Steve Williams (rower)

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Steve Williams

Stephen "Steve" David Williams (born April 15, 1976 in Leamington Spa ) is a retired British rower who won Olympic gold in 2004 and 2008 in the four without a helmsman .

Steve Williams began rowing in Bath in 1989 and continued his athletic career while studying at Oxford Brookes University . In 1997 he took part in the U23 World Championships , where he finished fifth in the four with helmsman . Williams has been part of the British national team since 1998. After two finals at the World Rowing Championships in 1998 and 1999 , Williams missed the 2000 Olympic participation. Instead, he took part in the world championships for the non-Olympic boat classes with the four-man helmsman and won his first world championship. In the following year Williams, Rick Dunn and Toby Garbett changed from this boat to the four-man without a helmsman and became world champions here together with Ed Coode . In 2002 and 2003 the three with Josh West instead of Ed Coode finished second in the world championship behind the German boat (2002) and the Canadian boat (2003). The four was redeployed for the Olympic Games in Athens. Together with Matthew Pinsent , James Cracknell and Ed Coode, Williams won gold from the Canadians after an extremely close race.

After Pinsent resigned, the four-man team was re-cast and started in 2005 with Andrew Triggs Hodge , Alex Partridge , Peter Reed and Williams. These four rowers became world champions in 2005 and 2006, but only finished fourth in 2007 in Munich. In the 2008 Olympic season, Partridge was replaced by Tom James . In this new line-up, the British won the gold medal in Beijing, ahead of the Australians. Williams then ended his international rowing career.

Steve Williams graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a BA in History and Urban Planning and a Masters in International Management.

successes

Honors

  • 2005: MBE
  • 2006: Honorary Doctorate from Oxford Brookes
  • 2009: OBE

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Williams, Steve
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Williams, Stephen David (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British rower
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Leamington Spa