Will Satch MBE

Rio 2016 Olympiad: 2013 – 2016

Will was once again selected in the men’s eight for the 2016 season and won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Brandenburg, GB taking third place on the line. Alan Sinclair subbed in for the ill Pete Reed for the Lucerne World Cup, where GB finished fourth. Pete returned for the World Cup in Poznan, where the GB eight enjoyed a good tussle with the Olympic champions from Germany on their way to a silver medal.

The eight saved their best until last, winning their Olympic heat in fine fashion before – with Will in the stroke seat – producing a devastating performance in the final to lead from the front and record an emphatic victory to be crowned as Rio 2016 gold-medallists.

It completed a golden Rio 2016 Olympiad for Will, who had also won three successive World Championship titles with the men’s eight.

The latest came at the end of an enthralling 2015 for Will and his crew-mates. They enjoyed a season-long battle with Germany, who had the upper hand at the European Championships in Poznan, Poland as the GB crew finished runners-up.

The tables were turned at the World Cup in Varese, although only just as GB produced a thrilling late surge to win gold by three-tenths of a second. It was even closer in Lucerne as Pete and the crew held on the narrowest of victories.

The World Championships promised even more drama and did not disappoint as the rivals went head to head once again. This time the GB eight won by two-tenths of a second to claim gold for a third successive year.

Will has been an ever-present in the boat since 2013, when he helped to secure a historic first-ever World Championship gold for a British eight. He also won two World Cup regattas that year.

The 2014 season saw Will and the eight win bronze at the European Championships. Second and third places followed at the World Cup in Aiguebelette and Lucerne respectively before the GB crew returned to the top of the podium in style at the World Championships, recording a convincing victory in Amsterdam.

London 2012 Olympiad: 2009-2012

Will’s first full season in the GB Rowing Team senior ranks ended with a breakthrough bronze medal in the men’s pair at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

He had made his GB debut three years earlier at the World U23 Championships, finishing 11th overall in the men’s four. He also competed at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2009, winning gold in the men’s eight and silver in the men’s quad.

Will won bronze medals with the men’s eight at both the 2010 and 2011 World U23 Championships, in Brest and Amsterdam respectively, and also made his senior debut in 2011 at the Munich World Cup, winning silver in the same boat class.

Will formed a new-look pair with George Nash in 2012 and showed promising signs during the World Cup series as they won silver in Belgrade and finished fifth in Lucerne. That promise was underlined at the Olympic Games as the pair won a brilliant bronze medal, almost catching France for silver as they were roared on by the home crowd.

Will, who learnt to row at Shiplake College under the guidance of coach Athol Hundermark, was a keen rugby player and says that would be his career choice if he wasn’t a rower. However, if he could swap sports for the day, it would be to become “a young, gifted and not ginger 100m sprinter – being the fastest man in the world must be extraordinary.”

He used to sing in the school choir, mostly in Latin, and lists Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata in C# Minor among his favourite music. A grand piano would be one of the three things he would take to a desert island, along with sun screen and his dentist – “I can’t abide having toothache, plus she is beautiful!”

Will likes to paint and says that Chamonix in the French Alps, which he visited as a youngster, is his dream travel destination. “However, the Olympic orientation camp would have to be right up there.”

His ideal dinner guests would be Stephen Fry, David Attenborough and model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

Will is Lottery funded through UK Sport.