Steve Redgrave - Rowing Career

Rowing Career

Redgrave stands 1.95 metres (6 ft 5 inches) tall. In his prime, he weighed more than 100 kilograms (16 st; 220 lb). His primary strength was in sweep oared rowing, where he has the distinction of being one of the few oarsmen to have won Olympic Gold rowing both bowside and strokeside (starboard and port). He also enjoyed success in indoor rowing, winning the World Championship for Indoor Rowing in 1991. He was also a successful single sculler winning the Wingfield Sculls five times between 1985 and 1989, but not quite a world champion class single sculler. From 1991 onwards, Redgrave, and the crews in which he rowed, became renowned for their consistent dominance. They set themselves apart from many other internationally successful crews by winning almost every time they raced. Indeed, the very occasional lapses in this winning run, such as the Lucerne regatta in 2000, were regarded with surprise by both the rowing community and the press.

For much of his career, Redgrave battled severe illness. In 1992, he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (although he had continued to train for a considerable time prior to diagnosis). In September 1997, Diabetes mellitus type 1 was added to his list of ailments. Through careful management, however, he was able to continue training right up to the Sydney Olympics.

Redgrave is also dyslexic, a condition which he has suffered from since his school days. In addition to his Olympic medals, Redgrave won 9 gold medals, 2 silvers, and a bronze at the Rowing World Championships. His 14 total Olympic and World Championship gold medals is unsurpassed by any other rower in history, although later equalled by his long-time rowing partner Matthew Pinsent.

Redgrave was a competitor at Henley Royal Regatta for more than two decades. He won the Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup for coxless pairs seven times (twice with Andy Holmes, once with Simon Berrisford and four times with Matthew Pinsent), the Stewards' Challenge Cup for coxless fours five times, the Diamond Challenge Sculls twice, the Double Sculls Challenge Cup once (with Eric Sims) and the Queen Mother Challenge Cup for quadruple sculls once. In 1989/1990 he was a member of the British bobsleigh team, as well as national champion. Immediately after winning the 1996 Olympic Gold Medal, in an interview Redgrave stated if anyone found him close to a rowing boat again they could shoot him.

In 2000, Redgrave won his fifth consecutive Olympic Gold Medal, retired from the sport, and became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In August 2000, the month prior to winning gold in Sydney, he took part in a 3-part BBC documentary entitled Gold Fever. This followed Redgrave and his crewmates in the coxless four in the years leading up to the Olympics, including video diaries recording the highs and lows in the quest for his fourth consecutive team gold. At the medal ceremony after his win at the 2000 Summer Olympics Redgrave was presented with a gold Olympic pin by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch in recognition of his winning gold at 5 consecutive Olympic Games.