Fiction, Sport, Regulation
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Lack of promise
I start rowing in January 1982, when I was 18. Arriving at Oxford University from a state school, I had seen rowing as private school-dominated and so not for me. But Wadham College Boat Club was open and friendly, encouraged lots of my new friends to try the sport, and threw good parties!
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No-one, especially in those first years, would have described me as a natural boat mover; I was 6'8", clumsy, and my strength hadn't caught up with my height. I benefitted from good and (critically) patient coaching, slowly improved and enjoyed my college rowing enormously. However, there was no sign I would get any further.
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Surprise breakthroughs
In 1986, however, now a graduate student and a couple of years stronger, I was selected to row in the Oxford reserve crew (Isis). Then, in 1987 and '88, I was in the Oxford crews that raced Cambridge in the Boat Race. All these races were won, each with its share of drama. After the 1988 Boat Race, I got into the National Squad and was selected in the GB Eight for the Seoul Olympics, where we came 4th and were devastated not to get a medal.
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What happened next
This was the start of my international rowing, which also took in the Barcelona Games in 1992, where we came 7th. At this point, frustrated by the way the international squad was run, I stood as Athletes' Rep and was elected. This meant dealing with the Amateur Rowing Association (now British Rowing) on behalf of the athletes and representing Rowing on the BOA Athletes Commission, which I chaired for five years.
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After the 1996 Olympics, Lottery funding arrived, and in 1998 I was appointed to the Board of the UK Sports Council (now UKSport), where I chaired the Lottery Awards Panel, which decided how the money was spent, through the Sydney and Athens Olympic/Paralympic cycles. I resigned from the Council just before the Athens' Games but remain involved in Rowing through Henley Regatta.
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Controversies
Along the way, I've been involved in my share of controversies. . Most notorious is the 1987 Boat Race, often labelled the "Oxford mutiny", which has been the subject of a film (True Blue) and several books, as well as acres of newsprint. Over time, I'll try to unpick some of these controversies and the wider issues they raised.
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