Rowing: First Olympic gold still has special meaning

Sir Steven Redgrave and soccer icon David Beckham celebrated in Singapore as London got the vote to stage the 2012 Olympic Games. Photo / Getty Images

It's the sort of question Sir Steve Redgrave has probably been asked a thousand times.

You've won five Olympic gold medals, from 1984 in Los Angeles to 2000 in Sydney, en route to becoming rowing's most famous athlete, Britain's greatest Olympian. For whatever reason, one must stand out more than the others. Which one?

"I'm a father of three and if someone asked me which is my favourite child, socially you should say they're all equal," he quipped.

"The Olympics are much the same. It's not about that one day, that moment standing on the rostrum having the medal put round your neck.

"It's about the four years of building up, having their own personalities, and each stands out from that point of view."

But if pushed ...

"The first one, because you have this dream, and the first one is that dream becoming reality. Then it's nice having that feeling that you've done it before and if you put all the elements in place you might be able to achieve it again.

"In saying that, Sydney, and the recognition I had for 25 years involved in the sport, was just absolutely amazing."

That first gold came in the coxed four with the late Andy Holmes, Richard Budgett and Martin Cross.

Others followed in the coxless pair (1988, 1992 and 1996) before the stellar career of the 1.95m tall Englishman was rounded off with a coxless four triumph in Sydney.

Redgrave, whose wife, Lady Anne, is team doctor with the British squad at Lake Karapiro for the world championships, is making his first visit to New Zealand for the event.

That he has overcome dyslexia and diabetes adds extra elements to a remarkable picture.

In those quiet moments of a full-on life it is unlikely he imagined things turning out the way they have from that day at Great Marlow comprehensive school in Buckinghamshire, when the head of English asked the dyslexic teenager if he fancied having a crack in a boat.

"I didn't really enjoy school life, I wasn't an academic, so I thought going out during school time was a no brainer."

He immediately took to what he thought then "quite a strange sport". As he put it, other sports can be seen as an extension of life - running comes from walking, playing with balls leads to rugby, hockey, basketball or soccer.

"People were telling me I was capable of being a world champion and I thought 'that sounds quite nice'.

"But why just a world champion, why not an Olympic champion, so from age 18 I was still setting targets. I'd go to the Olympic Games and one day I'd win a medal."

Let's fast forward. It's Atlanta. Redgrave has just won his fourth Olympic gold - not to forget piles of world championships - when he came out with his most famous line straight after that race: "I hereby give permission to anybody who catches me in a boat again to shoot me."

Redgrave laughs at the memory.

"On a daily basis I've had that statement thrown back at me. I don't even remember saying that. It was the pressure and intensity I was under, that was how I felt at the time.

"I didn't think I conducted myself very well then and didn't want to leave it there. A few days after, I was thinking perhaps Sydney would be a good place to go to."

Life post-rowing remains hectic. He isn't the type of person to park himself on a couch with the TV remote.

"I like the idea of being able to do that, but I'm quite socially minded. I had a great time in the sport and if I can help others then that's good."

There is his charitable foundation, which has delivered over £5 million for children's causes, and Redgrave is involved in other causes which have raised millions for poverty.

"It's nice to be involved from that point of view, but yeah, I do do too much. One day it's going to stop, but I'm 50 in 2012 and the schedule hasn't quietened down yet."

* * *

The Redgrave record

* Five Olympic gold medals, one bronze.
* Nine world championship gold medals, two silver, one bronze.
* Three Commonwealth Games gold medals.
* Indoor world champion.