Steve Williams OBE
Steve was selected in the men's four for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and won the gold medal, defending the title he won in 2004. He was awarded an OBE in the 2009 New Year's Honours list in recognition of his achievements.
Steve is the reigning Olympic Champion in the men's four and has been World Champion four times. He won his 4th world title in 2006 when taking gold with the men's four in the World Championships at Eton. In 2007 the four had a mixed season finishing a disappointing 4th at the World Championships in Munich. In the 2008 World Cup series he raced in the men's four finishing 1st, 8th and 2nd.
Steve took up rowing, aged 13, at Monkton Combe School and carried on with the sport when he went to Oxford Brookes University to study History and Town Planning. As part of the University's very successful boat club he won both the Temple Challenge Cup and the Visitor's Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.
In 1997 he was selected to represent Great Britain at the World U23 Championships in the men's four that finished 5th and later that year went to the senior World Championships as reserve.
The following year was Steve's first year on the senior team. He rowed in the pair with Fred Scarlett throughout the 1998 season and went on from an impressive performance at the World Championships where they reached the final to take the gold medal at the World University Championships.
In 1999 Steve raced in a pair with Simon Dennis. They had a successful season, taking two World Cup silver medals and winning the World Cup pairs title, but finished a disappointing fifth at the World Championships in Canada.
Steve rowed in the coxed four that won gold at the 2000 World Championships. The crew dominated the event and showed the depth of the British men's squad that also won two Olympic gold medals in Sydney that year.
In 2001 Steve had an outstanding season, becoming World champion in the four that proved to be worthy successors to the Sydney Olympic four. At the World Championships the crew won their heat in style and then produced a superb performance to win the gold medal. They took the lead at the halfway mark and pulled away from the field to take the world title by a margin of 1.58 seconds in close to world record time.
The following year the GB men's four lost out in the World Championship final to Germany, finishing just 0.2 seconds behind in silver medal position. In 2003 Steve again raced in the four that showed strong form in the early rounds of the World Championships and won their semi–final to secure an Olympic qualifying place and progression to the final. After a slow start they made a dramatic surge in the second half of the race to pass the 2002 World Champions Germany, but could not quite catch Canada, who led by 0.6 seconds at the line.
Steve became an Olympic Champion in Athens in 2004 as part of the GB four that won so narrowly and dramatically from the Canadian world champions in the final to take gold.
He began the 2004 season with a gold from the opening World Cup in Poznan, Poland in the four with Matthew Pinsent, Ed Coode (deputising for James Cracknell) and Alex Partridge. That was followed by a 5th place in Munich (when James Cracknell was again absent through illness) and a bronze in Lucerne. Just before Henley Royal Regatta in early July Alex Partridge was forced to withdraw from the four with a collapsed lung and his seat in Athens was taken by Ed Coode.
The Olympic final produced one of the most exciting finishes ever seen and also brought a fourth Olympic gold medal for Matthew Pinsent.
In 2005, following the retirement of Matthew Pinsent, Ed Coode and James Cracknell, Steve formed a new partnership in a men's four with Andy Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed and Alex Partridge. The quartet won gold at the World Cups in Eton, Munich and Lucerne and then capped a sensational season by taking gold in the World Championships in Japan in September.
The 2006 World Cup brought further success with golds in Munich, Poznan and Lucerne.
At the 2006 World Championships the GB four extended their unbeaten run to 24 races to take the world title for a second round – but this time on home water.
