All in the same boat

Meaning business: Four men aiming to create history

Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent have paid tribute to rowing partners Tim Foster and James Cracknell who complete the British coxless four team which is aiming to make Olympic history.

Victory in Sydney would give Redgrave an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympic gold and for Pinsent it would mean a third gold on the trot.

But the old hands are quick to praise Foster and Cracknell - their two colleagues who have hardly shared in the limelight.

Unit

Coxless four: All for one

"We have produced a unit over the last four years that has worked very together," said Pinsent.

"We've won the World Championship in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and they have been absolutely essential to that.

"There was no way it was all down to Steve and myself and these two guys tacked on.

"We rely on them to perform as much as they rely on us."

Redgrave, who won his first gold at the 1984 Olympics, also spoke of the excellent team spirit in the camp.

"We have a very strong relationship and the underlying factor is that we are all aiming for the same thing and need each other to achieve that thing, " he said.

Laugh

"But we still get on very well and have had quite a few laughs on the way through."

There was no way it was all down to Steve and myself and these two guys tacked on

  Matthew Pinsent

The team had a setback at this year's World Championships in Switzerland when they finished out of the medal positions.

But a month of hard training has put them back on course.

"I think we are ready but at the same time we still have time to do things," said Pinsent.

"Even the day before the final we will be trying to improve something we have been working on.

"You can never get perfection - that's the nature of sport."