Richard William Tonks MNZM (born 21 February 1951)[1] is a former national New Zealand rowing coach and a former rower who won a silver medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

[2][4] Curiously, Tonks never won a national title, coming second in the single scull to Murray Watkinson in 1974 and never being part of a strong enough club to win in larger boats.

[2] In 1994 world champion scullers Philippa Baker and Brenda Lawson asked Tonks to coach them in the double, leading to gold at Indianapolis, bronze at Tampere in 1995 and making the final at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

[2][3] Tonks has been influential in the careers of rowers such as Olympic medallists Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, Mahé Drysdale, Nicky Coles, Juliette Haigh, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray.

[5][6] An arrangement was agreed on by which Tonks would continue to coach Drysdale and the women's double sculls boat (Eve MacFarlane and Zoe Stevenson) until the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in a private capacity.