Discussion with Steve Redgrave and Matt Pinsent on their Olympic partnership

Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent are as successful a sporting duo as you’ll ever meet. Steve has won 5 gold medals at 5 successive games and is a 9 time world champion, Matt has won 4 Olympic golds and 10 world championships.

They were successful before Britain became good at sport, winning before the UK Olympic system grew sophisticated. But not just the occasional win – sustained and dominant winning.

I had the privilege of working with Steve and Matt from 1998, supporting them, along with Tim Foster and James Cracknell to the Sydney Olympics. I can’t tell you how much influence they both had on me as a professional sports scientist and as a person. Their focus, standards, intensity, but also thinking, understanding and at times philosophy was so impressive you couldn’t help but learn from it.

You’ll hear that though in this conversation, which was surprising, fun and at times emotional.

00:00 Intro
01:15 Physiological testing
07:59 Impact of and dealing with “outside forces making decisions on your career” (e.g. selections for Olympics or delayed Tokyo Olympics 2020)
19:24 The nerves before a race
24:48 A step up in expectations and pressure from Barcelona to Atlanta
31:03 Setting the standards every day
37:03 “If anyone sees me go near a boat, you've got my permission to shoot me”
42:27 “Jürgen says you're thinking about carrying on” – not a long retirement
49:21 Steve Redgrave's challenges in returning to rowing, both physically and mentally
01:11:21 What are Matt & Steve's thoughts on pursuing a goal, pushing and driving – but doing it the right way?
01:25:45 If they had a message for their 20-year old self, what would it be?

Hi, I'm Steve Ingham Sports and Performance Scientist co-founder at Supporting Champions. I have the privilege of supporting over 1000 athletes of which over 200 have gone on to win World or Olympic medals. For the last 25 years I've been fascinated by, researched and applied innovative ideas to help people succeed and now I want to share those performance strategies with you.

I help aspiring and professional Performance Science and Support Staff improve their skills, experience and mindset for working with sports performers through a range of online courses and an exclusive community hub https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk...

If you're working in sports performance or business and want to get support to develop your team and systems - take a look at what I offer here - https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk...

Links
Steve Redgrave on Twitter: @steveredgrave5
Matt Pinsent on Twitter: @matthewcpinsent

Steve on Twitter: @ingham_steve
Steve on Instagram: @steveandingham
Supporting Champions on Twitter: @support_champs
Supporting Champions on Linkedin: Supporting Champions
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