It is said that the Olympic Games is not about winning but taking part. Perhaps for some. I prefer another maxim--the one that someone used before Atlanta: "If you're not here to win, you're a tourist."

Completed in the run-up to Sydney 2000--where he crowned an already remarkable career with a record-breaking Gold in the coxless fours--A Golden Age is Steve Redgrave's account of a life spent exercising a will to win.

As you might expect--given Redgrave's renowned enthusiasm for stifling the hyperbole of gushing reporters--Britain's greatest Olympian doesn't bother to linger long in celebration, choosing instead to chronicle the realities of a 25-year obsession with exploring his physical and mental limits.

But by focusing on the lifetime behind those few minutes of glory every four years, and measuring the true cost of success--his struggles with diabetes and colitis, and the wall he recognises he has built between himself and his young family--Redgrave leaves the reader with no doubts as to the enormity of his achievement.

A frank critic of himself, Redgrave's assessments of the strengths and shortcomings of his rowing partners--most famously, Matthew Pinsent and Andy Holmes--and accounts of the behind-the-scenes drama of top-flight competition, are equally clear-sighted and revealing.

Olympic Gold in endurance events at five consecutive Games is a unique achievement, and A Golden Age is an engrossing self-study by the man who made it happen.Alex Hankin

The majority of the text comes across as him 'setting the record straight' and some dreadfully trite even narrow minded opinion about how 'top level' sport should be funded at the expense of the development of rowing across the board.

This aside, it is a real struggle to get through to the end of this dreary (and I suspect hastily produced) book, the only redeeming factor for me are the photographs in the middle.

Save your money, if you're looking for inspiration, insight and a book that will share life lessons from an elite athlete (of which Redgrave is undoubtably) buy the hugely superior 'It's not about the bike' by Lance Armstrong.


Setting the record straight & opinion - NOT a biography   August 3, 2003
 2 out of 5 found this review helpful

This book can in no way be described as autobiographical or a set of memoirs. It is a dull, poorly written chronicle of events with little or no insight into his feelings, relationships with others or indeed any emotion.

The majority of the text comes across as him 'setting the record straight' and some dreadfully trite even narrow minded opinion about how 'top level' sport should be funded at the expense of the development of rowing across the board.

This aside, it is a real struggle to get through to the end of this dreary (and I suspect hastily produced) book, the only redeeming factor for me are the photographs in the middle.

Save your money, if you're looking for inspiration, insight and a book that will share life lessons from an elite athlete (of which Redgrave is undoubtably) buy the hugely superior 'It's not about the bike' by Lance Armstrong.


dull narration of great story   September 14, 2001
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

First of all, be aware that Sydney is not covered in this book?! Then I'm not sure how such an interesting story could have resulted in such a dull read! Well worth reading but, unlike Pete Goss's book, a Golden Age was too easy to put down.