Sir Steve Redgrave: Why London 2012 could be better than Sydney 2000

If politicians show belief and commitment, the Games can be won. Nick Townsend hears an Olympic icon send a message to the sceptics

It was less of an inquisition and more of an assembly of a rather unlikely appreciation society. Sport's Medallion Man may be a little broader in the beam and sterner than he was at the zenith of his mighty Olympic epoch, but he is still capable of holding his audience as entranced as Barry Manilow schmaltzing before a packed house of sentimental fiftysomethings. MPs, including Conservative Julie Kirkbride, allowed their hearts to go all a-flutter, and, as for the production of the "beat this, if you can" kind of prop, there's nothing quite like an Olympic gold for transmuting grown men – yes, even the terminally serious Gerald Kaufman – into Just Williams who have just spied an apple tree, ripe for scrumping.

Some wanted to stroke the medal; others would have liked to have stroked the former oarsman himself, just in case some of that stardust rubbed off. No wonder rowing's knight is the British Olympic Association's prime asset in their campaign to bring the 2012 Olympics to London.

It was Tuesday morning and Sir Steve Redgrave was attempting to educate those MPs who gather in the name of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, in the Thatcher Room of Portcullis House in Westminster, on the benefits of a bid. Yet the committee's immediate apotheosis of Redgrave should not necessarily be of undue significance. Redgrave, like most elite and successful sportsmen, entered competition without harbouring a fear of failure. Tony Blair, who will be the ultimate arbiter, is like most successful politicians. He will only be enticed into a competition he is persuaded Britain can win.

Therein lies the dichotomy between sport and government. The latter recognises that a bid has the broad support of the populace, despite costs of at least £2.5bn, yet appears distracted by an inner voice which booms repeatedly into its collective head: "Dome, Dome, Dome." Lord Falconer's baby is a grim reminder to the Government of what happens when grandiose ambition is not allied to coherent planning. Except that this project, centred on east London, would be on a massive scale – something the Government can foresee as possessing all the potential for a political Doomsday scenario.

Fortunately for supporters of a bid, the arguments of the Government's Private Frazers are challenged by a character who possesses energy and a passionate belief in the cause. "You can never go into anything thinking you're going to fail," says Redgrave when we speak the following day at his Buckinghamshire home. "The stakeholders [the BOA, London and its Mayor Ken Livingstone, and the Government] will go into it – if we do – believing that we've got a very good chance of winning. However, you do have to consider the possibility that we won't. That appears to be one of the stumbling blocks for the Government – a possible loss of face."

The five-times Olympic gold medallist believes there's a correlation between the attitude Britain should adopt and that of his crew's bids on the rowing lakes of successive Olympics: "You don't go into a race with one of the crew having doubts and not being wholehearted. It's like one of the guys in our four saying casually beforehand, 'Oh yes, the Olympics should be fun. Sydney would be a fantastic place to go. Wouldn't that be a good trip?' It's not the attitude."

He adds: "If you go into it with everyone totally committed, yes, you will have problems – we certainly did in the build-up to those Games – but if we failed at the end of it, we could have said 'OK, we did what we thought was right, we felt we could have won this, and circumstances have gone against us'. We could have held our heads up high and said 'We gave it our best'. But if we'd come back saying, 'If we'd only done this or that we could have won', then I wouldn't have been happy at all."

Redgrave admits to having been "surprised by some of the responses" of the committee of MPs. "There were several elements they had not picked up before which would benefit the whole country, like the training camps. International sportsmen and women now choose certain sites to prepare for a Games and go back there probably on a regular basis, as the BOA did to the Gold Coast. The BOA spent over £1m on that training camp, which went into the Gold Coast coffers and helped that area develop its sporting facilities on a long-term basis. That kind of development could happen here, and around the country. I see this as a British bid, within London, and not a London bid, though I'm not sure Ken [Livingstone] would agree with that.

"There was a lot of hype about Sydney, but there was no doubt they got a lot of the elements right. I would say that we could do as well, if not better."

He adds: "If we go forward with the bid, then it's up to local communities to begin touting for countries to come into their area. I've already spoken to a number of MPs outside London who've told me, 'We're really for the Olympics. It's not in our area, but we think we can host one of the countries that will train there, and that will benefit our community'." He pauses and laughs to himself. "God, I'm beginning to sound like a politician, aren't I?"

Redgrave has always been disinclined to become embroiled in sports politics. After that momentous morning in Sydney on 23 September 2000, he had no desire in his retirement to emulate another of sport's respected figures, Trevor Brooking, former chairman of Sport England, but slowly he has succumbed to the inevitable invitations from those, like the BOA, seeking an iconic figurehead.

As Britain's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of more than one Olympics, he has been thrust into a similar role here. Should a London bid win government backing, he would relish the opportunity to spread the word about the case for London. Not that he needs a job. He still gives lucrative motivational talks. He has his own leisure clothing concern. "Obviously, what I've achieved means something to other people," he says. "When I talk about Olympic matters it carries a lot of weight. So, if I say 'It would be fantastic to have the Games in London', people listen to me. If a politician or an official in a suit says that, people tend to dismiss it."

He is upbeat and rarely cynical about his country, disputing the perception that Britain's only successful government department would be a Ministry of Misadventure. "We've got a tremendous history of putting on excellent sporting events, including the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Euro 96 and many world championships in individual sports," declares the character who refused to let diabetes and colitis end his career prematurely. "A lot of IOC members have tremendous respect for what Manchester achieved. London can do it, too."

He explains: "Some commentators are saying 'Why are the Government dragging their feet?' But I'm quite happy that they're taking their time because that means that they're not taking it lightly. Hopefully they will go for it, because it would be of huge benefit short-term and long-term for the country, and throw their full weight behind the bid. Certain politicians have been saying 'Oh, you'd be taking the money away from health and eduction', but that would never happen. Yes, it's a huge amount of money, but what hasn't been spoken about is the money that will come back in. Apart from anything else there's a very big grant given by the IOC which comes from the sponsors. There are many hidden spin-offs. Just imagine what staging the Games would do to encourage health and fitness in adults and children."

To some, there may have been something apposite about the fact that the Iron Man should have held court on Tuesday in a Commons committee room named after the Iron Lady. For Redgrave it was impossible to overlook the irony. "Here I was, arguing the case for Britain bidding for an Olympics, in a room named after the woman who had effectively prevented me going to what would have been my first Games," he declares wryly. "It was a bit strange."

Redgrave missed out on Moscow in 1980, when he was a mere stripling of 18. The then Premier Margaret Thatcher was strident in her view that Britain should not compete because of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. The amateur rowing association decided to go anyway, but because BOA funds were affected by some commercial sponsors pulling out, the sport had to reduce its complement of participants. Redgrave and his fellow quadruple sculls crew members missed the cut. It still grates. He believes the current call from the government for the England cricket team to boycott next month's World Cup against Zimbabwe in Harare is similarly misguided.

"This is exactly the same issue as Moscow," he maintains. "Why have the Government said to cricket, 'You should not go'? We all know it's because it gets a lot of news coverage but it doesn't cost the Government anything at all. Yet, we know that cricket would lose one hell of a lot of money. They haven't told businesses not to trade with Zimbabwe though it is financial sanctions that bite hardest. You can't say it to one and not the other."

He continues: "As an ex-sportsman I don't have any problems with going along with a boycott if everyone's involved. If we stopped trading with Zimbabwe for strong enough reasons, that would be good enough for sports people to say 'We should not go'. You can't say, 'We'll push forward sport to make a point, but we'll still take Zimbabwean money'.

"To me, there is no question, that as a cricket association, they should go. Sport should not be used as a political tool on its own. Although I've always vowed that I wouldn't get involved in politics, that's something I have to say because I feel strongly about it."

Now 40, and retired from rowing, Redgrave's Olympic achievement is reflected by the respect with which he is received, although he has yet to quite provoke the reaction of a Beckham. "People now say, 'Aren't you Steve Redgrave' rather than 'Aren't you that rower?'," he says. As for the coxless fours race that secured his fifth gold it has become but a fading memory. "I've only watched the race in its entirety twice," Redgrave admits. Perhaps because he did not wish to relive how desperately close it was? He smiles broadly. "If we had been in the era when there wasn't video or newsreel, I'd have been very satisfied in my mind that we won that race very comfortably. Within the four of us [Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Tim Foster] we think we won that race convincingly, even though it was only a matter of inches."

Pinsent and Cracknell have now formed a potent partnership and won the coxless pairs in last year's World Championship after two surprise defeats by the Australian crew. Redgrave harbours no regrets he was not part of it. "There's no envy there at all," he declares. "I'm really pleased for them. And to come through and produce a performance like they did was amazing. It will be interesting to watch what happens if the Australians take them on again, but ultimately I believe that Matthew and James will be victors at Athens 2004."

Redgrave and his wife Ann are currently training for this year's London Marathon, though he is handicapped by an operation on his right shoulder which badly restricts movement. It is the legacy of a rugby accident some years ago, but the damage only became apparent after he finally shipped oars and terminated his rowing career.

It is typical of a life, which has been punctuated by adversity, that fate should intervene so kindly. The shoulder could have gone immediately prior to Sydney. Redgrave will need it at its strongest in the weeks ahead. With Government response to a London Olympic bid supposedly lukewarm, it will be a case of all shoulders to the door.

Biography

Steven Redgrave

Born: 23 March, 1962, at Marlow Bottom, Bucks.

Educated: Great Marlow School.

Family: Married to Ann (British rowing squad doctor). Three children – Natalie, Sophie and Zak.

Olympic gold medals: 1984 (Los Angeles): Coxed fours (with Richard Budgett, Andy Holmes, Martin Cross and cox Adrian Ellison). 1988 (Seoul): Coxless pairs (with Holmes). Plus bronze with Holmes and Pat Sweeney in coxed pairs. 1992 (Barcelona): Coxless pairs (with Matthew Pinsent). 1996 (Atlanta): Coxless pairs (with Pinsent). 2000 (Sydney): Coxless four (with Pinsent, James Cracknell and Tim Foster).

Honours: MBE, CBE, Knighted in 2000 New Year Honours.