sport news How Britain's greatest Olympian Sir Steve Redgrave didn't make final interviews ... trends now
There will be something a little different about the Olympics this summer. For the first time in 40 years, Sir Steve Redgrave will not be there.
The British rowing legend has been an ever-present at the Games from Los Angeles 1984 to Tokyo 2020. He won a famous five consecutive gold medals, before working as a pundit for the BBC, an ambassador for Team GB and, most recently, a coach for China.
As things stand, though, Redgrave’s only visit to Paris this summer will be for a cruise down the Seine two weeks before the Olympics start. ‘The people who go on cruises tend to be my sort of my age and older, so at least they can still remember what I did,’ jokes the 62-year-old, who will be making a special guest appearance on the ship alongside fellow Olympic icon Daley Thompson.
The Redgrave name will live on at Paris 2024 through his wife Ann, who is the chief medical officer for GB Rowing, and Samantha Redgrave, who is set to line up in the women’s four. ‘She’s not a relative of mine but all the international coaches think it’s my daughter,’ says Redgrave. ‘I’m quite happy about that – but she thinks I’m more like a grandfather than a father!’
But while he is able to laugh about his namesake, Redgrave is still disappointed his Olympic journey seems to have come to an end, having hoped to ‘complete the circle’ by working up to 2028 in the city where it all started for him, LA.
Sir Steve Redgrave is set to miss the Olympic Games for the first time in 40 years this summer
His BBC work has dried up, whilst former crew-mate Matthew Pinsent remains on the coverage
He will be on a sporting cruise on the Seine with Daley Thompson two weeks before the Games
His BBC work has slowly dried up since Rio 2016, even though his former crew-mate Matthew Pinsent remains a mainstay of their coverage. ‘I wasn't told that I've been discontinued, but it’s sort of evolved,’ Redgrave tells Mail Sport from the headquarters of the Henley Royal Regatta, which he is stepping down as chairman of following this summer’s event.
‘Matt is the presenter and Katherine Grainger is the equivalent to what I was doing. The three of us worked together at the World Championships the year after Rio, but then they went, “Male-female, covered on Olympic medals, why have three?”. Working for China at the last Games probably didn't help matters.’
Redgrave became high performance director of the Chinese rowing team in 2018, taking them from 16th in the medal table in Rio to joint sixth in Tokyo. He was meant to stay there up until Paris but left in December 2022 after finding it difficult to visit his family because of Covid restrictions.
Prior to his official departure, in November 2021, Redgrave applied for the vacant performance director role at British Rowing. He did not even make it to the final round of interviews.
‘I'm disappointed that I couldn't give my skills to helping the team,’ he admits. ‘I felt that I was in a position to be able to help with the experience of my career, and the experience of being out in China, taking them from nowhere on the Olympic medal table to sixth, well ahead of the British team.
‘I felt that I was the right person at the right time to do that. Obviously, the powers at British Rowing didn't think that was the case. But saying that, the team is in very good state going into Paris.’
Indeed, the team – under new performance director Louise Kingsley – have enjoyed an extraordinary revival in the last three years.
At Tokyo 2020, Britain failed to win an Olympic gold for the first time since 1980. However, at last year’s World Championships in Belgrade, they won four golds in Olympic events.
‘The team took their eye off the ball in Tokyo,’ says Redgrave. ‘There was a bit of complacency in the whole
