David's Story
2015 World Championships silver medallist, David Watts made his Olympic debut in Rio as a member of the men’s double scull with teammate Chris Morgan.
The duo qualified through to the A/B semi-final where they faced a tough battle. A strong start saw the Aussies amongst the key players in the first half of the race. At the 1000m mark, the Norwegians and British pulled ahead to chase the leading Croatians, leaving the Australians tussling for fourth and fifth with the New Zealanders. Australia crossed the line in fifth and went on to win the B-Final.
Born in England, Watts moved to Australia as a toddler, eventually settling in Perth where he started his rowing career. He first represented Australia in the 2008 Junior World Championships where the 16-year-old finished fourth in the Men’s Four A Final.
In 2010 the West Australian won two bronze medals for Australia, including one from the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in the Junior Men’s Pair with Matthew Cochran. He won another bronze at the 2012 U23 World Rowing Championships in Trakai, Lithuania.
Watts has been training regularly in Canberra at the Reinhold Batschi National Training Centre under the guidance of Lyall McCarthy. After the 2015 National Selection Trials, Watts was selected to join Cameron Girdlestone, Karsten Forsterling and Olympic gold medallist David Crawshay in the Men's Quadruple Scull, coached by Tasmanian John Driessen. The team claimed silver at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France.
Watts is an established photographer and his work can be seen in a number of up and coming fashion and rowing magazines as well as on his own photography page.
