Redgrave, Steven Geoffrey

▪ 1997

      In Atlanta, Ga., on July 27, 1996, British oarsman Steve Redgrave joined an exclusive club; he had won a gold medal in four consecutive Olympic Games. Only the Hungarian fencer Aladar Gerevich, the U.S. shot-putter Al Oerter, the Danish yachtsman Paul Elvstrom, and the U.S. track star Carl Lewis had equaled or surpassed Redgrave's Olympic record, which included one gold in the coxed fours at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and three in the coxless pairs, with Andy Holmes in 1988 and Matthew Pinsent in 1992 and 1996. Others may have won more medals, but few could sustain Redgrave's level of intensity over such a long period, his burning commitment to victory, or his psychological dominance over his opponents.

      Redgrave was born close to the River Thames in Marlow, Eng., on March 23, 1962, and took up rowing at the age of 16 at his school, Marlow Comprehensive. The first outlines of a sporting legend were drawn in a school race when one of the crew missed his stroke and got the oar caught behind his back. The rest of the crew gave up the race until Redgrave roared at them to keep rowing. They won. He first represented Great Britain in the junior world championships in 1979 and moved to the senior team two years later, narrowly missing selection for the Moscow Olympics in 1980. It was not until after he had stroked the British four to a memorable victory over the U.S. in Los Angeles and flirted with both single sculls and bobsled that Redgrave settled on rowing pairs as his best discipline. Though never a classical rower, he generated enormous power from his 1.96-m (6-ft 5-in), 102-kg (225-lb) frame and developed into a clever tactician on the water, knowing instinctively when to dominate other crews and when to hold back. His first partnership with Holmes broke up amid some acrimony, but in the Oxford-educated Pinsent, eight years Redgrave's junior, he found someone who shared his lust for competition and perfection.

      In addition to his four Olympic golds (the last won by less than a second over the Australian crew), Redgrave collected six world championship golds and two silvers, three Commonwealth golds, and an Olympic bronze in Seoul, S.Kor., in 1988, when he and Holmes narrowly failed to complete a unique double of coxed and coxless pairs. He was made MBE in 1987 (raised to CBE after his triumph in Atlanta) and published a book, Steven Redgrave's Complete Book of Rowing, in 1992. After his return from Atlanta, Redgrave announced his retirement from international rowing. He was reportedly considering a coaching job in Australia, but the lure of a fifth successive Olympic gold proved to be too much, and in November Redgrave proclaimed that he and Pinsent would be wearing the British vest once again at the Sydney Games in the year 2000, probably in the coxless fours. (ANDREW LONGMORE)

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