Browse content similar to Sir Steve Redgrave - Winner of five Olympic gold medals. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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has the little bit of luck. Bruce Forsyth in winning form himself. It | :00:03. | :00:13. | |
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is time now for extra-time. Extra time has come to Dorney Lake the | :00:15. | :00:19. | |
venue for the rowing events at the London of Olympics. We will make | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
one of four athletes to have won gold medals at five consecutive | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
Olympic Games. We will also talk about the sport of rowing itself | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
and a doping and the bans. In the suggestion that he may be the man | :00:33. | :00:43. | |
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to light the flame at the opening Bernhard Eisel will come to this | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
Olympic edition of extra-time. You're a responsible for one of the | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
most famous quotes in British sport. Can you remember what you said? | :01:20. | :01:26. | |
used a four letter word I should not have used. BBC blipped it out | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
for the clips that went out afterward. If anybody sees me near | :01:31. | :01:38. | |
a boat there might could -- permission to shoot. That was the | :01:38. | :01:48. | |
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quote. It was delivered live on television. It now sport we have a | :01:51. | :01:58. | |
little time together your thoughts. It was 20 minutes between crossing | :01:58. | :02:05. | |
the line to getting out of the boat to the medal centre. In those days, | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
you will well protected until that time. In it land to, just after the | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
finish within a minute we were giving interviews which we have | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
never been in that situation before. I got more emotional than expected. | :02:22. | :02:31. | |
Did you mean it at the time? The outer rings of a tired mind inside | :02:31. | :02:40. | |
a tired body? Mentally, it lasted 24 hours before I started thinking | :02:40. | :02:48. | |
about what I said. There was a lot of pressure on us. The British team | :02:49. | :02:54. | |
was not performing very well. physical motions were up and down | :02:54. | :03:01. | |
all week. It was sheer relief and that was how I felt. You did change | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
your mind, how long did that take? How long did it take for you to | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
come back? Of men to do not fulfil all the expectations and Olympic | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
should. -- Atlanta. The transport was not very good. Some of the | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
middle management was not very good. It did not have a great feeling. | :03:24. | :03:31. | |
One about Sydney? Gold medal number five. And you knew it was time to | :03:31. | :03:41. | |
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retire? Consistency was thrown out the window. If London was four | :03:44. | :03:50. | |
years away, I will probably would have carried on. But it was 12 | :03:50. | :03:57. | |
years away, there was no way I could complete at the age of 50. -- | :03:57. | :04:06. | |
compete. I knew would be over. I made no rash statements afterwards. | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
You are remembered for your partnership with Matthew Pinsent, | :04:10. | :04:16. | |
there have been other partnerships for rowing. What stands out is your | :04:16. | :04:26. | |
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most enduring memory? The five golds, I always wanted to be a | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
single sculler. The closest to have got to there was competing at the | :04:31. | :04:39. | |
Commonwealth Games. Commonwealth Games, I won gold. Of all the | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
honours I have in the sport, the only ones I had left Derby three | :04:44. | :04:51. | |
Commonwealth Games. Britain has an once anything in the Olympics since | :04:51. | :05:00. | |
1996. I am single sculls champion. Changing tack, let's talk about | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
rowing itself. Any sport could be reduced to absurdity. Football has | :05:05. | :05:15. | |
22 blokes kicking a ball around the rectangular field. For viewers who | :05:15. | :05:24. | |
do not get rowing, explain, if you can watch the real attraction is? | :05:24. | :05:31. | |
do not get it myself. 2,000. Metres, six lines, it is a little bit | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
bizarre. Hours and hours of training to go as fast as you can | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
in six minutes. It is the camaraderie, the teamwork part of | :05:41. | :05:47. | |
it. Rugby, football and cricket you will be part of a team and playing | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
a role within the team. Within the sport of rowing, or have you are | :05:52. | :06:00. | |
doing the same thing at the same time. You're only as strong as the | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
weakest person in the boat and it is a good analogy and sometimes | :06:06. | :06:12. | |
correct. It is not about the individuals. You may have the | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
fastest boat in the world. With football, you may have the strike | :06:17. | :06:25. | |
and win matches. And have a relatively poor rest of the side. | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
Our understanding team work ethic, what about the pain, delight the | :06:29. | :06:39. | |
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pain of training? -- to you like. Rowing is an endurance sport. It is | :06:41. | :06:48. | |
kind of sporting Mac -- masochism. It can be very boring going up and | :06:48. | :06:57. | |
down training. I rode for 25 years and a Fellow of a rowing machine 20 | :06:57. | :07:06. | |
times. That is not masochism. It is a low-intensity sport for long | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
periods time we or you build up endurance levels. It is more about | :07:11. | :07:20. | |
the boredom factor than the pain you go through. To you get bored? | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
Definitely. My powers of concentration of one of my assets. | :07:25. | :07:33. | |
I can only concentrate 50% of the time I was out on the water. | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
could have been twice as good? paddle down the water and you think | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
I would like to go to the supermarket. I am making a speech | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
and a few days' time and you go through what you may say during the | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
presentation. It is a very repetitive sport. Stroke after | :07:51. | :07:59. | |
stroke. Thousands upon millions of times. I have another quote for you | :07:59. | :08:06. | |
from the British coach. Rovers are racing to destruction. What you | :08:06. | :08:15. | |
think about that. I know him very well. You have got to enjoy the | :08:15. | :08:22. | |
pain, he says. I think you have to enjoy the winning. You train as | :08:22. | :08:31. | |
hard as you do because of the joy of when the boat is going well. If | :08:31. | :08:39. | |
it is that painful and difficult, why do it? People do it because | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
they want to improve. They are probably no good at anything else. | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
People like doing things they are good at. Because you get recognised | :08:49. | :08:55. | |
for doing that, you put more and more effort in. To they do it | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
because they are addicted to it? When I retired, stopping was the | :09:01. | :09:09. | |
easiest thing I did. I do a random Botha now and again but not very | :09:09. | :09:16. | |
often. I was out on the boat and it was the first time in for years. | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
You once described the River Thames is the other woman in your life. | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
Your wife described relationship with Mickey Parkinson as a kind of | :09:25. | :09:35. | |
:09:35. | :09:40. | ||
marriage. These things take their toll? But was not me who said those | :09:40. | :09:47. | |
words about a mistress. If you are going to row you need some water to | :09:47. | :09:57. | |
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do it on. Was it true? Are I do not How good are pretty sure was going | :10:05. | :10:14. | |
to be? What would be your medal target? The best Olympics we had | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
ever had with his in 1908 where we want eight medals. We won four gold, | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
and there were only four events. You were allowed to double entries | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
in that time. We actually came second in three of them and that in | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
the other. That is eight medals that we have got. This team | :10:34. | :10:41. | |
potentially could be around that figure. We had 10 medals at the | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
World Championships last year. We rejig to the boat around. Our top | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
men's boat was Pete and deep in the pair. Now they have gone into the | :10:51. | :10:59. | |
four. The pair that we have got now, they might make the final. But I | :10:59. | :11:08. | |
did not think they are going to medal. We put in even better crew | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
into a boat that was already a World Championship. A metal that | :11:12. | :11:18. | |
has been thrown away, is that a criticism of the selection policy? | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
Gold is what it is all about. Silver is the first loser's medal. | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
But we are judged by how many medals we win. I think that is | :11:28. | :11:36. | |
wrong. The grounds that come in, it is on the number of medals. We had | :11:36. | :11:46. | |
:11:46. | :11:50. | ||
a tally of four -6 medals. That is to keep the funding. The top end of | :11:50. | :11:59. | |
that, six, certainly 6, 6-8 is realistic. I did not think the team | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
is going to get as good a result as it did at the last World | :12:04. | :12:10. | |
Championships. I believe that 10 is out of question. This is an | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
interview that is going around the world. What are these trends | :12:14. | :12:22. | |
elsewhere? We have got 13 boats qualified out of the 14 categories. | :12:22. | :12:29. | |
At the World Championships last year, over the 24 events, the best | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
nation was New Zealand. Sorry we were the best nation, but in the | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
Olympic events, New Zealand was slightly better than us. They have | :12:39. | :12:45. | |
had a bit of a dodgy season. So we are looking stronger. But I do not | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
think we are going to win as many as we did at the World | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
Championships. The challenge is coming from Australia, they are | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
coming back a little bit in a number of different categories, the | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
Germans used to dominate the sport when it was East and West. When | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
they came together, they slowly disappeared off the circuit. They | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
have not been around for the last six-80 years. Now they are coming | :13:13. | :13:21. | |
back, they have always won gold medals. I mention the previous | :13:21. | :13:31. | |
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Olympic Games. In 1988, there was a scandal. We know it might -- Reno | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
the British competitors are eligible to compete, now that the | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
BOA has been made redundant by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
This is the law in which doping offenders are banned for life. Are | :13:48. | :13:55. | |
you comfortable with the door that has been opened for them? They know | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
the laws going into it. They know that a serious drug offence is a | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
ban for life. They signed up to be part of the British team under | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
those rules. I would like them to say, that is what the rules were | :14:09. | :14:16. | |
when I was competing, we have broken that by law, and from that | :14:16. | :14:24. | |
point of view, but then again, they have served their penalty. Both of | :14:24. | :14:29. | |
them have been very positive about how bad it drug-taking is from that | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
point of view. But there are very few British athletes that had | :14:33. | :14:39. | |
hatbands. I think that is because the punishment is so severe. If you | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
get caught for drug-taking, you are banned for life from competing at | :14:44. | :14:51. | |
the live pigs for the British team. If you relax those, people may feel | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
that they are more tempted to be able to do that. It is a ridiculous | :14:56. | :15:02. | |
rule that we have at the moment, internationally, for a two-year ban, | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
will there be positive drug tests at London, I think there will be. | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
And they will be free to compete at the next Olympic Games. But they | :15:13. | :15:19. | |
are now moving towards a new regulation. Athletes will be banned | :15:19. | :15:28. | |
for the next Olympic cycle. Does that feel a bit more balanced? | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
would be happy with a four-year ban. Bands that Nick -- take you out of | :15:33. | :15:40. | |
the next cycle. If you look at most sports, they have a major | :15:40. | :15:49. | |
championships every four years. Four years, that seems sensible. It | :15:49. | :15:54. | |
was a four-year ban when I started. It was only changed because a | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
number of sports, three sports in the Olympic programme, refused to | :15:58. | :16:08. | |
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sign up to the four-year programme. I think cycling, weightlifting and | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
another one refused to do that. So the two-year ban came in to bring | :16:14. | :16:19. | |
them into line. We had to know what our standards, down to some other | :16:19. | :16:26. | |
sports. In the last ten years, we had seen that the situation, what | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
happened in the Tour de France, so we have had to Lola our standards, | :16:30. | :16:40. | |
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down to something that they would accept. It would lead to uniformity | :16:43. | :16:51. | |
around the world? If other countries did not have a bad at all, | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
what I'd be upset about it, yes, but from my moral stance, I was | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
very happy with a lifetime ban. It is simple, if you do not cheat, you | :17:02. | :17:08. | |
did not get banned. What can be more simple than that? With the by | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
law be changed, drug cheats are now organising the selection policy of | :17:14. | :17:21. | |
the British team. The tail is wagging the dog. Because of the | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
situation that they have been in, it is their human rights situation. | :17:27. | :17:34. | |
I am a father of three. If they see drug cheats being able to compete | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
at the highest level, and been banned from doing that, and then | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
coming back, that is the wrong message to our teenagers. It is not | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
about the human rights of the individual cheat that has been | :17:48. | :17:55. | |
cheating. In fairness to David Millar, he is a reformed character. | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
I do not have any problems with his reformed character. Our system of | :18:01. | :18:09. | |
banned for life, that he accepted, it worked. The Olympic torch relay. | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
You have mentioned it already. Does it still embody the symbolism that | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
it boasts, or is it just a vocation for people to be famous for 15 | :18:20. | :18:29. | |
minutes? The Olympic torch has not been a round the Games for that | :18:29. | :18:36. | |
long. I think Berlin was the first Games. So it does not go back to | :18:36. | :18:42. | |
the regional. Yes there was a flame, from that point of view. But I | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
think it is very special. It is special for one very good reason, | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
when I signed up to help the bid process, of trying to get the Games | :18:53. | :19:00. | |
over here, it was not about the elite athletes, I wanted to have | :19:00. | :19:07. | |
more people to be able to touch the Olympic programme. It is less than | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
1% of the public to actually get to compete in the Games. If he had | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
been lucky enough in the ballot, you may have some tickets, to go | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
along and watch from that point of view, and I think the spectators | :19:21. | :19:31. | |
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inside the stadiums, they are going to be packed. As an athlete, it was | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
very frustrating when you are going into stadiums and they say there | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
are no tickets available, and it was half empty. That is not going | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
to happen at London. It gives people the opportunity at been able | :19:44. | :19:53. | |
to touch the flame. What LOCOG had done a fantastic job, if you were | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
lucky enough to carry the torch, it would have your number put on it, | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
it would be taken away and you would receive it at a later stage | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
if you went and brought it. The London torches had been de aren't | :20:08. | :20:15. | |
immediately, so the members of the public are walking away with their | :20:15. | :20:21. | |
torch. That is great for the person. It is also great for the thousands | :20:21. | :20:27. | |
and thousands of people who go out and watch. They are back in their | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
cars, back on the community, showing the torch on the day that | :20:31. | :20:37. | |
they carried it. When were you get to like the Olympic flame? I have | :20:37. | :20:45. | |
not been told officially. Do not even worry about what is happening. | :20:45. | :20:50. | |
You are the bookies' favourite. think that is quite sad because it | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
never goes to the favourite. You look back through history, the | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
organisers want a surprise. They want people to be asking questions | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
of who that person may be. I would laugh to do it, that is no question | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
about that. I would laugh to be playing a part in the opening | :21:09. | :21:14. |