John Biglow was the top US single sculler for several years in the early 1980s. He won bronze medals at the 1981 and 1982 World Championships and was fourth at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Biglow also competed at the 1983 Worlds in quad sculls and the 1985 Worlds in double sculls. He won a gold medal in double sculls at the 1987 Pan American Games. He started sweep oar rowing at Lakeside School in Seattle, but switched to sculling in 1981. Biglow attended Dartmouth Medical School and became an anesthesiologist, practicing in Delaware and Vermont.