“Behind every great man….” But Great Women don’t stand behind their men. They stand, or row, next to them…. Day and Night talks to Dr. Lady Ann Redgrave, part mother, part doctor, part Osteopath, part Tawny Owl

Dr. Redgrave has competed in the Olympics as a highly successful rower, representing Great Britain in the Women’s Eight at Los Angeles in 1984, and winning Bronze and Silver medals in the Commonwealth Games in 1986, despite only having taken up the sport in 1981. And all while training for an exemplary career in medicine….boy, am I nervous….

As is often the case with illustrious careers, Dr. Redgrave stumbled on the water quite by accident. “It was in 1981”, she explains. “I was at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School training to be a doctor. I was sitting in the common room one Wednesday afternoon when a fellow student came in and asked me if I’d make up a rowing eight, as one team member hadn’t turned up. I was literally dragged into it! My PE history at school had been a bit stop-start, but I did represent my county at netball. While studying for my O levels, I contracted viral meningitis. I was quite active until then, but doctors told me I should lead a quieter life….so when I got to University I wasn’t considered as someone who was particularly sporty. Of that Wednesday afternoon eight, four of us turned out to be quite successful rowers (“quite successful” is presumably AnnRedgraveSpeak for Olympic Silver). “We had a season when we won everything. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if that afternoon hadn’t happened. Three years before the Los Angeles Olympics, I’d never been near a boat.”

Although Dr Redgrave has a completely rounded life of her own, I can’t not mention her husband. “I met Steve in 1984, my first year on the National Team. Our boats trained against each other. Men’s fours train against women’s eights, for parity of speed. I competed in the LA Olympics in that year, my final year at medical school. Within two years we were going out….I was training constantly and at the same time studying for my finals, but I was so driven to keep my training going. As a junior house doctor, rowing gave me an excuse to leave the ward to train. When I look back, I must have been mad! I must have been tired, but I don’t remember. I just enjoyed it all. I had no life outside of rowing and study. It was fortunate that Steve was a rower, or we would never have met!”

Dr Redgrave was Chief Medical Officer to the British Olympic Rowing team until she stepped down in 2001. ”I was originally training as an orthopaedic surgeon but switched to Osteopathy/Orthopaedic Medicine in 1988. I always knew I wanted to be work in sport but sports medicine is still not recognised as a specialism in this country. I have always loved orthopaedic medicine; it’s so rewarding. You are dealing with people who are already relatively healthy, and you assist them in getting better. I qualified as a doctor in 1985 and as an osteopath in 1990.” She now runs a practice in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire. “We have recently expanded to deal with osteopathy, physiotherapy, sports massage therapy, and sports medicine - I practise a real mish-mash now, probably best described as musculoskeletal medicine.”

Now Steve has retired from competitive rowing, is he around more? “Well, I actually see less of him! When Steve was rowing, it was accepted that it was seven days a week. I assumed that when he gave up we would have more of a normal life, but that hasn’t happened. When he competed in the Olympics, and I was team doctor, we took the children with us, so we actually spent more time together as a family. I guess this will change with time and it’s still something we aim for. We had friends invite us for lunch in February, and the first available date we could offer was late April. We’re trying really hard now to focus on having a normal family life!”

Dr Redgrave seems to possess this natural determination to win. The difference between Olympiads and ordinary folk seems to be the dogged determination to carry on when the physical body is telling one to stop…so would she be running the London Marathon again this year having done so in 2001 and 2003?

“NO! Well, I’m not sure. Maybe a half marathon. To complete a marathon is a great achievement, but I really don’t understand why people keep going back year after year. I find it hard to train properly for a full marathon. My feet fall apart…” WHAT?? “Before my first marathon, in 2001, I had never completed the whole 26 miles. At about 20 miles I was seeing stars and my feet really suffered. I shed virtually all the soles of my feet in the days following the race. In 2003, I had trained much more, but I still lost all of my toenails.” Reader, I have to retire to faint at this point.

That’s better. It’s still comparatively rare for the British to win Olympic medals. Nature or nurture? “I feel very strongly about the way sport is taught in our schools. A lot of schools have this non-competitive policy. Life is competitive with a considerable amount of stress, and managing this can be taught through schools. School is the platform to learn competitiveness, team work, determination, and at a basic level, how to sit correctly while studying. So in answer to your question probably a mixture but we could do more to nurture.”

The Redgraves have recently formed Redgrave Health and Leisure. “People need a personal, physical check up before starting any form of exercise. They discover they are unfit, then go to a gym to solve the problem, and if correct health checks aren’t carried out, the problem can be exacerbated or a new one created. Gym instructors are traditionally poorly paid and staff turnover is high. We have spent two years developing an idea and raising funds to build a centre to teach correct methods. As yet funds have not been forthcoming but I can but hope.”

Alf Tupper, the “Tough of the Track” hero from my childhood “Victor” comic, trained on fish and chips. Does Dr. Redgrave follow a specific diet? “Not really. I just eat healthily. I’m not really a cake person. I do take vitamin and mineral supplements occasionally. I don’t have a daily keep fit regime - my life is manic anyway. I do enjoy running around this area (home is in a beautiful deciduous woodland in Buckinghamshire) and I try to run once or twice a week when I can. I’d advise anyone who doesn’t feel that they can commit time to regular workouts to simply walk… it’s good, valuable and effective exercise.”

Dr Redgrave is President of Horizons Sports Club, a club for mentally and physically disabled children in which a child aged 5-11 years is supervised in sporting activities by sixth form volunteers from local schools. In turn, there is a coach trained in each discipline to supervise each session. “It’s fantastic, and it brings out hidden character qualities in both the children and the volunteers. I spend as much time there as I can.

And, er, I’m Tawny Owl at the local Brownies…..”

Hiding my past as a Brownie reject, I asked Dr. Redgrave what she considers to be her biggest achievement – their three children not allowed! “Doctor to the Olympic Rowing Team certainly. But I took up piano for fun a few years back, and incredibly I’ve achieved grade four. I accept I’ll never be the best, but then I never imagined when I took up rowing that I would be going to the Games three years later…... women should always have something for themselves; just doing something for the fun of it. My piano playing is important as a de-stressing exercise. Having said that, I still get nervous when performing!”

So what IS her core driving force? She laughs. “I do understate. I have short term goals. I’m always looking to do that bit more, and I try to do everything to the best of my abilities. When my duet partner’s piano teacher told us the piece we had chosen to perform was too difficult, we became all the more determined to do it. I was told I’d never make a doctor! Women can be easily quashed, they need more self belief.” Does this Everywoman realise how inspirational she is? After some deliberation, “If someone from the outside looking at me said “I like the way you run your life”……I’d find some satisfaction in that.”

I offer to play Fairy Godmother. “I’d like a 48 hour day. I don’t watch television and that certainly helps. Our children are still school age, and I do have a busy life, but I suppose everyone else does too! I have travelled a lot, but always for a purpose. I’d like to walk the Great Wall of China, see a little more of world culture. I’d like to travel for fun.”

Dr Redgrave received an honorary Doctor of Science (Hon DSc), degree from Loughborough University in 2001, for technical service as the team doctor for the British rowing team, Sydney 2000. How does she feel? “I’m receiving another one soon, from Stoke on Trent, again for services to sports medicine. I’m very proud.”

Add warm, funny and absurdly modest to that.