Dick Nicholson

Dick Nicholson and Clive Marshall only started racing together at the Nottingham Britannia club in 1959 and won the senior pairs at the Molesey Regatta that year by beating the more experienced Michael Beresford and Colin Porter. The following year, the Nottingham pair were runners-up in the 1960 Silver Goblets at Henley when they were beaten in the final by the Oxford University duo of Ian Elliott and D. C. Rutherford, the first winners of the coveted in under eight minutes.

Favourites for a medal at the 1960 Olympics, Nicholson and Marshall went to the Games with a seven-length win at the Ghent International Regatta behind them. They were eliminated in their repêchage in Roma, however, due to an error of their own making. When they heard the bell to signify the Austrian pair had crossed the finish line first, Marshall and Nicholson inadvertently thought it was to signify they had finished the race and they stopped rowing. At the time of the incident, they were in the second place that guaranteed them a place in the semi-final, but Australia continued rowing and overtook the British pair to finish second.

Shortly after the Olympics Nicholson formed a new pairs partnership with Keith Symons and later with Dickie Wait when, in 1961, Nicholson was on course for further Silver Goblets success until beaten in the final by the Finland duo of Veli Lehtelä and Toimi Pitkänen. Nicholson later became a coach and was senior coach to the Midland Nautilus squad in the late 1960s.