Pinsent: the London Olympics and life after rowing

A few examples of comebacks this year include three-time Olympic Champion Eskild Ebbesen of Denmark reappearing on the international scene after retiring following the 2008 Olympics. Ebbesen’s fellow countrymen, Rasmus Quist and Mads Rasmussen are also back in the Olympic boat race in the lightweight men’s double sculls.

The Australian Olympic Champion men’s double of David Crawshay and Scott Brennan rejoined this season in their medal winning boat. Australia’s Drew Ginn took time off from rowing after winning gold in Beijing to have an operation, rehab and do competitive cycling and won bronze in the men's four sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia one month ago.

Greg Searle of Great Britain did the mother-of-all comebacks in 2010 after retiring 10 years prior. The appeal of rowing in London proved too enticing for Searle. But even the allure of competing in front of a home crowd cannot sway Pinsent.

World Rowing recently talked to Pinsent about life since retiring from rowing and his involvement in the London 2012 Olympic Games.  

World Rowing: When London won the Olympic bid did you ever have even a small inkling to do a comeback?
Matthew Pinsent: Not for a minute! I had competed in four Olympics and felt ready to stop after Athens. I had that athlete life for 15-16 years; it was great but I don’t feel like it anymore.

WR: You just said you felt ready to stop; did you ever think, ‘I’d like to move as far away from the sport and media as possible’?
MP: I joined the BBC which is a great place to work. Although it feels like home working in rowing I also love comparing and am keen to also work on other things which I do, like news. Covering the Boat Race (Oxford-Cambridge) is challenging too. It’s all about a 17-minute race and just two crews; it can be really spectacular but can also be over in three minutes. I feel it could be the Wimbledon of rowing, encompassing tradition, but it will never be bigger than Olympic rowing. 

WR: You travelled to Iraq and spent time with the rowers there. What is your motivation to do stories like this especially when there’s an element of danger? 
MP: It’s part of a series called “World Olympic Dreams” which tell 26 stories of people training for the London 2012 Olympics. I cannot cover this alone and we therefore rely on the help of the BBC correspondents in the countries. I go filming every three to four months and the programme enables me to speak about their training, but also about their culture, and way of living. Not all of them will be at the Olympics: some will come and win, some will participate and some will not make it. My next piece will be in Afghanistan at the end of the year.

BBC takes safety very seriously and has developed training especially for journalists; this covers several aspects such as first aid, how to move when wearing the bulletproof jacket, how to react in certain situations, such as when searched at checkpoints. The training helps decide when to pursue the story and when to stop for your own safety. 

WR: What is your role in the London Olympics?
MP: My role will be with media, both TV presenting and writing.  I of course will be at Dorney Lake (rowing venue) for the finals. It will be a busy time as there are 14 sports in 18 days. In Beijing I covered taekwando and pentathlon for example, but I also went to see the athletics. I will write British-centred stories.

WR: You were a student at Eton College, home of the Olympic Regatta Course. What was it like at Eton? 
MP: I obviously studied at Eton College before the Dorney Lake course was built; we actually had our school run on these fields but, already when I was here there were rumours of building a rowing lake. The river goes down under Windsor near the College and, at that time, there were three boat houses for different groups of rowers. The middle one, where the river is very bendy, was for first years, then one down the river for second years and the third for more competitive rowers. Nowadays everybody is rowing here except maybe the beginners. Rowing was one of the two sports in summer: you had a choice between cricket and rowing, although some might also play tennis. 

WR: There is always a risk of inclement weather during the Olympic rowing regatta, what do you think of the chance that there might be time trials? As a rower would you choose time trials over other alternatives?
MP: My first option would be to move lanes, then to prioritise semi-finals and ultimately I would go to time trials. I’ve seen Dorney at its best and at its worst but this is true for every course, for example at the Schinias Regatta Course at the Athens Olympics. Every course has its own challenges, rowing is an outdoor sport but what is important is to give the best racing conditions to the best crews of the world.

WR: If you hadn’t got into rowing in a big way what do you imagine your direction in life would have been?
MP: I have no idea whatsoever.  I started as a junior rower, and continued at university. I had already competed at international level in 1987. In 1988 I competed at the World Rowing Junior Championships and immediately after at senior level. I won my first Olympic gold medal while still at university.