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Steve Redgrave
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Sir Stephen Geoffrey Redgrave CBE (born on 23 March, 1962, in Marlow) is a British rower who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He also won a bronze medal in 1988.
As the only Briton ever to achieve this feat, Redgrave is considered by some to be Britain's greatest Olympian. Only four other Olympians achieved the same: Pál Kovács, Aladár Gerevich (the only one to surpass it with 6 consecutive golds), Reiner Klimke, and Birgit Fischer, and only one of those in an "endurance" event. Redgrave has also won nine Rowing World Championship gold medals.
He married Ann Callaway (now Lady Redgrave) in 1988; an accomplished rower in her own right, Ann represented Great Britain in the women's eight at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and was Chief Medical Officer to the GB rowing team from 1992 - 2001.
Rowing careerEven by rowing standards, Redgrave is a big, powerful man.
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Sir Stephen Geoffrey Redgrave CBE (born on 23 March, 1962, in Marlow) is a British rower who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He also won a bronze medal in 1988.
As the only Briton ever to achieve this feat, Redgrave is considered by some to be Britain's greatest Olympian. Only four other Olympians achieved the same: Pál Kovács, Aladár Gerevich (the only one to surpass it with 6 consecutive golds), Reiner Klimke, and Birgit Fischer, and only one of those in an "endurance" event. Redgrave has also won nine Rowing World Championship gold medals.
He married Ann Callaway (now Lady Redgrave) in 1988; an accomplished rower in her own right, Ann represented Great Britain in the women's eight at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and was Chief Medical Officer to the GB rowing team from 1992 - 2001.
Rowing careerEven by rowing standards, Redgrave is a big, powerful man. He stands 1.95 metres (6 ft 5 inches) tall. In his prime, he weighed more than 100 kg. 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. 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 British National Championship numerous times, 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 against severe illnesses. In 1992, he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (although he had continued to train for a considerable time prior to diagnosis). In late 1997, diabetes was added to his list of ailments. Through careful management, however, he was able to continue training right up to the Sydney Olympics.
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 an outstanding competitor at Henley Royal Regatta over twenty years. 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 the winning 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 fifth consecutive team gold.
He was made an MBE in 1987, a CBE in 1997, and he became a Knight Bachelor in 2001.
In 2002, his achievement of winning gold medals at five consecutive Olympic games was voted the greatest sporting moment in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.
Life after rowingIn April 2006 he completed his third London Marathon, raising a record Ł1,800,000 for charity.
Redgrave is a supporter of Chelsea FC.
Steven Redgrave is also commemorated at Burnham Grammar School and Broadlands Science and Engineering School as one of the four houses there.
Also, at Linton Village College in Cambridgeshire, there is a school faculty (house) named after him.
He attended the 2007 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium as a guest of honour.
He also starred in Top Ground Gear Force (although he didn't realise until it was too late) for Sport Relief in 2008, where the Top Gear Team took on Ground Force with predictable results, and trashed his garden.
He has also launched his own Fairtrade Cotton Brand of Clothing called FiveG which is sold in Debenhams department stores. Sir Steve is committed to providing a better deal for the Third World through both his FiveG clothing range and the Sir Steve Redgrave Charity Trust.
Achievements
Olympic Games- 2000 - Gold, Coxless Four (with Matthew Pinsent, Tim Foster, James Cracknell)
- 1996 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
- 1992 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
- 1988 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Andy Holmes)
- 1988 - Bronze, Coxed Pair (with Andy Holmes and Patrick Sweeney)
- 1984 - Gold, Coxed Four (with Martin Cross, Adrian Ellison, Andy Holmes, Richard Budgett).
World Rowing Championships- 1999 - Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Ed Coode, Matthew Pinsent)
- 1998 - Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Tim Foster, Matthew Pinsent)
- 1997 - Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Tim Foster, Matthew Pinsent)
- 1995 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
- 1994 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
- 1993 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
- 1991 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
- 1990 - Bronze, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
- 1989 - Silver, Coxless Pairs (with Simon Berrisford)
- 1987 - Gold, Coxless Pairs (with Andy Holmes)
- 1987 - Silver, Coxed Pairs (with Andy Holmes and Patrick Sweeney)
- 1986 - Gold, Coxed Pairs (with Andy Holmes and Patrick Sweeney)
- 1985 - 12th, Single Sculls
- 1983 - Single Sculls
- 1982 - 6th, Quadruple Scull
- 1981 - 8th, Quadruple Scull
Junior World Rowing Championships- 1980 - Silver, Double Sculls
- 1979 - Single Sculls
Henley Royal Regatta- 2001 - Queen Mother Challenge Cup
- 2000 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
- 1999 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
- 1998 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
- 1997 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
- 1995 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
- 1994 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
- 1993 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
- 1993 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
- 1991 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
- 1989 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
- 1987 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
- 1986 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
- 1985 - Diamond Challenge Sculls
- 1983 - Diamond Challenge Sculls
- 1981 - Double Sculls Challenge Cup
Other- 1996 - Winner of UK Celebrity Gladiators
- 2000 - BBC Sports Personality of the Year
Bibliography - Steve Redgrave: A Golden age (2000) with Nick Townsend. ISBN 0-563-55182-8
- 2nd edition: 2001 ISBN 0-563-53821-X
- Steve Redgrave's Complete Book of Rowing (1992). ISBN 1-85225-124-7
- 2nd edition: 1995 ISBN 1-85225-230-8
- You Can Win At Life! (2005) with Nick Townsend. ISBN 0-563-48776-3.
Redgrave has also written a foreword to Diabetes: The at Your Fingertips Guide.
See also
External links
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