Giles was born in
St. Stephen, New Brunswick. He began canoeing at age eight at the Orenda Racing Canoe Club in Lake Echo,
Nova Scotia. He was a member of the Canadian national team for fifteen years, including eleven
senior world championships. He was inducted into the
Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in 2012. He was adept at both the 500 m event and 1000 m early in his career. His best races came in the C-1 1000 m event later in his career, earning the
world championship gold medal in 1998 at
Szeged,
Hungary. In the same event, he won a bronze medal at the
2000 Summer Olympics, and a bronze medal at the
2002 World Championships in
Seville,
Spain. He also won a bronze medal at the
1993 world championships in
Copenhagen,
Denmark, in the men's C-1 500 m event, and at the 1989 Junior World Championships in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Notable contemporaries in the C-1 included
Andreas Dittmer,
Martin Doktor, and
Maxim Opalev. Giles is part of a long line of successful
Canadian paddlers in the C-1 discipline including
Frank Amyot,
John Wood, and
Larry Cain. Since Giles' retirement in 2004, the tradition has been taken up by fellow Nova Scotian
Richard Dalton,
Thomas Hall, and
Mark Oldershaw. Giles holds
Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Engineering degrees from
Dalhousie University, as well as an honorary
Doctor of Laws. He completed his
Master of Business Administration degree at
Saint Mary's University in 2011. He currently works at
EastLink in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was married in 1997. He and wife Angela (née Julien) have a daughter, Macy, and a son, Duncan. In 2018 he was named one of the greatest 15 athletes in Nova Scotia's history. ==2004 Olympics==