LONDON -- From across a crowded room, Steve Redgrave hardly looks like a legendary athlete. He's lanky, excessively polite and his hair is thinning at an alarmingly quick rate. He walks around wearing a sheepish grin and his laugh is loud and long. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear he's the guy next-door.
However, there's nothing ordinary about the success Redgrave has enjoyed over his career. In Sydney last month, the British rower became the first Olympian to win gold at five successive Games in an endurance event. He's triumphed at the World Championships a record nine times, he'll soon be knighted by the Queen and he's loved by an entire nation. In fact, 7.5 million Britons stayed up well past midnight on Sept. 23 to watch Redgrave win the coxless fours on TV.
After claiming his fourth gold in Atlanta, the now-38-year-old called it a career. The pressure to rewrite the history books just seemed too great at the time. Although he enjoyed having more chances to work on his golf game, the retirement didn't last long. Redgrave pulled an about-face and spent the better part of the last four years eyeing a fifth Olympic gold.