BBC Sport Online: Olympics2000: Rowing and Water Sports

Gold Fever

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Gold Fever was the BBC documentary which followed Steve Redgrave and his coxless four team in the years leading up to Sydney.

It chronicled how the four-time gold medal winner, long-time partner Matthew Pinsent plus James Cracknell and Tim Foster as the quartet built towards the millennium games.

All four members of the crew, plus super-sub Ed Coode, made entries into video diraries which recorded the highs and lows of their professional and personal lives.

For Redgrave that meeant a battle with diabetes, a condition he was disagnosed with during the period covered, as well as an addition to his family.

Foster had two major injuries, one of them self-inflicted after an accident with a window at a party and the other a career-threatening back problem.

His absence brought Coode into the boat for the 1999 season, and left him and Foster facing a selection dilemma handled by coach Jurgen Grobler - another key player in this drama.

Cracknell faced up to making decisions between his sport and his long-term girlfriend.

Meanwhile Pinsent came over as the rock on which the others depended - with little more dramatic than moving house taking place for him off the water.

It all added up to a fascinating soap opera with high class sport thrown in as a bonus, and has left anyone who viewed it in the UK even more determined to support the four at Sydney.

If you saw Gold Fever you probably feel you have a stake in the four. If you missed if you can watch the three programmes with BBC Sport Online by using the links on this page.

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Related to this story:
Redgrave considered throwing in towel (21 Sep 00 | Rowing and Water Sports)
Injury threatened Foster's spot (21 Sep 00 | Rowing and Water Sports)
Four's decision day (21 Sep 00 | Rowing and Water Sports)