title: Richard Ayling
text: # Richard Ayling
  
  Richard John Ayling (1 June 1952 – 1 November 2016) was a British rower.
  
  ## Rowing career
  
  He competed in the men's coxless four event at the 1976 Summer Olympics. He won the coxed pairs title rowing for the Kingston and Leander composite, with Mark Hayter, at the 1973 National Rowing Championships. Ayling was selected by Great Britain as part of the coxed four at the 1975 World Rowing Championships in Nottingham, the four just missed out on a medal finishing in fourth place in the A final.
  
  In 1978, he took up coaching and was the coach of a crew that reached the final of the 1979 World Rowing Championships.
  
  ## Personal life
  
  He married German international rower Astrid Hohl in 1976. He was the editor of a magazine called 'Rowing'.
  
  