Robin Francis
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
20 April 1982 Durban, South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 107 kg (236 lb; 16.8 st) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Medley / Breastroke / Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | University of Bath | |||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Robin Francis is a former British International Swimmer. He was born on the 20th of April 1982 in Durban, South Africa.
Francis is a two time European Championship Silver Medallist in the 400 m Individual Medley from 2001 and 2003. He also won the Silver medal at the 2004 World Championships in the same event. His 2001 performance ranked him second in the world and as a result FINA awarded him with the Best International Newcomer award.
Francis was drafted in at the last minute to compete in the men's 4 x 200 m Freestyle Relay at the 2003 World Championships finishing sixth and earning Great Britain a potential place in the 2004 Olympic Games. He posted the fastest team split.
At the 2004 Olympic Games he represented Great Britain in the men's 200 m individual medley in which he reached the Semi-Final, and the 400 m individual medley finishing 12th.
British Championships
Francis dominated both Medley events over a period of four years breaking seven Senior British Records in the process.
Junior International Career
Francis won medals at both the Youth Olympic Games in 1997 and Junior European Championships in 2000.
Coaching
Francis has been a professional Coach since 2006. He has successfully headed programmes in South Africa and the UK and is currently coaching at Kelly College where he started work in 2009.
His desire to coach stems from the disappointment he encountered in 2002 when he was forced to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games in Manchester due to suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. Francis qualified in the 200 m Individual Medley, 400 m Individual Medley and 200 m Breastroke and was ranked in the top three for all. Unfortunately he had to witness medals being won in these events in slower times than he had previously achieved making him determined to prevent all swimmers under his guidance from being involved in a similar situation.