Robin Williams MBE (born 5 April 1959) is a Welsh professional rowing coach for

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their Great Britain at the Olympics, British Olympic team. The brand was developed after Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the nation's poor perfor ...

. He represented Great Britain at six world championships, winning silver and bronze medals. He was coach to the Cambridge University Boat Club for 11 years winning seven Varsity Boat races. As of 2014 he is coach to the World record holders and the reigning Olympic,

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, World Cup and European champions of the women's coxless pair, variously rowed by Helen Glover,

Heather Stanning Heather Mary Stanning OBE (born 26 January 1985) is a retired British professional rower, a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team, and Royal Artillery officer. Ranked number 1 female rower in the world in 2016, she is a double Olympic champi ...

and Polly Swann, achieving an unbroken sequence of twelve gold medal victories at world level.The Cambridge Student, Interview – Team GB rowing coach Robin Williams
/ref>

Early life and education

Born in

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

he learned to row on the River Wye whilst at

Monmouth School Monmouth School for Boys is a public school (independent day and boarding school) for boys in Monmouth, Wales. The school was founded in 1614 with a bequest from William Jones, a successful merchant and trader. The School is run as a trust, t ...

(

Monmouth Rowing Club Monmouth Rowing Club is located on the banks of the River Wye in Monmouth, the county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales. The club is affiliated with the Welsh Amateur Rowing Association (WARA) and hosts several annually orga ...

), and then attended

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

where he joined the

University of London Boat Club University of London Boat Club (ULBC; boat code ULO) is the rowing club for the University of London and its member institutions, many of which also have their own boat clubs. The club has its boathouse on the Thames in Chiswick, London, UK. I ...

Career

From 1983 to 1987 Williams was an advertising manager for the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

, plus working in the Caribbean as a salvage diver. In 2010 Williams set up ''Totally Outdoors'' in Henley, selling outdoor clothing and rowing equipment.

Rowing

Williams rowed for

and gained his first Great Britain vest in 1981, an international career that lasted 10 years until 1991. He won a Gold Medal at the Match des Seniors (Under 23 Championships) in 1981 and Silver and Bronze at the 1988 and 1989 World Rowing Championships. He has also won three Henley Royal regatta medals and 5 Lucerne regatta medals.Henley Standard 7 July 2014 Rowing coach with the golden touch

Coaching

In the early '90s, whilst rowing for the

London Rowing Club London Rowing Club (LRC, or colloquially, 'London') is the second-oldest of the non-academic active rowing clubs on the Thames in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1856 by members of the long-disbanded Argonauts Club wishing to compete at ...

, he also got involved with management and coaching, working as part-time coach for three years for the Great Britain lightweights. Williams stated that ''"It was a good springboard for a coaching career because we had GB rowers there. We won a lot of stuff at all levels and I think that got me established as a coach."'' In 1996 he coached the lightweight men's four to 10th place at the Olympics in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. In 1994 he became coach to the Cambridge University Boat Club having rejected a similar position at the

Oxford University Boat Club Oxford University Boat Club (OUBC) is the rowing club for male, heavyweight oarsman of the University of Oxford, England, located on the River Thames at Oxford. The club was founded in the early 19th century. The Boat Race The club races agai ...

. Over the next 11 years his crew won the annual

Boat Race Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

seven times. From 2005 until 2009 he coached the men's lightweight crews for

Henley on Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Bucking ...

and the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham, Berkshire. In 2007 the lightweight four won gold at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Munich-

Oberschleißheim Oberschleißheim () is a municipality in the district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located 13 km north of Munich (centre). As of 2005 it had a population of 11,467. Oberschleißheim is best known for the Schleissheim Palace and ...

, and in 2008 they came fifth at the Olympics in Beijing. In July 2010 he began coaching Helen Glover and

in the women's coxless pair, such that by November they had improved from their world rankings of 16 and 17 to take the silver medal at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand. In 2011 he took them to within 0.08 seconds of the gold medal at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Slovenia. In 2012 Glover and Stanning won the gold medal in the Women's coxless pair at the London Olympics. In 2013 he led Glover and Polly Swann to become World champions at Chungju, South Korea. In 2014 he led Glover and Swann to the gold medal at the

European Rowing Championships The European Rowing Championships is an international Rowing regatta organised by FISA (the International Rowing Federation) for European rowing nations, plus Israel which, though not a member of the European federation is treated as a Europea ...

Ada Ciganlija Ada Ciganlija ( sr-cyr, Ада Циганлија, ), colloquially shortened to Ada, is a river island that has artificially been turned into a peninsula, located in the Sava River's course through central Belgrade, Serbia. The name can also ref ...

, Belgrade on 30 May.BBC Sport News, 14 May 2014, Heather Stanning backed for quick return despite European absence, By Lawrence Barretto
/ref> This was followed by Glover and Stanning winning the overall title in the

World Rowing Cup The World Rowing Cup is an international rowing competition organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It began in 1997 and comprises three regattas (apart from in 2001 when there were four) held throughout early summer. In each eve ...

and then becoming world champions at the

2014 World Rowing Championships The 2014 World Rowing Championships were the 44th edition of the World Rowing Championships and were held from 24 to 31 August 2014 at Bosbaan, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the second occasion on which the event had been held in Amsterdam, or ...

held at the Bosbaan, Amsterdam. They won both their heat and the semi-final and set a new world record time of 6:50.61 in the final, breaking the 2002 time by three seconds. As of 2014 this represents an unbroken sequence of twelve gold medal victories at world level.World Rowing. 30 August 2014, Hot racing, World Best Times and new World Champions
/ref>BBC Sport – Rowing. 30 August 2014. World Rowing Championships: Glover & Stanning relieved to win. By Lawrence Barretto
/ref>World Rowing, Results database – 2014 World Championships
/ref>

Family life

Since 2005 Williams has lived in Henley with his wife Anna and their two children, Lizzie and Mathew.The_Times
_10_July_2014._Helen_Glover_and_Heather_Stanning_given_coach_fillip._by_Alex_Lowe.html" ;"title="The Times">The Times
10 July 2014. Helen Glover and Heather Stanning given coach fillip. by Alex Lowe">The Times">The Times
10 July 2014. Helen Glover and Heather Stanning given coach fillip. by Alex Lowe/ref>

Honours

Williams was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to rowing. In 2016, he was named BBC Wales coach of the year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Robin British male rowers Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire 1959 births Rowing coaches People educated at Monmouth School for Boys Sportspeople from Anglesey Welsh male rowers Alumni of University College London Monmouth, Wales