World Rowing Championships: Sir Redgrave left great rowing legacy for Great Britain fans

Among the USA’s most adored Olympians are a gymnast, Simone Biles; a decathlete, Bob Mathias; a runner, Florence Griffith Joyner; and a swimmer, Mark Spitz.

In that esteemed class, the English have a rower — Sir Steven Geoffrey Redgrave.

Redgrave rowed for England at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000 and brought home a gold medal in each of them, an achievement for which he is now regarded among English sports fans as one of their country’s greatest ever Olympians.

The 6-foot-4 and amply muscled Redgrave also took home gold in nine World Rowing Championships, just like the ones going on Thursday and concluding Sunday at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota.

Now 55 and retired from the sport of rowing since the early 2000s, Redgrave created a rage for rowing in his country starting in the 1980s that still persists to this day, say his fans.

In fact, rowing is so popular in England that 100 or more Brits made the trip across the Atlantic to root for roughly 100 English rowers, the largest delegation of rowers who have come to Sarasota.

The English fans tend to sit in a group together up in the stands near the finish line at the park and adorn themselves with shirts and hats bearing the Union Flag as well as draping the flag itself on the back of the medal bleachers.

And, boy, are they loud and proud.

“Go GB!” they scream in unison when their racing sculls barrel toward the finish line right in front of them.

When asked why they love rowing, which seems to be a bit odd choice for fanaticism, a group of them screamed out together: “Steven Redgrave!”

“It was his many years of gold medal rowing, in the Olympics and World Championships,” said Marjorie Duerden as she sat in the stands with her husband, Union Jack cap-wearing Brian Duerden and fellow Great Britian fans Paula Walton and Sheila Hartley.

The four Brits have rented a house in Bradenton for the nine-day event.

“He is a hero,” Marjorie Duerden added of Redgrave, who wasn’t hurt at all by movie star good looks.

“But it’s the current heroes I like,” said Walton, whose son, John, certainly aided by the influence of Redgrave, became a quad scull rower for England, and the foursome has been cheering for his racing shell all this week as well.

Great Britain fans are among the most spirited at the rowing event, said Max Winitz, a World Rowing Championships spokesman.

“Great Britain is certainly at the top of the list,” Winitz said. “I’ve seen video of how rowdy and excited the Great Britain fans can get. Great Britain has one of the largest delegations here when it comes to the rowers. So, a lot of family members and friends have come for the event.

“There are also a large number of people from the U.K. who live in Manatee and Sarasota counties, so I am sure they are here to support their native country,” Winitz added. “But when it is all said and done, the U.S. has the most fans at this event.”

Rowing usually a challenge for spectators

One of the reasons the GB fans were pleased with Sarasota is that they usually have less than perfect viewing conditions. In other words, it’s a bit hard to be a rowing fan.

“For spectators, it is not a great sport unless you are at a venue like this,” said rowing volunteer Les Algren of Michigan.

Algren is on a breast cancer survivor rowing team at Michigan State University and is a member of the Lancer Rowing Club. A high school classmate who lives in the Sarasota area invited her to stay for nine days so she could volunteer.

“Most regattas that we go to, you can’t see the whole course and you certainly don’t have JumboTron TVs,” Algren added.

The GB fans were glued to their TV sets on Sept. 10 when Hurricane Irma made contact with the Sarasota area. A direct hit could have meant a cancellation of the event, said President Jean-Christophe Rolland of the World Rowing Federation, also known as FISA.

“We were watching on CNN,” Marjorie Duerden said.

“We were obviously very lucky,” Walton said.

So was Sarasota.

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 10:32 AM with the headline "World Rowing Championships: Sir Redgrave left great rowing legacy for Great Britain fans."