Richard Burnell
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Richard Desborough Burnell | ||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | English | ||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Henley-on-Thames, England | 26 July 1917||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 29 January 1995 Oxfordshire | (aged 77)||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 14.5 st (203 lb; 92 kg)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Great Britain | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Kingston Rowing Club Leander Club[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Former partner | Bert Bushnell | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Richard Desborough Burnell (26 July 1917 – 29 January 1995) was an English rower who won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics alongside Bert Bushnell in the double sculls. He and his father Charles are the only father and son in Olympic history to have both won gold medals in rowing.[2]
Career
Burnell was born in
In May 1939, Burnell was commissioned into the London Rifle Brigade. He was on the losing Oxford team in The Boat Race in 1939. He was a rowing correspondent for The Times and wrote several books on rowing matters. He competed for Kingston Rowing Club and in 1946 won the Wingfield Sculls.
1948 Summer Olympics
At the 1948 Olympics Burnell won a gold medal with Bert Bushnell in the double sculls, Burnell and Bushnell having never previously trained together. Jack Beresford told Bushnell that he had no chance to win the single sculls, and so created the double sculls team instead.[3] Their differing physiques – Burnell was 6 ft 4 inches and weighed 14+1⁄2 stone, while Bushnell was 5 ft 10 inches and 10+1⁄2 stone – presented some difficulties in the boat, which Bushnell had to re-rig so that they were able to reach together.[1]
The pair only had a month to train for the Games,
On the
After Olympics
Burnell won a bronze medal in the eights at the 1950 British Empire Games, and in 1951 he won the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, together with Pat Bradley.[2] He continued to write on international rowing events for the
Personal life
Burnell and his father Charles Burnell are the only father and son in Olympic history to have both won gold medals in rowing. In 1940 Burnell married Rosalind, a daughter of English Olympic gold medal-winning rower Stanley Garton. They had five children: Peter, John, Edward, Alexandra (“Zandra”), and Elizabeth (“Tizzy”).[6] Burnell's son, Peter, rowed for Oxford in 1962.
Works
Burnell published several books on rowing, including
- Swing Together: Thoughts on Rowing (1952)
- The Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race, 1829–1953 (1954)
- Sculling: With Notes on Training and Rigging (1955)
- Henley Regatta: A History (1957)
Legacy
During the run up to the
References
- ^ a b c d "Olympian who became 'Recirc Bert' of cruiser hire". Henley Standard. 25 January 2010. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ a b c Dickie Burnell. sports-reference.com
- ^ a b c d e f Jeavans, Christine (23 July 2012). "Matt Smith on pain behind 1948 Olympics' Bert and Dickie". BBC News. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Hampton, Janie (15 February 2010). "Bert Bushnell: Britain's last surviving gold medallist from the 1948 Olympics". The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ISBN 1845136950
- ^ Buckhorn, Göran R (28 February 2012) "The Burnell-Perry Thames Dinghy; Or With Cerise Coloured Blades In Connecticut", Hear the Boat Sing.
- ^ "Going for Gold – The '48 Games". BBC America. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2017.