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You have been involved in a number of ambassadorial roles and charitable endeavours. How important have these been to you?My mother was very community-minded, and I think quite a lot of that has rubbed off on me. But I’ve been able to do it more on a wider, global scale than in a small community. I see myself as being very privileged in finding a sport that I was pretty good at, taking it to its limits and pushing its boundaries in terms of achievement. To be able to pass some of those skills over to young athletes, or putting time into charity and giving other people the opportunity to improve and better their lives, does make you feel good. In some ways, I feel much better about helping other people than anything I’ve achieved.How would you sum up what the Olympic ideal means to you?The Olympic ideal is very much about the world’s youth coming together, as the Olympic Charter says, and competing in peace and harmony. Competing is the main element, but sport is also about trying to get your best possible result – anybody who represents their country is a winner. But there’s no doubt that the ethos of the Games and the profile they have puts sport on a different level. When professionalism was introduced at Barcelona 1992 and the American basketball team [known as the “Dream Team”] came to compete, I thought, “These are multi-millionaires and I’m in financial difficulties trying to do what I do.” But then it was pointed out to me that they weren’t being paid to come to the Games; they were coming to try and win a gold medal, of which I’d already got two! And that makes you feel pretty special; these multi-millionaires are trying to achieve something you’ve already done. You can’t buy that.I once got pulled up on stage with [USA golfer] Tiger Woods and [team-mate] Matt Pinsent. Matt had his Olympic gold medal in his pocket and put it around Tiger’s neck. He was blown away! That was before golf got reintroduced into the Olympic Games. And now golfers have the opportunity of winning gold. Golf will gather momentum because of its Olympic status. It will develop in countries where it has never before taken off. That’s the power of the Games.What are your memories of London 2012 and, in particular, carrying the Olympic torch?About two-three weeks before the Opening Ceremony, the torch came from Oxford into Henley. It was handed to me in a boat and we rowed it down… well, I didn’t actually row it, I was sitting in the boat with an oar in my hand, carrying the torch. We picked out two young athletes from each one of the clubs on the Henley stretch – Leander, Henley and Upper Thames. There was myself, Garry Herbert who does the BBC commentary, and sitting behind me was a security guard. I had to teach him to row! He said, “Oh, I wasn’t planning to do anything!” and I said, “No, if you’re in the boat, you’re going to row! I’m not rowing one-handed!”At the Opening Ceremony, we were in the boat for more than 15 minutes but, because the gas cylinder only lasted for roughly 15 minutes, we had to change the torch. I was the last Olympic athlete to carry the torch. The plan was that I would hand it to seven young athletes and, as they did their lap, they would pass it from one to the other and one of the seven would light the cauldron. I thought that would put too much pressure on that one person. They are Great Britain’s young athletes for Rio 2016, or the following Games, and whoever that young person is, people are going to ask, “Have they made the grade?” So the organisers went back and discussed it and all seven of them ended up lighting the cauldron.Obviously they were pretty nervous as they went up, but what you didn’t see on TV was that afterwards, as they came back to us, they had great big smiles on their faces and bounded into our arms. That was a special moment. ■FIVE GOLDEN GAMES1984LOS ANGELESGOLD: COXED FOUR1988SEOULGOLD: COXLESS PAIRBRONZE: COXED PAIR1992BARCELONAGOLD: COXLESS PAIR1996ATLANTA GOLD: COXLESS PAIR2000SYDNEYGOLD: COXLESS FOURSTEVE REDGRAVE’SOLYMPIC REVIEW 75‘THE OLYMPIC IDEAL IS ABOUT THE WORLD’S YOUTH COMING TOGETHER AND COMPETING IN PEACE AND HARMONY’ STEVE REDGRAVEMY GAMES