Rowing: Plans afloat for historic Olympic rematch

With an aura about him that sees many people stop in the streets, it's fair to say Sir Steve Redgrave is the undisputed king of the rowing world.

Although the UK's athlete of the 20th century retired more than five years ago, reports leaked out last week about plans to recreate the coxless fours race from the 2000 Sydney Olympics when Redgrave won his historic fifth Olympic gold medal.

The Sydney final, which the Great Britain team won by little more than one metre from Italy, also included a New Zealand team of Dave Schaper, Scott Brownlee, Toni Dunlop and Rob Hellstrom.

While the four might want to forget the race considering few things went right as they trailed the field into last place, they're excited about the prospect of recreating history.

"It would be pretty cool if it came off and would be a good chance to catch up with the guys we used to row against," Hellstrom said. "Steve Redgrave is just a legend and a lot of us aspired to be like him."

Along with Redgrave, the Great Britain boat also contained some of the biggest names in world rowing with Sir Matthew Pinsent, Tim Foster and James Cracknell.

Pinsent was left red-faced last week when he let slip plans about the event and, although Redgrave confirmed plans are in their early stages, they had hoped to keep it quiet until all crews had agreed to take part.

An event involving Redgrave and Pinsent could expect to draw a large crowd, considering 10,000 people turned out for their last race together in England in October 2000. Although details are sketchy, the re-race could be pencilled in for a world cup event at Dorney Lake at the end of May.

Rowing New Zealand chief executive Craig Ross said while they had heard about the idea, they had not received an official approach to take part in the race.

For three of the four it will not only mean turning back the clock, but also getting back in the boat, considering Hellstrom is the only one of the four still competing. He was in three races at yesterday's national champs in Twizel and harbours hopes of going to next year's world champs.

A re-match could be a chance for revenge, he said.

"The race in Sydney was disappointing for us because leading up to the regatta we were ranked second after the world cup series. We were right up there with the leading crews so the day itself was quite hard to come to terms with and could be a part of the reason why the four of us haven't really kept in touch with each other."

Dunlop now lives in Australia, Brownlee works in Hamilton and Schaper took part in this year's Coast to Coast multisport event.