Steve Redgrave - A Golden Age

Oct 4, 2024 9:20 PM

Author:Steven Redgrave,Nick Townsend

In 2003 the British public voted Sir Steven Redgrave the Golden Sports Personality of the last fifty years. A fitting award for Britain's most successful Olympian ever, who on 23 September 2000 entered the record books as the only athlete ever to have won five consecutive Olympic gold medals. Steve's fascinating autobiography tells the story of an outstanding career in sport, from his first contact with rowing as a 13-year-old schoolboy, through his battle with diabetes and colitis. He discusses his rowing partnership with Matthew Pinsent and describes the extreme pressures and emotional conflicts that can cement or destroy a team. He speaks too of his struggle to preserve a balanced family life in the face of an extraordinarily intensive training programme and reveals both the mental and physical pain that go hand in hand with being a world champion. A Golden Age is a spellbinding insight into the lifestyle and history of one of the world's most motivated and illustrious sportsmen.

Reviews

I am tempted to conclude that Palmer's take is the right one.

—— Melvyn Bragg, The Times

Lively, quirky and clever

—— Time Out

Impressive … these amateurs were taking their lives into their hands every time

—— London Review of Books

Invokes the spirit of Darwin, Audubon and Jacques Cousteau

—— Washington Post

Heartbreaking...poingnant

—— Robert Philip , Daily Telegraph

One of the finest autobiographies to be written by a footballer... a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows, gain and loss, of loneliness, of fear, of self-loathing, and of guilt.

—— Birmingham Post

It is funny. It is sad. It is brilliant.

—— Hyder Jawad , Birmingham Post

The travails of Tony Adams, Paul Gascoigne and even George Best pale when compared with McGrath's horrors.

—— Paul Rowan , The Sunday Times

McGrath's book is voyeuristic and gruesome... sheds light on one of sport's last great taboos.

—— Rick Broadbent , The Times

Gripping [and] unflinching... His story is as complex as it is moving, as vulnerable as it is brutal.

—— Donald McRae , Guardian

Genuinely absorbing... harrowing and honest... his is a story truly worth telling.

—— Adam Marshall , Eurosport

Amid the basketful of bland post-World Cup books, McGrath's life story stands out a mile... Fascinating reading.

—— Evening Standard

The Republic of Ireland's most popular sportsman, still adored by fans of Manchester United and Villa.

—— BBC Sport

An all-too honest account of a playing career that just got better and better, despite threatening to go off the rails.

—— Sunday Mercury

An extraordinary book.

—— Irish Independent

Harrowing and brutally honest...a gripping story.

—— Derby Evening Telegraph

Brutally honest.

—— The Irish Post

Less a football autobiography, more repentant confessional.

—— Kevin Hughes , FreeSport

stunning

—— FourFourTwo

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