Kieran Martin West MBE (born 18 September 1977[1]) is a retired English rower and Olympic champion who represented Great Britain.

[2] On graduating from his second degree he taught Mathematics at King's College School, Wimbledon for two years, before returning to his studies in 2004.

Although initially successful, he suffered a severe lower back injury and was forced to retire from sport for three years to undergo intensive physiotherapy.

Selected to represent Great Britain again that summer, and with the opportunity to go to his first Olympic Games, West took a year out of his studies to concentrate on his rowing.

The crew had two changes from the previous year and was even more successful in the early season, taking two gold medals and one silver from the Rowing World Cup and becoming the first British Eight to win the event outright.

At the Olympic Games Britain were the joint favourites for the gold medal, alongside the USA, who had not raced internationally that season.

A poor row in the first round, West's 23rd birthday, saw them lose to a strong Australian crew, but they won the repechage.

The crew of Andrew Lindsay, Ben Hunt-Davis, Simon Dennis, Louis Attrill, Luka Grubor, Kieran West, Fred Scarlett, Steve Trapmore and Rowley Douglas were all subsequently awarded the MBE for "services to rowing" in the 2001 New Year Honours.

The following year West stroked the British Coxed Four to a gold medal at the 2002 World Rowing Championships in Seville.

The crew also contained two of the 2000 British Eight, Luka Grubor and Steve Trapmore, and two members of the 2001 Cambridge Blue Boat, Tom Stallard and Christian Cormack.

[4] On 8 August 2009, West married Lourina Pretorius[8] a former student at Newnham College, Cambridge, from South Africa.