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Sir Steven Redgrave The best rower in British history • Sir Steven Redgrave is an English rower who • won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championship gold medals. Redgrave is one of only four Olympians to have won a gold medal at five consecutive Olympic Games. The beginning • Was born on 23 March • • • 1962, in Marlow. Full name Stephen Geoffrey Redgrave. Grew up near the banks of the River Thames . Took up rowing at the age of 16 Early career • First appearance in world rowing was on 1979 at the Junior World Rowing Championships, where he drove single scull. • The next year he got silver at the same event, but driving in double scull. Rowing • Redgrave is a big, powerful man. He stands 1.95 metres tall and 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 (starboard and port). • He has enjoyed success in indoor rowing, • • winning the World Championship for Indoor Rowing in 1991 . He was also a successful single sculler winning the Wingfield Sculls five times between 1985 and 1989 . From 1991 onwards, Redgrave, and the crews in which he rowed, became renowned for their consistent dominance. 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. Achievements • Olympic Medals: 5 Gold, 1 Bronze . • World Championship Medals: 9 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 • • • Bronze . Junior World Championship Medals: 1 Silver Thomas Keller Medal Outstanding International Rowing Career: 2001 (Awarded by FISA) . Other winnings in Royal Rowing events. • 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 2002, his achievement of winning gold medals at five consecutive Olympic games was voted the greatest sporting moment in British 100 Greatest Sporting Moments. Life after rowing • He has launched his • own Fairtrade Cotton Brand of Clothing called FiveG . In April 2006 he completed his third London Marathon, raising a record £1,800,000 for charity. Marriage • 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. They have 3 children: 2 girls and 1 boy. Other facts • • • • Eyes: Brown Hair Colour: Blond Supporter of Chelsea Starred in Top Gear Ground Force • Interests: Golf and Winter Sports • Wrote an autobiography “A Golden Age” • In 1989/1990 he was a member of the British bobsleigh team, as well as national champion.