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matter what industry. Even if you’re an Olympic champion, you can still try to get a personal best, you can still look to improve, and that’s the best way of conducting yourself in a way that is loyal to what the Games are.How were you affected by your remarkable success and the fame that came with it?I come from a pretty humble background. My grandfather was a bus driver in Birmingham for 40 years. I suppose you dream of fame and fortune, but the reality is that it was relatively slow-coming for me. By the time I retired, I think I was a pretty well-balanced person. As a 19-year-old, if I’d have been given a few million pounds to enhance my sport, I would have thought, “Well, I’ll get a nice car, stereo, all the latest gadgets.” Nobody was giving out that sort of money at that time but, by the middle of my career, if I’d have been given that sort of funding, you can be sure I would have thought, “What can I do to enhance my performance? How can I get more out of myself using the income that I’ve generated?”Your Olympic career spanned three decades. How did the Games evolve during that time?The modern era changed at Los Angeles [in 1984]. After Los Angeles, countries saw the wider benefit of hosting the Olympic Games. Of course, until 1988, you had to be an amateur – you weren’t allowed to earn any money from competing at the Games. In certain countries, you could be inducted into the police force or the army and become a full-time athlete that way. After the 1988 Games, when the amateur status was taken away, within my particular sport, it meant you could find sponsorship to fund yourself to be able to compete with the Eastern Bloc countries. Rowing was dominated by the Eastern Bloc in that era and, from my point of view, the removal of amateur-only rules made a big difference. Having said that, rowing is still a sport that does struggle for finance, but without Olympic status it would struggle even more. PicturedSteve Redgrave (left) powers his way to gold with Andy Holmes in Seoul in 198874 OLYMPIC REVIEW MY GAMES