A Golden Age - Steve Redgrave The Autobiography: A Golden Age - The Autobiography |
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Steve Redgrave, Nick Townsend
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Pages: 320 (Paperback)
ISBN: 056353821X
Pub: BBC Books
Pub date: 2004-06-03
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 13372
Editorial Review:
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
Reader Reviews:
Interesting to the non-rower (0/0 people found this helpful)
I picked up this book because I like reading books by people who excel. I found it very interesting to hear Steve's take on how he got where he wanted to be given set-backs like his 2 illness. Also it was interesting to learn about how rowers are selected & how they function as a team. Another reviewer said Steve was harse about his peers, but I appreciated his frankness which often you don't get.
Steve Redgrave: A Golden Age - The Autobiography (3/3 people found this helpful)
After a Christmas of rowing biographies (Tim Foster, Matthew Pinsent included) this was the last of the three I read. What a disappointment. Supposedly an autobiography; it was in fact a poor biography of a great sportsman, badly written in the first person, by someone who didn't appreciate the task he'd been given. Half the text should have been binned and the remainder supplemented by something that at least tried to get below the surface of a unique individual. If there are any decent writers out there who fancy the task then please step forward and do justice to a national hero who deserved better. If you want to experience how it could have been try Martin Cross's "Olympic Obsession" and really experience what it means to be a winner at this level warts and all.
Setting the record straight & opinion - NOT a biography (1/1 people found this 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.
Setting the record straight & opinion - NOT a biography (2/5 people found this 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 (1/2 people found this 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.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Biography -> Sport -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Sports, Hobbies & Games -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Sports, Hobbies & Games -> Water Sports -> Boating -> Rowing
Books -> Subjects -> Sports, Hobbies & Games -> Water Sports -> Boating -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Sports, Hobbies & Games -> Water Sports -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Sports, Hobbies & Games -> General AAS
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)