Sir Steve Redgrave, who was knighted for services to rowing in the 2001 New Years Honours, once famously said, “Anyone who sees me go anywhere near a boat again, ever, you’ve got my permission to shoot me.” He issued that proclamation shortly after winning a gold medal, alongside Matthew Pinsent, in the coxless pair competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. That was, in fact, his fourth gold medal in as many Olympics, having previous won the coxed four in Los Angeles in 1984 and the coxless pairs in Seoul in 1988 and in Barcelona in 1992.
Nevertheless, on September 23, 2000, at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, Redgrave etched his name into the annals of British Olympic history by winning a fifth consecutive gold medal, this time in the coxless four, alongside Pinsent, James Cracknell and Tim Foster. Redgrave officially announced his retirement on October 31, 2000, a fact that he alluded to in his acceptance speech for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, saying, “I had to hint this time that I was going to retire.”
Redgrave, 38, beat heptathlete Denise Lewis into second place and wheelchair racer Tanni Grey-Thompson into third in the public vote. After being introduced by host Steve Ryder as “the greatest Olympian of them all” and receiving his award from Alan Shearer, the 38-year-old, clearly emotional, said, “It’s a very fitting end to my international career being here tonight. Tonight is very special. I’m very honoured.”
Sir Steve Redgrave was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in 1992 and Type 2 diabetes in 1997. Nevertheless, he not only continued to compete, but to win Olympic gold medals while managing both conditions. He rightly received a standing ovation from the audience at Television Centre, not to mention being made Knight Bachelor the following year and being given the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. A poll of surviving Olympic athletes conducted by the ‘Daily Telegraph’ named Redgrave the greatest British Olympian of all time, with decathlete Daley Thompson in a distant second place.