Robin Williams

Robin Williams MBE (born 5 April 1959) is a Welsh professional rowing coach for Team GB. 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, World Cup and European champions of the women's coxless pair, variously rowed by Helen Glover, Heather Stanning and Polly Swann, achieving an unbroken sequence of twelve gold medal victories at world level. he learned to row on the River Wye whilst at Monmouth School (Monmouth Rowing Club), and then attended University College London where he joined the University of London Boat Club.

Career From 1983 to 1987 Williams was an advertising manager for the Financial Times, plus working in the Caribbean as a salvage diver. In 2010 Williams set up Totally Outdoors in Henley, selling outdoor clothing and rowing equipment. and competed at the 1986 Commonwealth Games.

Coaching In the early '90s, whilst rowing for the London Rowing Club, 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. This was followed by Glover and Stanning winning the overall title in the World Rowing Cup and then becoming world champions at the 2014 World Rowing Championships 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.

Family life Since 2005 Williams has lived in Henley with his wife Anna and their two children, Lizzie and Mathew.

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.