Richard Desborough BURNELL

Richard Burnell and his father, Charles Burnell, winner of a gold medal in the 1908 Olympic eights, are the only father and son in Olympic history to have won gold medals in rowing. Both were educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford. After rowing in the Oxford Boat in 1939, Richard Burnell’s rowing career was interrupted by military serve but he soon regained his form after the war, winning the Wingfield Sculls in 1946. In 1948 he joined with Bert Bushnell for the Olympic double sculls and although they lost to France in the first round they won the repêchage followed by the semi-final before beating Denmark and Uruguay in the final. After the Olympics, Burnell won a bronze medal in the eights at the 1950 Commonwealth Games and in 1951 he won the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at Henley. He married the daughter of Stanley Garton, a gold medalist in the 1912 Olympic eights, and their son rowed in the Boat Race in 1962. Richard Burnell later became a distinguished rowing journalist and leading historian of the sport.