:00:03. > :00:13.has the little bit of luck. Bruce Forsyth in winning form himself. It
:00:13. > :00:15.
:00:15. > :00:19.is time now for extra-time. Extra time has come to Dorney Lake the
:00:19. > :00:24.venue for the rowing events at the London of Olympics. We will make
:00:24. > :00:28.one of four athletes to have won gold medals at five consecutive
:00:28. > :00:33.Olympic Games. We will also talk about the sport of rowing itself
:00:33. > :00:43.and a doping and the bans. In the suggestion that he may be the man
:00:43. > :01:08.
:01:08. > :01:14.to light the flame at the opening Bernhard Eisel will come to this
:01:14. > :01:20.Olympic edition of extra-time. You're a responsible for one of the
:01:20. > :01:26.most famous quotes in British sport. Can you remember what you said?
:01:26. > :01:31.used a four letter word I should not have used. BBC blipped it out
:01:31. > :01:38.for the clips that went out afterward. If anybody sees me near
:01:38. > :01:48.a boat there might could -- permission to shoot. That was the
:01:48. > :01:51.
:01:51. > :01:58.quote. It was delivered live on television. It now sport we have a
:01:58. > :02:05.little time together your thoughts. It was 20 minutes between crossing
:02:05. > :02:12.the line to getting out of the boat to the medal centre. In those days,
:02:12. > :02:16.you will well protected until that time. In it land to, just after the
:02:16. > :02:22.finish within a minute we were giving interviews which we have
:02:22. > :02:31.never been in that situation before. I got more emotional than expected.
:02:31. > :02:40.Did you mean it at the time? The outer rings of a tired mind inside
:02:40. > :02:48.a tired body? Mentally, it lasted 24 hours before I started thinking
:02:49. > :02:54.about what I said. There was a lot of pressure on us. The British team
:02:54. > :03:01.was not performing very well. physical motions were up and down
:03:01. > :03:06.all week. It was sheer relief and that was how I felt. You did change
:03:07. > :03:13.your mind, how long did that take? How long did it take for you to
:03:13. > :03:19.come back? Of men to do not fulfil all the expectations and Olympic
:03:19. > :03:24.should. -- Atlanta. The transport was not very good. Some of the
:03:24. > :03:31.middle management was not very good. It did not have a great feeling.
:03:31. > :03:41.One about Sydney? Gold medal number five. And you knew it was time to
:03:41. > :03:44.
:03:44. > :03:50.retire? Consistency was thrown out the window. If London was four
:03:50. > :03:57.years away, I will probably would have carried on. But it was 12
:03:57. > :04:06.years away, there was no way I could complete at the age of 50. --
:04:06. > :04:10.compete. I knew would be over. I made no rash statements afterwards.
:04:10. > :04:16.You are remembered for your partnership with Matthew Pinsent,
:04:16. > :04:26.there have been other partnerships for rowing. What stands out is your
:04:26. > :04:26.
:04:27. > :04:31.most enduring memory? The five golds, I always wanted to be a
:04:31. > :04:39.single sculler. The closest to have got to there was competing at the
:04:39. > :04:44.Commonwealth Games. Commonwealth Games, I won gold. Of all the
:04:44. > :04:51.honours I have in the sport, the only ones I had left Derby three
:04:51. > :05:00.Commonwealth Games. Britain has an once anything in the Olympics since
:05:00. > :05:05.1996. I am single sculls champion. Changing tack, let's talk about
:05:05. > :05:15.rowing itself. Any sport could be reduced to absurdity. Football has
:05:15. > :05:24.22 blokes kicking a ball around the rectangular field. For viewers who
:05:24. > :05:31.do not get rowing, explain, if you can watch the real attraction is?
:05:31. > :05:35.do not get it myself. 2,000. Metres, six lines, it is a little bit
:05:35. > :05:41.bizarre. Hours and hours of training to go as fast as you can
:05:41. > :05:47.in six minutes. It is the camaraderie, the teamwork part of
:05:47. > :05:52.it. Rugby, football and cricket you will be part of a team and playing
:05:52. > :06:00.a role within the team. Within the sport of rowing, or have you are
:06:00. > :06:06.doing the same thing at the same time. You're only as strong as the
:06:06. > :06:12.weakest person in the boat and it is a good analogy and sometimes
:06:12. > :06:17.correct. It is not about the individuals. You may have the
:06:17. > :06:25.fastest boat in the world. With football, you may have the strike
:06:25. > :06:29.and win matches. And have a relatively poor rest of the side.
:06:29. > :06:39.Our understanding team work ethic, what about the pain, delight the
:06:39. > :06:41.
:06:41. > :06:48.pain of training? -- to you like. Rowing is an endurance sport. It is
:06:48. > :06:57.kind of sporting Mac -- masochism. It can be very boring going up and
:06:57. > :07:06.down training. I rode for 25 years and a Fellow of a rowing machine 20
:07:06. > :07:11.times. That is not masochism. It is a low-intensity sport for long
:07:11. > :07:20.periods time we or you build up endurance levels. It is more about
:07:20. > :07:25.the boredom factor than the pain you go through. To you get bored?
:07:25. > :07:33.Definitely. My powers of concentration of one of my assets.
:07:33. > :07:38.I can only concentrate 50% of the time I was out on the water.
:07:38. > :07:42.could have been twice as good? paddle down the water and you think
:07:42. > :07:46.I would like to go to the supermarket. I am making a speech
:07:46. > :07:51.and a few days' time and you go through what you may say during the
:07:51. > :07:59.presentation. It is a very repetitive sport. Stroke after
:07:59. > :08:06.stroke. Thousands upon millions of times. I have another quote for you
:08:06. > :08:15.from the British coach. Rovers are racing to destruction. What you
:08:15. > :08:22.think about that. I know him very well. You have got to enjoy the
:08:22. > :08:31.pain, he says. I think you have to enjoy the winning. You train as
:08:31. > :08:39.hard as you do because of the joy of when the boat is going well. If
:08:39. > :08:44.it is that painful and difficult, why do it? People do it because
:08:44. > :08:49.they want to improve. They are probably no good at anything else.
:08:49. > :08:55.People like doing things they are good at. Because you get recognised
:08:55. > :09:01.for doing that, you put more and more effort in. To they do it
:09:01. > :09:09.because they are addicted to it? When I retired, stopping was the
:09:09. > :09:16.easiest thing I did. I do a random Botha now and again but not very
:09:16. > :09:21.often. I was out on the boat and it was the first time in for years.
:09:22. > :09:25.You once described the River Thames is the other woman in your life.
:09:25. > :09:35.Your wife described relationship with Mickey Parkinson as a kind of
:09:35. > :09:40.
:09:40. > :09:47.marriage. These things take their toll? But was not me who said those
:09:47. > :09:57.words about a mistress. If you are going to row you need some water to
:09:57. > :10:05.
:10:05. > :10:14.do it on. Was it true? Are I do not How good are pretty sure was going
:10:14. > :10:20.to be? What would be your medal target? The best Olympics we had
:10:20. > :10:25.ever had with his in 1908 where we want eight medals. We won four gold,
:10:25. > :10:29.and there were only four events. You were allowed to double entries
:10:29. > :10:34.in that time. We actually came second in three of them and that in
:10:34. > :10:41.the other. That is eight medals that we have got. This team
:10:41. > :10:45.potentially could be around that figure. We had 10 medals at the
:10:45. > :10:51.World Championships last year. We rejig to the boat around. Our top
:10:51. > :10:59.men's boat was Pete and deep in the pair. Now they have gone into the
:10:59. > :11:08.four. The pair that we have got now, they might make the final. But I
:11:08. > :11:12.did not think they are going to medal. We put in even better crew
:11:12. > :11:18.into a boat that was already a World Championship. A metal that
:11:18. > :11:24.has been thrown away, is that a criticism of the selection policy?
:11:24. > :11:28.Gold is what it is all about. Silver is the first loser's medal.
:11:28. > :11:36.But we are judged by how many medals we win. I think that is
:11:36. > :11:46.wrong. The grounds that come in, it is on the number of medals. We had
:11:46. > :11:50.
:11:50. > :11:59.a tally of four -6 medals. That is to keep the funding. The top end of
:11:59. > :12:04.that, six, certainly 6, 6-8 is realistic. I did not think the team
:12:04. > :12:10.is going to get as good a result as it did at the last World
:12:10. > :12:14.Championships. I believe that 10 is out of question. This is an
:12:14. > :12:22.interview that is going around the world. What are these trends
:12:22. > :12:29.elsewhere? We have got 13 boats qualified out of the 14 categories.
:12:29. > :12:35.At the World Championships last year, over the 24 events, the best
:12:35. > :12:39.nation was New Zealand. Sorry we were the best nation, but in the
:12:39. > :12:45.Olympic events, New Zealand was slightly better than us. They have
:12:45. > :12:49.had a bit of a dodgy season. So we are looking stronger. But I do not
:12:49. > :12:54.think we are going to win as many as we did at the World
:12:54. > :12:59.Championships. The challenge is coming from Australia, they are
:12:59. > :13:03.coming back a little bit in a number of different categories, the
:13:03. > :13:08.Germans used to dominate the sport when it was East and West. When
:13:08. > :13:13.they came together, they slowly disappeared off the circuit. They
:13:13. > :13:21.have not been around for the last six-80 years. Now they are coming
:13:21. > :13:31.back, they have always won gold medals. I mention the previous
:13:31. > :13:33.
:13:33. > :13:38.Olympic Games. In 1988, there was a scandal. We know it might -- Reno
:13:38. > :13:44.the British competitors are eligible to compete, now that the
:13:44. > :13:48.BOA has been made redundant by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
:13:48. > :13:55.This is the law in which doping offenders are banned for life. Are
:13:55. > :14:00.you comfortable with the door that has been opened for them? They know
:14:00. > :14:04.the laws going into it. They know that a serious drug offence is a
:14:04. > :14:09.ban for life. They signed up to be part of the British team under
:14:09. > :14:16.those rules. I would like them to say, that is what the rules were
:14:16. > :14:24.when I was competing, we have broken that by law, and from that
:14:24. > :14:29.point of view, but then again, they have served their penalty. Both of
:14:29. > :14:33.them have been very positive about how bad it drug-taking is from that
:14:33. > :14:39.point of view. But there are very few British athletes that had
:14:39. > :14:44.hatbands. I think that is because the punishment is so severe. If you
:14:44. > :14:51.get caught for drug-taking, you are banned for life from competing at
:14:51. > :14:56.the live pigs for the British team. If you relax those, people may feel
:14:56. > :15:02.that they are more tempted to be able to do that. It is a ridiculous
:15:02. > :15:07.rule that we have at the moment, internationally, for a two-year ban,
:15:07. > :15:13.will there be positive drug tests at London, I think there will be.
:15:13. > :15:19.And they will be free to compete at the next Olympic Games. But they
:15:19. > :15:28.are now moving towards a new regulation. Athletes will be banned
:15:28. > :15:33.for the next Olympic cycle. Does that feel a bit more balanced?
:15:33. > :15:40.would be happy with a four-year ban. Bands that Nick -- take you out of
:15:40. > :15:49.the next cycle. If you look at most sports, they have a major
:15:49. > :15:54.championships every four years. Four years, that seems sensible. It
:15:54. > :15:58.was a four-year ban when I started. It was only changed because a
:15:58. > :16:08.number of sports, three sports in the Olympic programme, refused to
:16:08. > :16:09.
:16:09. > :16:14.sign up to the four-year programme. I think cycling, weightlifting and
:16:14. > :16:19.another one refused to do that. So the two-year ban came in to bring
:16:19. > :16:26.them into line. We had to know what our standards, down to some other
:16:26. > :16:30.sports. In the last ten years, we had seen that the situation, what
:16:30. > :16:40.happened in the Tour de France, so we have had to Lola our standards,
:16:40. > :16:43.
:16:43. > :16:51.down to something that they would accept. It would lead to uniformity
:16:52. > :16:56.around the world? If other countries did not have a bad at all,
:16:56. > :17:02.what I'd be upset about it, yes, but from my moral stance, I was
:17:02. > :17:08.very happy with a lifetime ban. It is simple, if you do not cheat, you
:17:08. > :17:14.did not get banned. What can be more simple than that? With the by
:17:14. > :17:21.law be changed, drug cheats are now organising the selection policy of
:17:21. > :17:27.the British team. The tail is wagging the dog. Because of the
:17:27. > :17:34.situation that they have been in, it is their human rights situation.
:17:34. > :17:40.I am a father of three. If they see drug cheats being able to compete
:17:40. > :17:45.at the highest level, and been banned from doing that, and then
:17:45. > :17:48.coming back, that is the wrong message to our teenagers. It is not
:17:48. > :17:55.about the human rights of the individual cheat that has been
:17:55. > :18:01.cheating. In fairness to David Millar, he is a reformed character.
:18:01. > :18:09.I do not have any problems with his reformed character. Our system of
:18:09. > :18:14.banned for life, that he accepted, it worked. The Olympic torch relay.
:18:14. > :18:20.You have mentioned it already. Does it still embody the symbolism that
:18:20. > :18:29.it boasts, or is it just a vocation for people to be famous for 15
:18:29. > :18:36.minutes? The Olympic torch has not been a round the Games for that
:18:36. > :18:42.long. I think Berlin was the first Games. So it does not go back to
:18:42. > :18:47.the regional. Yes there was a flame, from that point of view. But I
:18:47. > :18:53.think it is very special. It is special for one very good reason,
:18:53. > :19:00.when I signed up to help the bid process, of trying to get the Games
:19:00. > :19:07.over here, it was not about the elite athletes, I wanted to have
:19:07. > :19:12.more people to be able to touch the Olympic programme. It is less than
:19:12. > :19:17.1% of the public to actually get to compete in the Games. If he had
:19:17. > :19:21.been lucky enough in the ballot, you may have some tickets, to go
:19:21. > :19:31.along and watch from that point of view, and I think the spectators
:19:31. > :19:31.
:19:31. > :19:36.inside the stadiums, they are going to be packed. As an athlete, it was
:19:36. > :19:40.very frustrating when you are going into stadiums and they say there
:19:40. > :19:44.are no tickets available, and it was half empty. That is not going
:19:44. > :19:53.to happen at London. It gives people the opportunity at been able
:19:54. > :19:59.to touch the flame. What LOCOG had done a fantastic job, if you were
:19:59. > :20:03.lucky enough to carry the torch, it would have your number put on it,
:20:03. > :20:08.it would be taken away and you would receive it at a later stage
:20:08. > :20:15.if you went and brought it. The London torches had been de aren't
:20:15. > :20:21.immediately, so the members of the public are walking away with their
:20:21. > :20:27.torch. That is great for the person. It is also great for the thousands
:20:27. > :20:31.and thousands of people who go out and watch. They are back in their
:20:31. > :20:37.cars, back on the community, showing the torch on the day that
:20:37. > :20:45.they carried it. When were you get to like the Olympic flame? I have
:20:45. > :20:50.not been told officially. Do not even worry about what is happening.
:20:50. > :20:55.You are the bookies' favourite. think that is quite sad because it
:20:55. > :20:59.never goes to the favourite. You look back through history, the
:20:59. > :21:05.organisers want a surprise. They want people to be asking questions
:21:05. > :21:09.of who that person may be. I would laugh to do it, that is no question
:21:09. > :21:14.about that. I would laugh to be playing a part in the opening