Desmond Robinson

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameDesmond•Robinson
Used nameDesmond•Robinson
Born30 December 1927 in Dewsbury, England (GBR)
Died10 December 2015
AffiliationsHuddersfield Road Club, Huddersfield (GBR)
NOC Great Britain

Biography

Desmond Robinson was the older bother of Brian, the first Briton to win a stage in the Tour de France in 1958. And had it not been for Desmond attending a training campo in France in the early 1950s, Brian may well not have been drawn to the attraction of racing on the Continent in the first place

Desmond left school and trained as a draughtsman before joining the family joinery business in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. He was a keen cyclist from an early age and he took up the sport competitively after joining the Huddersfield Road Club in 1945. His first major success was in winning the 1949 Manx International TT and in 1952 was part of the five-man Great Britain team, along with brother Brian, to compete in the road race at the Helsinki Olympics. Desmond’s most successful year was 1955 when he won the Bradford-Filey stage of the Butlin’s Road Race. He also won the Sheffield Highgate Road Race, won two stages, and was classified first in the Amateur Circuit of Britain and was 11th in the Tour of Britain, after finishing second on the fourth stage. He retired from racing later that year after he and his wife had started a family and he wanted to concentrate on his new life.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1952 Summer Olympics Cycling Road (Cycling) GBR Desmond Robinson
Road Race, Individual, Men (Olympic) 26
Road Race, Team, Men (Olympic) Great Britain 11

Olympic family relations