Dickie Burnell

At the 1948 Olympics Burnell won a gold medal with Bert Bushnell in the double sculls, Burnell and Bushnell having never previously trained together. Jack Beresford told Bushnell that he had no chance to win the single sculls, and so created the double sculls team instead.[3] Their differing physiques – Burnell was 6 ft 4 inches and weighed ​14 ¹⁄₂ stone, while Bushnell was 5 ft 10 inches and ​10 ¹⁄₂ stone – presented some difficulties in the boat, which Bushnell had to re-rig so that they were able to reach together.[1]

The pair only had a month to train for the Games,[1] with animosity between the two due to the difference in their class backgrounds. Bushnell later said in an interview, "There was class tension there and it came from me being bloody awkward."[3] Bushnell struck up a friendship with American rower John B. Kelly Jr. and Australian Mervyn Wood.[4] The rowers' diets had been increased from the normal 2,500 calories allowed by rationing to a "miner's diet" of 3,600. However, the other teams were having food flown in specially to increase their calorie intake and allow them to train more.[3] Bushnell would invite Kelly and Wood over for dinner, with his guests bringing the food.[4] Bushnell and Burnell both attended the opening ceremony of the 1948 Games, something Bushnell described as "dreadful", as they gave the athletes poorly fitting uniforms and made them stand out in the sun en-masse for three hours.[4]

On the Henley Royal Regatta course, they lost to France in the first round, but then won both the repêchage followed by the semi-final. On 9 August 1948, in front of a home crowd, Bushnell and Burnell competed in the Olympic final against the double scull teams of Uruguay and Denmark.[3] Bushnell nearly missed the final, held at the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames, as stewards would not allow him to enter; he later explained "You see I wasn't a member then – not posh enough".[4] At around the three-minute mark, the British team decided to push for the win, eventually taking it in six minutes and 51.3 seconds, two lengths ahead of the favoured Danish duo of Ebbe Parsner and Aage Larsen (6:55.3) and five ahead of Uruguay (7:12.4).[4][5] On the jetty they were awarded their medals while standing in their socks. There were no ribbons for the medals due to cost saving measures, and so they were given them in presentation boxes while God Save the King was played by a band.[3]

Beresford and Burnell (right) at the 1950 British Empire Games

Burnell won a bronze medal in the eights at the 1950 British Empire Games, and in 1951 he won the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, together with Pat Bradley.[2]