Sir Steve stands down as Hon President of British Rowing
After twelve years as Honorary President of British Rowing, Sir Steve Redgrave has elected to stand down from the role.
Since his appointment in 2001 Sir Steve has seen the sport flourish at home and on the world stage – his legendary five Olympic gold medals having inspired generations of young rowers.
In 1997 Sir Steve was presented with Rowing’s highest accolade, the Medal of Honour, for his outstanding contribution to the sport. Since then he has supported grassroots rowing with the launch of two highly successful participation programmes, Project Oarsome and Explore Rowing.
Annamarie Phelps, Chairman of British Rowing, said today, “On behalf of all in British Rowing I’d like to say how grateful we are for all that Sir Steve has brought to the sport. The pride and teamwork, the hard work and pursuit of excellence, all the elements that embody rowing, were there for all to see when he won his fifth Gold in Sydney in 2000.”
It seemed fitting that Sir Steve was the person to present Dame Di Ellis with her Medal of Honour in February this year and British Rowing is very pleased to announce that Dame Di has agreed to take on the role of Honorary President.
Sir Steve said this week, “Looking back it’s been an incredible thirteen years since Sydney and the pace really picked up when we won the bid for London 2012 in 2005. I’ve had many roles in rowing, from athlete and ambassador to commentator and Honorary President – but one of the high points since I was competing myself has to be the success of British Rowing at Eton Dorney last year. This was one of our best Olympic teams ever and the sport is in really good shape from domestic through to International – I am sure this will continue under Dame Di’s Hon Presidency”.
Sir Steve will maintain his strong links with rowing at every level as its most iconic ambassador and as a Trustee of the Stewards Charitable Trust. He has been a supporter of Marlow Rowing Club’s rebuild project and is involved in a number of schemes to bring rowing to new communities around the world.
