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The GB Rowing Team is the high performance arm of British Rowing. Rowing is the nation’s most continuously successful Olympic sport, having won a gold medal in every Olympic Games since 1984, and has won six Paralympic golds since the sport was introduced to the Paralympic Games programme in 2008.
GB Rowing Team
Rower // Lightweight Men's Squad Date of Birth: 10th Jun 1985 (35 years old) Club: Leander Club Height: 183.00 Hometown: Coleraine
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Double World Champion Richard Chambers made his senior debut for the GB Rowing Team in 2006 and went on to compete at three Olympic Games during a splendid rowing career.
Richard Chambers made his Olympic debut at Beijing 2008. He went mighty close to winning a gold medal in the lightweight men’s four at London 2012 before finishing his international career at Rio 2016.
Richard – whose brother Peter is also a member of the GB Rowing Team – was an accomplished sculler and sweep oarsman, winning medals on the international stage in both disciplines.
Olympic silver medallist and double World Champion in the lightweight men's four, Richard also won World and European silver medals in the lightweight men's double
©Peter Spurrier/Intersport Images
2015
World and European Silver Medallist Lightweight Men's Double Scull
2014
World Bronze Medallist Lightweight Men's Four
European Silver Medallist Lightweight Men's Four
2013
World Bronze Medallist Lightweight Men's Double Scull
2012
Olympic Silver Medallist Lightweight Men's Four
2011
2010
World Champion Lightweight Men's Four
2007
2006
World U23 Champion Lightweight Men's Pair
2005
World U23 Silver Medallist Lightweight Men's Quadruple Scull
Rio 2016 Olympiad: 2013-2016
Richard was once again selected to partner Will Fletcher in the lightweight men’s double scull for the 2016 season. An injury to Richard forced them to miss the European Championships in Brandenburg before the double finished fifth at the World Cups in both Lucerne and Poznan.
After finishing as runners-up in their heat at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Will and Richard had to settle for fourth place in their semi-final. However, they finished the regatta on a strong note by winning the B final to place seventh overall.
Richard and Will enjoyed a highly-encouraging debut season together in the lightweight double in 2015. They quickly forged a good partnership and won a silver medal at the European Championships in Poznan behind France’s Stany Delayre and Jeremie Azou, who went on to finish the season unbeaten.
A bronze medal at the World Cup in Varese was followed by an eventful regatta in Lucerne, where an injury to Will meant Richard was joined by Jono Clegg for the final. It was Jono’s second final in less than 24 hours and, after a brave effort, the GB duo finished fifth.
Richard and Will were back to their best at the World Championships in Aiguebelette and, in a high-quality final featuring the 2013 and 2014 gold-medallists, led the field at halfway. Delayre and Azou then moved clear in front of their home crowd but Richard and Will, who won silver, were closing in on them at the line.
Richard had first raced in the lightweight double in 2013, winning World Cup gold with Adam Freeman-Pask in Sydney before teaming up with brother Peter Chambers to claim World Cup silver and bronze. They were also third at the World Championships in Chungju.
The 2014 season saw the Chambers brothers return to the lightweight four where, alongside Mark Aldred and Chris Bartley, they won a hard-fought silver at the European Championships. Bronze medals followed at the World Cups in Aiguebelette and Lucerne before another third-placed finish was secured in a competitive World Championships final in Amsterdam.
London 2012 Olympiad: 2009-2012
Richard’s silver at the London 2012 Olympic Games came seven years after he won a medal of the same colour on his GB Rowing Team debut at the World U23 Championships in Amsterdam.
After sustaining an injury in the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials Richard was ruled-out of the first season of the London Olympiad entirely.
However, he made a stunning return in 2010, winning two World Cup golds and a silver alongside Chris Bartley, Paul Mattick and Rob Williams. The four then capped an exceptional season by securing the World title in New Zealand, with just eight-hundredths of a second separating the top three.
The same four came from sixth to win bronze at the 2011 World Championships in Bled, having won World Cup gold and bronze in Lucerne and Munich respectively.
Richard was joined by his brother, Peter, in the four for 2012 along with Chris and Rob. They won silver in Belgrade and bronze in Lucerne before finishing the World Cup series with gold in Munich. An extremely close Olympic final at Eton Dorney saw the GB four finish just two-tenths of a second behind South Africa but hold off Denmark to secure silver.
On his GB Rowing Team debut in 2005 Richard won a silver medal in the lightweight quad at the World U23 Championships in Amsterdam but it was in a pair with Chris Bartley that he won gold at the 2006 U23 Championships in Hazewinkel. That earned Richard and Chris selection for the senior World Championships at Eton Dorney, where they finished a solid sixth.
Richard’s first season in the lightweight four proved to be a historic one as GB won a first-ever lightweight Olympic-class gold at the 2007 World Championships in Munich. The four also topped the World Cup series after winning gold, silver and bronze and were selected by TeamGB for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games where they had to settle for fifth place.
Club: Leander Club Boat: Lightweight Men’s Squad Role: Rower Coaches: Darren Whiter Learnt to Row: Coleraine Academical Institution Original Club(s): Oxford Brookes University Boat Club Original Coach(es): Bobby Platt MBE
Richard attended Coleraine Academical Institution where he began rowing at the age of 15 under the watchful eye of Bobby Platt MBE. In 2003 he moved to Oxford Brookes University to study Construction Management.
He is an ambassador for Volunteer Now & Cancer focus NI. In September 2013 Richard and his younger brother and team mate, Peter, visited Uganda with the Christian charity Tearfund to helps raise awareness of the need for clean, fresh water.
Richard is the proud father of Joshua and Alexandra
He is Lottery funded through UK Sport.