JOIN USSir Steven Geoffrey Redgrave or simply Steve Redgrave is one of the finest atheltes in the history of Olympics.
Winning gold in one Olympics itself is a tough job, and the British rower did it five times in a row -- 1984 (Los Angeles), 1988 (Seoul), 1992 (Barcelona), 1996 (Atlanta) and 2000 (Sydney) to become a legend in his lifetime. But the Redgrave story goes much beyond the staggering number of medals he’s won -- five Olympic and nine World Championships titles -- and touches the realm of extraordinary.
He battled against the frailities of his own body and mind for long years even when he was a reigning Olympic champion. He had to resist constant attack of acute diabetes and ulcerative colitis even while preparing for his last two Olympics, and took an aching body through the pain barrier.
Redgrave has channelised his strong current of determination equally well even after his retirement, which came after his fifth Olympic gold at the Sydney Games. The legendary Buckinghamshire man is a regular face in various charity events across the United Kingdom, supporting mainly the cause of diabetic patients, and the Briton is a familiar figure in India too as the patron of a rowing academy in Lavasa near Pune. He’s also a successful businessman, owning an apparel company called FiveG, a reference to his five Olympic gold medals. The knighthood he received from Queen Elizabeth II in 2001 was the just recognition of a knight who used an oar to conquer peaks.