Sir Matthew Pinsent

Personal information
Birth name	Matthew Clive Pinsent
Nationality	British
Born	(1970-10-10) 10 October 1970 (age 41) Holt, Norfolk, England
Height	6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) (2004)
Weight	17 stone (110 kg) (2004)
Website	www.matthewpinsent.com
Sport
Country	United Kingdom
Sport	Men's rowing
Event(s)	Coxless pair, coxless four
College team	Oxford University Boat Club
Club	Leander Club
Coached by	Jürgen Gröbler
Retired	2004
Medal record Competitor for  Great Britain Men's rowing Olympic Games Gold 1992 Barcelona Coxless Pair Gold 1996 Atlanta Coxless Pair Gold 2000 Sydney Coxless Four Gold 2004 Athens Coxless Four Rowing World Championships Bronze 1989 Bled Coxed Four Bronze 1990 Tasmania Coxless Pair Gold 1991 Vienna Coxless Pair Gold 1993 Račice Coxless Pair Gold 1994 Indianapolis Coxless Pair Gold 1995 Tampere Coxless Pair Gold 1997 Aiguebelette Coxless Four Gold 1998 Cologne Coxless Four Gold 1999 St. Catharines Coxless Four Gold 2001 Lucerne Coxless Pair Gold 2001 Lucerne Coxed Pair Gold 2002 Seville Coxless Pair

Sir Matthew Clive Pinsent CBE (born 10 October 1970) is an English rower and broadcaster. During his rowing career, he won 10 world championship gold medals and four consecutive Olympic gold medals, of which three were with Steve Redgrave. Since retiring, he has worked as a sports broadcaster with the BBC.

Background[link]

Pinsent was born in Holt, Norfolk, the son of Reverend Ewen Macpherson Pinsent, curate of St Andrew's parish church. His grandfather Clive Pinsent was a younger son of Sir Richard Pinsent, 1st Baronet, President of the Law Society between 1918 and 1919 (see Pinsent Baronets).^[1] Pinsent is directly descended from John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk and thus from Edward I of England and William the Conqueror. Sir George Anson is also an ancestor.^[2] He attended Aysgarth School in North Yorkshire before he began rowing at Eton College. He began his international career at the Junior World Rowing Championships in 1987. He raced again in 1988, winning the junior coxless pairs with Tim Foster. After finishing school, Pinsent studied Geography at St Catherine's College, Oxford. He competed in three Boat Races, winning in 1990 and 1991 but unsuccessful in 1993 (when he was Boat Club President), having taken a year out in 1992 in order to concentrate on preparing for the Barcelona Olympics.

Rowing[link]

International career[link]

In 1990, while still at Oxford, he joined Steve Redgrave in the coxless pair at the World Rowing Championships – winning bronze. This was the beginning of a long partnership, and the pair won at the World Championships in 1991, and at the Olympic Games in 1992 and 1996.

In 2000 he won Olympic gold again as part of a coxless four with Redgrave, James Cracknell and Tim Foster. In August 2000, the month prior to winning gold in Sydney, he took part in a 3-part BBC documentary entitled Gold Fever. This followed the coxless four team in the years leading up to the Olympics, including video diaries recording the highs and lows in the quest for what would be Pinsent's third consecutive gold.

Pinsent and Cracknell then formed a men's coxless pair and won the coxless and coxed pairs (with Neil Chugani coxing) in the 2001 World Championships, and the coxless pair in 2002. However, after a disappointing 2003 season that saw Pinsent's first World Championships defeat since 1990, he and Cracknell moved to the men's coxless four for 2004.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Pinsent's fourth Olympic Games, Pinsent stroked the boat, with Cracknell, Ed Coode and Steve Williams. In a close race with world champions Canada, they again won gold.

Pinsent was elected to the International Olympic Committee's Athletics Commission in 2001, replacing Jan Železný. In 2004, at the Athens Olympics, Pinsent failed to secure re-election to the post, being replaced by Železný.^[3]

The 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m), 17 stone (110 kg)^[4] Pinsent had at one time the largest lung capacity recorded for a sportsman at 8.5 litres. This has since been surpassed by fellow rower Peter Reed who has been measured at 11.68 litres.^[5]

Retirement[link]

Pinsent announced his retirement from rowing on 30 November 2004,^[6] and was made a Knight Bachelor in the New Year's Honours list announced on 31 December 2004.^[7] He had already been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1993,^[8] raised to Commander in 2001.^[9] He was awarded the Thomas Keller Medal by the International Rowing Federation in 2005.^[10]

Achievements[link]

Olympic Games[link]

• 2004 – Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Steve Williams, Ed Coode)
• 2000 – Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Tim Foster, Steve Redgrave)
• 1996 – Gold, Coxless Pair (with Steve Redgrave)
• 1992 – Gold, Coxless Pair (with Steve Redgrave)

World Championships[link]

• 2003 – 4th, Coxless Pair (with James Cracknell)
• 2002 – Gold, Coxless Pair (with James Cracknell)
• 2001 – Gold, Coxless Pair (with James Cracknell)
• 2001 – Gold, Coxed Pair (with James Cracknell, Neil Chugani)
• 1999 – Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Ed Coode, Steve Redgrave)
• 1998 – Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Tim Foster, Steve Redgrave)
• 1997 – Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Tim Foster, Steve Redgrave)
• 1995 – Gold, Coxless Pair (with Steve Redgrave)
• 1994 – Gold, Coxless Pair (with Steve Redgrave)
• 1993 – Gold, Coxless Pair (with Steve Redgrave)
• 1991 – Gold, Coxless Pair (with Steve Redgrave)
• 1990 – Bronze, Coxless Pair (with Steve Redgrave)
• 1989 – Bronze, Coxed Four (with Terry Dillon, Steve Turner, Gavin Stewart, Vaughn Thomas)

Junior World Championships[link]

• 1988 – Gold, Coxless Pair (with Tim Foster)
• 1987 – 4th, Eight

Broadcasting career[link]

Since retiring from rowing, Pinsent has worked for the BBC as a sports bulletin presenter and reporter. His assignments have included interviewing Dwain Chambers for Inside Sport, where Chambers confessed to taking drugs,^[11][12] and visiting gymnastics training centre in China where he found evidence of children being beaten, leading to IOC President Jacques Rogge to order an inquiry.^[13]

Personal life[link]

Pinsent is married to Demetra; they have twin boys, Jonah and Lucas (born 2006) and a daughter, Eve (born 2008).^{[citation needed]} They live in St Peter's Square, Hammersmith, West London.

Styles and honours[link]

• Mr Matthew Pinsent (1970–1993)
• Mr Matthew Pinsent MBE (1993–2000)
• Mr Matthew Pinsent CBE (2000–2004)
• Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE (2004–)

Bibliography[link]

• Pinsent, Matthew (2 September 2004). A Lifetime in a Race. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-09-190149-3. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Matthew Pinsent

• Official website
• Matthew Pinsent at RowingOne

Matthew may refer to:

• Matthew (name), the given name
• Matthew (surname)
• Matthew (ship), the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America
• Matthew (album), an album by rapper Kool Keith

In Christianity:

• Saint Matthew the Evangelist, one of the apostles of Jesus
• Gospel of Matthew, a book of the Bible

See also[link]

• Matt (given name), the diminutive form of Matthew
• Matthews (surname)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Medal record
Sir Steven Redgrave in May 2011
Competitor for  Great Britain
Men's Rowing
Olympic Games
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	Coxed Four
Gold	1988 Seoul	Coxless Pair
Bronze	1988 Seoul	Coxed Pair
Gold	1992 Barcelona	Coxless Pair
Gold	1996 Atlanta	Coxless Pair
Gold	2000 Sydney	Coxless Four
World Championships
Gold	1986 Nottingham	Coxed Pair
Gold	1987 Copenhagen	Coxless Pair
Silver	1987 Copenhagen	Coxed Pair
Silver	1989 Bled	Coxless Pair
Bronze	1990 Tasmania	Coxless Pair
Gold	1991 Vienna	Coxless Pair
Gold	1993 Račice	Coxless Pair
Gold	1994 Indianapolis	Coxless Pair
Gold	1995 Tampere	Coxless Pair
Gold	1997 Aiguebelette	Coxless Four
Gold	1998 Cologne	Coxless Four
Gold	1999 St. Catharines	Coxless Four
Competitor for  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold	1986 Edinburgh	Single Sculls
Gold	1986 Edinburgh	Coxless Pair
Gold	1986 Edinburgh	Coxed Four

Sir Steven Geoffrey Redgrave CBE (born on 23 March 1962, in Marlow, Buckinghamshire) is a retired English rower who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000 as well as a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Games. He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championships gold medals. He has carried the British flag at the opening of the Olympic Games on two occasions. In 2011 he received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award

Redgrave is one of only four Olympians to have won a gold medal at five consecutive Olympic Games. This achievement led to him being hailed as Britain's greatest Olympian.^[1][2][3]

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.

Personal life[link]

Redgrave was educated at Great Marlow School, a state secondary comprehensive school in Marlow in Buckinghamshire.

Redgrave has three children. His elder daughter Natalie took up rowing in 2009 ^[4] and started competing for Oxford University Women’s Boat Club in 2010,^[4] and competed in the 2011 women's boat race, which Oxford won.^[5] He has another daughter, Sophie, and a son, Zak.

Rowing career[link]

Redgrave stands 1.95 metres (6 ft 5 inches) tall. In his prime, he weighed more than 100 kilograms (16 st; 220 lb). 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 also enjoyed success in indoor rowing, winning the World Championship for Indoor Rowing in 1991.^[6] He was also a successful single sculler winning the Wingfield Sculls five times between 1985 and 1989, but not quite a world champion class single sculler. Rowed for Marlow Rowing Club From 1991 onwards, Redgrave, and the crews in which he rowed, became renowned for their consistent dominance. They set themselves apart from many other internationally successful crews by winning almost every time they raced. Indeed, the very occasional lapses in this winning run, such as the Lucerne regatta in 2000, were regarded with surprise by both the rowing community and the press.

For much of his career, Redgrave battled against severe illnesses. In 1992, he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (although he had continued to train for a considerable time prior to diagnosis). In September 1997, type 2 diabetes was added to his list of ailments. Through careful management, however, he was able to continue training right up to the Sydney Olympics.^[7]

In addition to his Olympic medals, Redgrave won 9 gold medals, 2 silvers, and a bronze at the Rowing World Championships. His 14 total Olympic and World Championship gold medals is unsurpassed by any other rower in history, although later equalled by his long-time rowing partner Matthew Pinsent.

Redgrave was an outstanding competitor at Henley Royal Regatta over twenty years. He won the Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup for coxless pairs seven times (twice with Andy Holmes, once with Simon Berrisford and four times with Matthew Pinsent), the Stewards' Challenge Cup for coxless fours five times, the Diamond Challenge Sculls twice, the Double Sculls Challenge Cup once (with Eric Sims) and the Queen Mother Challenge Cup for quadruple sculls once.

In 1989/1990 he was a member of the British bobsleigh team, as well as national champion.

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.^[8]

In 2000, Redgrave won his fifth consecutive Olympic Gold Medal, retired from the sport, and became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In August 2000, the month prior to winning gold in Sydney, he took part in a 3-part BBC documentary entitled Gold Fever. This followed Redgrave and his crewmates in the coxless four in the years leading up to the Olympics, including video diaries recording the highs and lows in the quest for his fifth consecutive team gold.

He was made an MBE in 1987, a CBE in 1997, and he became a Knight Bachelor in 2001.^[1]

In 2002, his achievement of winning gold medals at five consecutive Olympic games was voted the greatest sporting moment in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.

Life after rowing[link]

In April 2006 he completed his third London Marathon, raising a record £1,800,000 for charity.

In April 2008 Redgrave took part in the controversial Olympic Torch relay for the games in China.

Redgrave is a supporter of Chelsea football club.

Steve Redgrave is also commemorated at Burnham Grammar School, Redbridge Community School and Broadlands Science and Engineering School as one of the four houses there.

Also, at Linton Village College in Cambridgeshire, there is a school faculty (house) named after him.

He also starred in Top Ground Gear Force (although he did not realise until it was too late) for Sport Relief in 2008, where the Top Gear Team (Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond) took on Ground Force with predictable results, and trashed his garden.

He has also launched his own Fairtrade Cotton Brand of Clothing called FiveG which is sold in Debenhams department stores.^[9]

He is also involved in starting a Rowing academy in India at Lavasa the new Hill City being developed near Pune City.^[10]

In 2010 Redgrave was named a Patron of the Jaguar Academy of Sport^[11] .

Achievements[link]

• 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)

Olympic Games[link]

• 2000 - Gold, Coxless Four (with Matthew Pinsent, Tim Foster, James Cracknell)
• 1996 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
• 1992 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
• 1988 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Andy Holmes)
• 1988 - Bronze, Coxed Pair (with Andy Holmes and Patrick Sweeney)
• 1984 - Gold, Coxed Four (with Martin Cross, Adrian Ellison, Andy Holmes, Richard Budgett).

World Rowing Championships[link]

• 1999 - Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Ed Coode, Matthew Pinsent)
• 1998 - Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Tim Foster, Matthew Pinsent)
• 1997 - Gold, Coxless Four (with James Cracknell, Tim Foster, Matthew Pinsent)
• 1995 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
• 1994 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
• 1993 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
• 1991 - Gold, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
• 1990 - Bronze, Coxless Pair (with Matthew Pinsent)
• 1989 - Silver, Coxless Pairs (with Simon Berrisford)
• 1989 - 5th, Coxed Pairs (with Simon Berrisford and Patrick Sweeney)
• 1987 - Gold, Coxless Pairs (with Andy Holmes)
• 1987 - Silver, Coxed Pairs (with Andy Holmes and Patrick Sweeney)
• 1986 - Gold, Coxed Pairs (with Andy Holmes and Patrick Sweeney)
• 1985 - 12th, Single Sculls
• 1983 - Single Sculls
• 1982 - 6th, Quadruple Scull
• 1981 - 8th, Quadruple Scull

Junior World Rowing Championships[link]

• 1980 - Silver, Double Sculls
• 1979 - Single Sculls

Henley Royal Regatta[link]

• 2001 - Queen Mother Challenge Cup
• 2000 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
• 1999 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
• 1998 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
• 1997 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
• 1995 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
• 1994 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
• 1993 - Stewards' Challenge Cup
• 1993 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
• 1991 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
• 1989 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
• 1987 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
• 1986 - Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup
• 1985 - Diamond Challenge Sculls
• 1983 - Diamond Challenge Sculls
• 1981 - Double Sculls Challenge Cup

Other[link]

• 1996 - Winner of UK Celebrity Gladiators
• 2000 - BBC Sports Personality of the Year
• 2010 - Awarded the degree of Hon LLD from St Andrews University
• 2011 - BBC Sports - Lifetime Achievement Award

Bibliography[link]

• Steve Redgrave: A Golden age (2000) with Nick Townsend (ghostwriter). ISBN 0-563-55182-8
  • 2nd edition: 2001 ISBN 0-563-53821-X
• Steve Redgrave's Complete Book of Rowing (1992). ISBN 1-85225-124-7
  • 2nd edition: 1995 ISBN 1-85225-230-8
• You Can Win At Life! (2005) with Nick Townsend. ISBN 0-563-48776-3.

Redgrave has also written a foreword to Diabetes: The at Your Fingertips Guide 5th edition (2003) ISBN 1-85959-087-X

See also[link]

• Jack Beresford, rower, Britain's most successful Olympian prior to Redgrave's fourth Gold medal, with three Gold and two Silver medals from 1920–1936
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists in one event

Styles and Honours[link]

• Mr Steve Redgrave (1962–1987)
• Mr Steve Redgrave MBE (1987–1997)
• Mr Steve Redgrave CBE (1997–2001)
• Sir Steve Redgrave CBE (2001–)

References[link]

External links[link]