Robert Richards (Australian rower)

Richards first represented Australia in the lightweight eight at the Aiguebelette 1997 where the Australians won a thrilling final by 0.03 seconds with only 1.5 lengths separating the field. There Richards won his first and only world championship title.^[1] For Cologne 1998 and then at St Catharine's 1999 Richards stroked the Australian lightweight coxless four with his Ballarat team-mate Anthony Edwards, Darren Balmforth and the Tasmanian champion Simon Burgess. That four took bronze in 1998 and silver in 1999.^[1]

That same lightweight coxless four stayed together for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The event showcased two match races between the Australians and the French crew. They met in a semi-final where the Australians, with Richards setting the pace, pipped the French by 3/100ths of a second. In the final the Australians led for much of the race. The French tried once to break through and failed, then a second time and failed and finally with a matter of metres to go broke through to win by less than half a second. Both races were a superb highlight of the regatta and won Richards Olympic silver in his last Australian representative appearance.^[3][1][4]

• Robert Richards at World Rowing
• Robert Richards at Olympics.com
• Robert Richards at Olympic.org (archived)
• Robert Richards at Olympedia