View source for Robert Symonette

{{short description|Bahamian sailor}}
{{use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name             = Robert Symonette
| image            = 
| caption          = 
| office           = [[List of speakers of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas|Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas]]
| primeminister    = [[Roland Symonette]]<br/>[[Lynden Pindling]]
| term_start       = 6 December 1962
| term_end         = 9 February 1967
| predecessor      = [[Asa Hubert Pritchard]]
| successor        = [[Alvin Rudolph Braynen]]
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1925|1|31|df=yes}}
| birth_place    = 
| death_date     = {{death date and age|1998|3|1|1925|1|31|df=yes}}
| death_place    = 
| alma_mater       = 
| party            = [[United Bahamian Party]]
| spouse           = 
| children         = 
}}
{{Infobox sailor
| image          = 
| image_size     = 
| caption        = 
| birth_name     = 
| full_name      = Robert Hallam Symonette
| nickname       = Bobby
| nationality    = 
| height         = 
| weight         = 
| classes        = [[5.5m]]
| club           = 
| collegeteam    = 
| coach          = 
| medaltemplates =
{{Medal|Competition|World Championships}}
{{Medal|Gold|1980 Sydney|[[5.5 Metre World Championships|5.5m]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|1986 Sydney|[[5.5 Metre World Championships|5.5m]]}}
{{Medal|Silver|1962 Poole|[[5.5 Metre World Championships|5.5m]]}}
{{Medal|Silver|1973 Lysekil|[[5.5 Metre World Championships|5.5m]]}}
{{Medal|Silver|1977 Bénodet|[[5.5 Metre World Championships|5.5m]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|1981 Nassau|[[5.5 Metre World Championships|5.5m]]}}
| show-medals    = yes
| updated        =
}}

'''Robert "Bobby" Hallam Symonette''' (31 January 1925 – 1 March 1998)<ref name=sref>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sy/bobby-symonette-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418103905/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sy/bobby-symonette-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |accessdate=2 July 2012}}</ref> was a [[The Bahamas|Bahamian]] [[yachtsman]], businessman and politician.

Bobby Symonette was an accomplished international yachtsman. He represented the [[Bahamas]] at five [[Olympic Games]], at [[Melbourne]] in 1956, [[Rome]] in 1960, [[Tokyo]] in 1964, [[Mexico]] in 1968 and [[Munich]] in 1972.  Symonette twice won gold in the 5.5 metre keelboat event at the Sailing World Championships, in [[Sydney]] in 1980 and 1986.  He also won silver at three World Championships in 1962 in [[Poole, Dorset]], England, in 1973 in [[Lysekil]], [[Sweden]] and in 1977 at [[Bénodet]], [[France]].

Symonette was a founding member of the Nassau Yacht Club and an International Yacht Racing Union judge.  Symonette served as President of the Bahamas Olympic Association from 1957 to 1972. In 1977 hosted the International 5.5 Metre Class World Championship and the Scandinavian Gold Cup in the waters off Key Biscayne, FL.

Symonette was also a member of a prominent Bahamian political family.  Bobby Symonette was the son of [[Roland Theodore Symonette|Sir Roland Symonette]], the first [[Premier]] of the Bahama Islands and his second wife, the former Thelma Bell Clepper of [[Andalusia, Alabama]].  Symonette was also the half-brother of [[Brent Symonette]], the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Bahamas and Deputy Leader [[Free National Movement]] (FNM).

Bobby Symonette served formerly as [[List of Speakers of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas|Speaker]] of the Bahamas' [[Parliament of the Bahamas|House of the Assembly]] from 1962 to 1967.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{World Sailing|id=BAHRS1|www=robert-hallam-symonette|name=Robert Hallam Symonette}}
* {{Olympics.com|robert-hallam-symonette|Robert Hallam Symonette}}
* {{Olympedia|63830|Bobby Symonette}}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523055649/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,869535-2,00.html |title=''A Crew and Its Skipper'', Time Magazine, 4 July 1960 |date=dmy}}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215131910/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899770,00.html |title=''Consultant's Paradise Lost'', Time Magazine, 8 September 1967 |date=dmy}}

{{Footer World Champions 5.5 Metre}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Symonette, Robert}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:Bahamian male sailors (sport)]]
[[Category:Bahamian sportsperson-politicians]]
[[Category:Bahamian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Speakers of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas]]
[[Category:Free National Movement politicians]]
[[Category:United Bahamian Party politicians]]
[[Category:Children of prime ministers]]
[[Category:Bahamian people of American descent]]
[[Category:Olympic sailors for the Bahamas]]
[[Category:Sailors at the 1960 Summer Olympics – 5.5 Metre]]
[[Category:Sailors at the 1964 Summer Olympics – 5.5 Metre]]
[[Category:Sailors at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Soling]]
[[Category:5.5 Metre class world champions]]
[[Category:World champions in sailing for the Bahamas]]