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Redgrave: Olympic hero has faith in the British team for Beijing
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Olympic hero Sir Steve Redgrave believes that Britain's rowing team can triumph in Beijing, despite the recent setbacks.
Redgrave feels that although the men's coxless four crew has had some troubles in the build-up to the games, they are more than capable. He therefore does not understand why the team has come in for so much criticism.
"I can't understand why people are saying that rowing is in disarray because we have the strongest team ever to leave these shores for the Olympic Games," stated the five-time gold medal winner.
"The depth is incredible. If we come away with five medals in rowing from the Olympics then that would be incredible. One of our best hopes, the men's coxless four, came fourth in last year's world championships.
"The men's double scull is going to be in the medals as well. Some might not get the medals that we think they might but we could get up to seven."
This is the first time that the British rowing team have been to the Olympics without either Redgrave or Sir Matthew Pinsent since 1980. Arguably Britain's greatest Olympian, he has tipped his selection of the strongest boats in the contest.
"The boats that have chances for gold medals are the men's lightweight double scull," he said.
"They have won every international regatta. The Danes are the world champions and the Italians are the biggest threat, but they have beaten them already.
"The women's quadruple scull have got to be next. They have won every world championship in the last three years.They are a gold or silver medal. But hopefully they will win it."
Strength
He feels that there has been a false idea about the strength of the British team due to the performance of one section,which he ventures that this is a misrepresentation of the team as a whole.
He added: "The men's coxless four is what all the talk about how the British team is doing so badly is based on. But how can you base a whole team on one crew?"
The coxless four includes Tom James, Steve Williams (who won gold in Athens four years ago), navy lieutenant Peter Reed and stroke Andy Triggs-Hodge.
The reason for the lack of public belief in the team may stem from the fact that they are a new crew, having only come together at the recent World Cup regatta in Poland after James and Triggs-Hodge both suffered back injuries. However they still attained a silver medal and are going into the games with high spirits and a confidence in their ability.
"They have had a bad build-up," agreed Redgrave. "They finished fourth at last year's world championship. They changed one crew member, he got injured and was out for the season. He is now back in the boat and they are on the way back up.
"There are four boats who could win that gold medal and they are among them. Each outing they do is a firmer grip on that gold medal," he said.
The former rowing champion considers the British team to be strong enough to be a driving force in Beijing.
"The Italians are the outsiders, then there are the Australians, the Dutch and us. We have struggled, there is no doubt about that but now they are all fit and if everything goes smoothly, they have a chance," he added.
