University sport to ironman

Matt Rogan (Fitzwilliam, 1993)

Matt Rogan inherited his love of sport from his family, who he says were a huge influence. “My grandfather was an Irish amateur boxing champion, my Dad was a senior amateur footballer, and my Mum was a tennis coach – so sport is in the blood!  I have two good-luck charms. Firstly, a conker my Mum picked up and gave me the day she dropped me off at Fitzwilliam for my first Michaelmas term. Secondly, a St Christopher medal my sister gave me before my Ironman Triathlon in Switzerland.”

At Cambridge, he represented both Fitzwilliam and the University in tennis and football, captaining the Men’s Grasshoppers tennis team to Cambridge’s first Varsity Match win in tennis of any sort for six years in 1997. “These were great fun,” he says, “but most of my favourite memories are from the social side of sport, especially the ‘social night out’ that I ran for the men’s tennis team with the women’s hockey team. I planned the evening with the hockey social secretary, Claire Edmondson, who is now my wife!”

Since leaving Cambridge, Matt has made his passion in sport his profession and is now managing director of Two Circles. “Over the last seven years, I’ve been lucky enough to see London 2012 from the inside, principally working with the London 2012 Organising Committee and its sponsors,” he says. “We’re heavily involved with the participation legacy around London 2012, which has been both challenging and hugely rewarding.”

As if that hasn’t kept him busy enough, together with his father, Matt has written a book, Britain and the Olympic Games: Past, Present, Legacy, examining British contributions to the Olympics, as well as how the Olympics have helped shape modern Britain.

“We focused on comparing and contrasting the London 1948 and 2012 Games,” he says. “Since publication, we’ve shared our research in all sorts of places, from the Harvard Business Review to infant school assemblies, met some extraordinary people, and most importantly, raised a lot of money for charity.”