# Richard Burnell

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English rower (1917–1995)

Richard Burnell Richard ('Dick') Burnell in 1950 Personal information Nationality English Born (1917-07-26)26 July 1917 Henley-on-Thames, England Died 29 January 1995(1995-01-29) (aged 77) Oxfordshire 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

**Richard Desborough Burnell** (26 July 1917 – 29 January 1995) was an English [rower](/source/Rowing_(sport)) who won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics alongside [Bert Bushnell](/source/Bert_Bushnell) in the [double sculls](/source/Sculling). He and his father [Charles](/source/Charles_Burnell) are the only father and son in Olympic history to have both won gold medals in rowing.[2]

## Career

Burnell was born in [Henley-on-Thames](/source/Henley-on-Thames) the son of [Charles Burnell](/source/Charles_Burnell) who won a gold medal in the [eights](/source/Eight_(rowing)) at the [1908 Summer Olympics](/source/1908_Summer_Olympics). He was educated at [Eton College](/source/Eton_College) and [Oxford University](/source/Oxford_University).

In May 1939, Burnell was commissioned into the [London Rifle Brigade](/source/London_Rifle_Brigade). He was on the losing Oxford team in [The Boat Race](/source/The_Boat_Race) in 1939. He was a rowing correspondent for *[The Times](/source/The_Times)* and wrote several books on rowing matters. He competed for [Kingston Rowing Club](/source/Kingston_Rowing_Club) and in 1946 won the [Wingfield Sculls](/source/Wingfield_Sculls).

### 1948 Summer Olympics

At the 1948 Olympics Burnell won a gold medal with [Bert Bushnell](/source/Bert_Bushnell) in the [double sculls](/source/Double_scull), Burnell and Bushnell having never previously trained together. [Jack Beresford](/source/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,[1] with animosity between the two due to the difference in their class backgrounds. Bushnell later said in an interview, "There was class tension there and it came from me being bloody awkward."[3] Bushnell struck up a friendship with American rower [John B. Kelly Jr.](/source/John_B._Kelly_Jr.) and Australian [Mervyn Wood](/source/Mervyn_Wood).[4] The rowers' diets had been increased from the normal 2,500 calories allowed by rationing to a "miner's diet" of 3,600. However, the other teams were having food flown in specially to increase their calorie intake and allow them to train more.[3] Bushnell would invite Kelly and Wood over for dinner, with his guests bringing the food.[4] Bushnell and Burnell both attended the opening ceremony of the 1948 Games, something Bushnell described as "dreadful", as they gave the athletes poorly fitting uniforms and made them stand out in the sun en-masse for three hours.[4]

On the [Henley Royal Regatta](/source/Henley_Royal_Regatta) course, they lost to France in the first round, but then won both the [repêchage](/source/Rep%C3%AAchage) followed by the semi-final. On 9 August 1948, in front of a home crowd, Bushnell and Burnell competed in the Olympic final against the double scull teams of Uruguay and Denmark.[3] Bushnell nearly missed the final, held at the [Leander Club](/source/Leander_Club) in [Henley-on-Thames](/source/Henley-on-Thames), as stewards would not allow him to enter; he later explained "You see I wasn't a member then – not posh enough".[4] At around the three-minute mark, the British team decided to push for the win, eventually taking it in six minutes and 51.3 seconds, two lengths ahead of the favoured Danish duo of [Ebbe Parsner](/source/Ebbe_Parsner) and [Aage Larsen](/source/Aage_Larsen) (6:55.3) and five ahead of Uruguay (7:12.4).[4][5] On the jetty they were awarded their medals while standing in their socks. There were no ribbons for the medals due to cost saving measures, and so they were given them in presentation boxes while [God Save the King](/source/God_Save_the_King) was played by a band.[3]

### After Olympics

Beresford and Burnell (right) at the 1950 British Empire Games

Burnell won a bronze medal in the eights at the 1950 British Empire Games, and in 1951 he won the [Double Sculls Challenge Cup](/source/Double_Sculls_Challenge_Cup) at [Henley Royal Regatta](/source/Henley_Royal_Regatta), together with Pat Bradley.[2] He continued to write on international rowing events for the [Sunday Times](/source/Sunday_Times) until 1990.

## Personal life

Burnell and his father [Charles Burnell](/source/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](/source/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 [2012 Summer Olympics](/source/2012_Summer_Olympics) in London, the BBC produced the film *[Bert and Dickie](/source/Bert_and_Dickie)* (also called *Going For Gold: The '48 Games*), depicting Burnell and Bushnell's achievement at the 1948 Games, with [Sam Hoare](/source/Sam_Hoare_(actor)) in the role of Burnell and [Matt Smith](/source/Matt_Smith_(actor)) portraying Bushnell.[3][7]

## References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Dickie Burnell](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Dickie_Burnell).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-obithenley_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-obithenley_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-obithenley_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-obithenley_1-3) ["Olympian who became 'Recirc Bert' of cruiser hire"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120224043117/http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=708583). *Henley Standard*. 25 January 2010. Archived from [the original](http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/news.php?id=708583) on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-sr_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-sr_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-sr_2-2) [Dickie Burnell](https://web.archive.org/web/20200418015339/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bu/dickie-burnell-1.html). sports-reference.com

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-mattsmithfilm_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-mattsmithfilm_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-mattsmithfilm_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-mattsmithfilm_3-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-mattsmithfilm_3-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-mattsmithfilm_3-5) Jeavans, Christine (23 July 2012). ["Matt Smith on pain behind 1948 Olympics' Bert and Dickie"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18393005). *BBC News*. Retrieved 23 July 2012.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Independent_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Independent_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Independent_4-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Independent_4-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Independent_4-4) Hampton, Janie (15 February 2010). ["Bert Bushnell: Britain's last surviving gold medallist from the 1948 Olympics"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bert-bushnell-britains-last-surviving-gold-medallist-from-the-1948-olympics-1899605.html). *The Independent*. Retrieved 23 July 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Wallechinsky, David and Loucky, Jaime (2012) *The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2012 Edition*. London: Aurum Press. p. 878. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1845136950](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1845136950)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Buckhorn, Göran R (28 February 2012) ["The Burnell-Perry Thames Dinghy; Or With Cerise Coloured Blades In Connecticut"](http://hear-the-boat-sing.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/burnell-perry-thames-dinghy-or-with.html), *Hear the Boat Sing*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Going for Gold – The '48 Games"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120807165216/http://press.bbcamerica.com/program.jsp?id=73947). [BBC America](/source/BBC_America). Archived from [the original](http://press.bbcamerica.com/program.jsp?id=73947) on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2017.

v t e Olympic champions – Men's double sculls 1904: John Mulcahy & William Varley (USA) 1920: Paul Costello & John B. Kelly Sr. (USA) 1924: Paul Costello & John B. Kelly Sr. (USA) 1928: Paul Costello & Charles McIlvaine (USA) 1932: Ken Myers & William Gilmore (USA) 1936: Jack Beresford & Dick Southwood (GBR) 1948: Richard Burnell & Bert Bushnell (GBR) 1952: Tranquilo Cappozzo & Eduardo Guerrero (ARG) 1956: Aleksandr Berkutov & Yuriy Tyukalov (URS) 1960: Václav Kozák & Pavel Schmidt (TCH) 1964: Oleg Tyurin & Boris Dubrovskiy (URS) 1968: Aleksandr Timoshinin & Anatoliy Sass (URS) 1972: Aleksandr Timoshinin & Gennadiy Korshikov (URS) 1976: Frank Hansen & Alf Hansen (NOR) 1980: Joachim Dreifke & Klaus Kröppelien (GDR) 1984: Brad Alan Lewis & Paul Enquist (USA) 1988: Nico Rienks & Ronald Florijn (NED) 1992: Peter Antonie & Stephen Hawkins (AUS) 1996: Agostino Abbagnale & Davide Tizzano (ITA) 2000: Luka Špik & Iztok Čop (SLO) 2004: Sébastien Vieilledent & Adrien Hardy (FRA) 2008: David Crawshay & Scott Brennan (AUS) 2012: Nathan Cohen & Joseph Sullivan (NZL) 2016: Martin Sinković & Valent Sinković (CRO) 2020: Hugo Boucheron & Matthieu Androdias (FRA) 2024: Andrei-Sebastian Cornea & Marian Enache (ROU)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Richard Burnell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burnell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burnell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.