth-place finish at the Varese World Cup, the four missed out on the A final in Lucerne but raced well to finish third in the B final and place ninth overall.

Illness forced Reilly-O’Donnell to miss testing and trialling for the World Rowing Championships but he was selected for the men’s coxed pair along with Mat Tarrant and cox Henry Fieldman. They went on to win gold in Aiguebelette, finishing six seconds clear of the field.

Reilly-O’Donnell, Sinclair, Durant and Tarrant were also in the men’s four in 2013 and finished fourth at the World Cup in Sydney before winning silver at Eton Dorney. After placing tenth at the Lucerne World Cup, the four finished fifth overall at the World Rowing Championships in Chungju.

The 2014 season saw Reilly-O’Donnell and Sinclair team up in the men’s pair for the European Championships in Belgrade, finishing fourth. Moving to the eight for the rest of the year, Reilly-O’Donnell won a World Cup silver in Aiguebelette and bronze in Lucerne before claiming his first world championships gold as GB recorded a convincing victory in Amsterdam to retain their title.

(Clockwise from back left) Nathaniel Reilly-O'Donnell, Will Satch, Pete Reed, Constantine Louloudis, cox Phelan Hill, Tom Ransley, Paul Bennett, Matt Gotrel and Mat Tarrant after winning men's eight gold at the 2014 World Championships in Amsterdam

London 2012 Olympiad: 2009 – 2012

Reilly-O’Donnell made his senior debut in 2008 and went on to race in the second men’s four at the 2009 World Cup in Munich and win bronze with the eight at the World Rowing U23 Championships in Racice.

He continued to progress in 2010, winning a gold and bronze on the World Cup circuit with the eight before claiming a fine men’s fours silver at the World Rowing U23 Championships in Brest.

After being named as a spare for the 2009 and 2010 World Rowing Championships, Reilly-O’Donnell made his debut at the event in 2011 and helped the GB eight row through Canada and Australia to win silver behind Germany. He had also won two world cup medals with the eight – silver in Munich and bronze in Lucerne.

He remained in the men’s eight for the first race of 2012, winning a world cup silver in Belgrade. He then formed a second men’s pair with Cameron Nichol for the remainder of the world cup season, placing seventh in Lucerne and ninth in Munich.

GB Competitive Record

World Rowing Championships
2015 M2+
2014 M8+
2013 5th M4-
2011 M8+
World Rowing Championships:
2015
M2+
World Rowing Championships:
2014
M8+
World Rowing Championships:
2013
5th
M4-
World Rowing Championships:
2011
M8+
European Rowing Championships
2015 M4-
2014 4th M2-
2008 6th M8+
European Rowing Championships:
2015
M4-
European Rowing Championships:
2014
4th
M2-
European Rowing Championships:
2008
6th
M8+
World Rowing Cup Regattas
2016 Poznan 4th M2-
2016 Lucerne M2-
2016 Varese M2-
2015 Lucerne 9th M4-
2015 Varese 5th M4-
World Rowing Cup Regattas:
2016 Poznan
4th
M2-
World Rowing Cup Regattas:
2016 Lucerne
M2-
World Rowing Cup Regattas:
2016 Varese
M2-
World Rowing Cup Regattas:
2015 Lucerne
9th
M4-
World Rowing Cup Regattas:
2015 Varese
5th
M4-
World Rowing U23 Championships
2010 M4-
2009 M8+
2008 5th M8+
2007 6th M8+
World Rowing U23 Championships:
2010
M4-
World Rowing U23 Championships:
2009
M8+
World Rowing U23 Championships:
2008
5th
M8+
World Rowing U23 Championships:
2007
6th
M8+
World Rowing Junior Championships
2006 M4-
2005 7th M4+
World Rowing Junior Championships:
2006
M4-
World Rowing Junior Championships:
2005
7th
M4+
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials
2016 7th M2-
2015 7th M2-
2014 3rd M2-
2013 3rd M2-
2010 7th M2-
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials:
2016
7th
M2-
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials:
2015
7th
M2-
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials:
2014
3rd
M2-
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials:
2013
3rd
M2-
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials:
2010
7th
M2-

More info...

Nathaniel made his GB Rowing Team debut back in 2005, finishing seventh overall with the coxed four at the World Junior Championships in Brandenburg. He also helped GB to victory in the annual J16 match against France, competing in the pair.

The following year saw Nathaniel crowned as World Junior Champion in the men’s four and he went on to captain Great Britain at the 2007 Youth Olympic Festival in Australia, winning gold in the coxless four and pair plus silver in the eight.

He raced in the men’s eight at the 2007 and 2008 World U23 Championships, finishing sixth and fifth respectively, before making his senior debut in the same boat at the 2008 European Championships, placing sixth.

Club: University of London Boat Club

Boat: Men’s Squad

Role: Rower

Coaches: Christian Felkel

Learnt to Row: St Leonard’s School Boat Club

Original Club(s): St Leonard’s School Boat Club

Original Coach(es): Bill Parker

Beyond the Boat

Reilly-O’Donnell enjoys many sports including football, cycling, running and rugby. He would like to play second-row for the Irish rugby team but acknowledges he has “neither the skill or the experience to pull this off”. Rowing is in the family, with his mother and two cousins also having rowed for St Leonard’s School Boat Club in Durham.

A law graduate from University College, London he has a wide range of post-rowing career interests, including advertising, finance and behavioural economics. Advertising guru Ted Sutherland would be one of his ideal dinner-party guests along with his two grandfathers. “They died when I was just starting to realise they were people with their own stories, I’d love to pick their brains.”

He also enjoys discovering new places and experiencing the local culture. “Take me to Singapore for satay, New York for the Maloney & Porcelli wine menu or an Irish village pub for Guinness.” A fan of Have I Got News for You and Dumb and Dumber, he says he “can mow a lawn like no other”.

Reilly-O’Donnell is Lottery funded through UK Sport.

Personal information

Place of Birth Current Address Home Town
Ealing Richmond-on-Thames Durham
Place of Birth:
Ealing
Current Address:
Richmond-on-Thames
Home Town:
Durham
Date of Birth Height
13th April 1988 192cm
Date of Birth:
13th April 1988
Height:
192cm
Education
St Leonard’s School, University of London
Education:
St Leonard’s School, University of London