Williams relishes City challenge
Rob Williams, Olympic silver medallist in 2012 and former World Champion, has chosen to continue the challenge of a City job he took up after the London Games and will not return to rowing.
Coached by Rob Morgan, Williams took his 2012 medal in the lightweight men’s four with Northern Ireland brothers Richard and Peter Chambers and Chris Bartley, very narrowly missing out on gold.
The 28 year-old took time out after the London Games and went to work as a trader for Goldman Sachs – a role he describes as challenging though enjoyable.
Williams’ World Championships title came in 2010 on New Zealand’s Lake Karapiro with Richard Chambers, Bartley and Paul Mattick. The quartet won a pulsating final by just seven hundredths of a second. It capped Williams’ most consistently successful season in the sport in which he also won two world cup golds and a silver.
The Maidenhead man, who took up rowing at club level aged 16, said: “Ultimately, I feel very fortunate to have had such an enjoyable career, making some good mates and winning a solid handful of medals, all of which culminating in a fantastic summer in 2012”.
Williams learnt to row at Maidenhead rowing club before moving to London Rowing Club whilst at University. He made his international debut in 2006 at U23 level before moving a year later to a senior boat that won bronze at the World Championships.
In 2008 Williams travelled to Beijing as the Olympic reserve before winning the GB Rowing Team Senior Team Trials in the lightweight single 8 months later. In his 2012 Olympic year he completed a PhD in X-ray crystallography.
“Rob converted his significant talent in our sport to great effect and was exceptional in combining his PhD with his rowing, demonstrating that he always remained conscious of the world around him. He will be a great asset to his employers and we wish him well with the future”, said Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director.
Full biog can be found here: https://www.britishrowing.org/gb-rowing-team/biographies/rob-williams
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=============================================THE SEASON AHEAD
GB Rowing Team Diary Dates for 2014
NEW = information added since last circulation
March
1-2
Para-rowing 3rd Assessment, Caversham
15
Women’s Head of the River, London
29
Men’s Head of the River, London
April
5
GB Rowing Team Para-Rowing Trials, Caversham
19-20
GB Rowing Team Senior Team Trials – Caversham
30
NEW – Windermere Cup (GB men’s and women’s eights only)
May
28 – 1 June
European Championships, Belgrade
June
20-22
World Cup II, Aiguebelette, France (includes para-rowing)
July
2-6
Henley Royal Regatta – TBC
12-13
World Cup III, Lucerne, Switzerland
23-27
World U23 Championships, Varese, Italy
August
6-10
World Junior Championships, Hamburg, Germany
16-28
World Youth Olympic Games, Nanjing, China
24 – 31
World Championships, Amsterdam
September
13-14
NEW – World University Championships, Gravelines, France (U23s only)
October
19-20
NEW – British Championships – TBC
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