 Richard ('Dick') Burnell in 1950 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Richard Desborough Burnell | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 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] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Formerpartner | Bert Bushnell | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Richard Desborough Burnell (26 July 1917 – 29 January 1995) was an Englishrower who won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics alongsideBert Bushnell in thedouble sculls. He and his fatherCharles are the only father and son in Olympic history to have both won gold medals in rowing.[2]
Burnell was born inHenley-on-Thames the son ofCharles Burnell who won a gold medal in theeights at the1908 Summer Olympics. He was educated atEton College andOxford University.
In May 1939, Burnell was commissioned into theLondon Rifle Brigade. He was on the losing Oxford team inThe Boat Race in 1939. He was a rowing correspondent forThe Times and wrote several books on rowing matters. He competed forKingston Rowing Club and in 1946 won theWingfield Sculls.
At the 1948 Olympics Burnell won a gold medal withBert Bushnell in thedouble 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 weighed14+1⁄2 stone, while Bushnell was 5 ft 10 inches and10+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 rowerJohn B. Kelly Jr. and AustralianMervyn 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 theHenley Royal Regatta course, they lost to France in the first round, but then won both therepêchage 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 theLeander Club inHenley-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 ofEbbe Parsner andAage 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 whileGod Save the King was played by a band.[3]
Burnell won a bronze medal in the eights at the 1950 British Empire Games, and in 1951 he won theDouble Sculls Challenge Cup atHenley Royal Regatta, together with Pat Bradley.[2]He continued to write on international rowing events for theSunday Times until 1990.
Burnell and his fatherCharles 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 rowerStanley Garton. They had five children: Peter, John, Edward, Alexandra (“Zandra”), and Elizabeth (“Tizzy”).[6] Burnell's son, Peter, rowed for Oxford in 1962.
Burnell published several books on rowing, including
During the run up to the2012 Summer Olympics in London, the BBC produced the filmBert and Dickie (also calledGoing For Gold: The '48 Games), depicting Burnell and Bushnell's achievement at the 1948 Games, withSam Hoare in the role of Burnell andMatt Smith portraying Bushnell.[3][7]
