Redgrave: London is in the bag... so now let's take on the World

Sir Steve Redgrave tips Team GB to eclipse Beijing and says football must come home in 2018

(getty images)

Sir Steve Redgrave must be the closest thing we have got to a modern-day Hercules. According to the ancient myth, Hercules performed 12 seemingly impossible tasks to become the greatest of all the Greek heroes, and to celebrate the achievement he founded the Olympic Games in honour of his father Zeus.

In the modern-day version, there are great Olympians and then there is Redgrave. The five-time gold medallist is Britain's most successful athlete in the history of the Games and on top of that he played an integral role in bringing the world's biggest sporting event to London in 2012.

Redgrave led the athletes' group which helped to draw up the bid and he told The Independent on Sunday that the Games are already having a significant impact on sport in this country even though they are still three years away.

"The amount of focus and infrastructure given to individual sports has gone up so much since winning the Olympics," he said. "Beijing was looked upon as being a huge success for Team GB but that was on the back of the fact that we've got 2012. Hopefully we can step up from Beijing. We won 19 gold medals and that would be a good total to repeat again but I think we can do better."

Chelsea fan Redgrave, 47, believes the World Cup could have the same effect on football in England and has welcomed the Football Association's decision to bid for the tournament in 2018. He said: "Staging major events like the Olympics and the World Cup is very important because it puts so much focus on sport. It has an impact on people's lives and gets them motivated – not always to get into sport but into other areas. It gives them commitment and desire and hunger.

"1966 was a long time ago and the time is right for the World Cup to come back. Some people say with the amount of big sporting events we have, do we need another one? Of course we do – I think it would be fantastic. It's all about the way it's sold. We've got the facilities and the stadiums – the infrastructure is not going to be an issue at all. It's more about the political side – is it the right thing for football to come to England this time around?"

Redgrave knows all about the politics of bidding to host a major sporting event. He was closely involved in every part of the London 2012 process, from the bid document to the final presentation in Singapore.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Prince William and some of the biggest names in English football came together to launch the 2018 bid in May, and Redgrave thinks that getting the whole country – and in particular the Government – behind the campaign will be vital to its chances of success.

"The Government played a big part in 2012," he said. "Tony Blair came out to Singapore and spent two days there right before he hosted the G8 summit. That was important because internationally we were seen to be a very weak government-backed bid until that time.

"Everyone thought it was between us and Paris but the IOC [International Olympic Committee] were really not that interested in what had gone on before – it was about what actually happened on the day. In some ways it's guesswork as to what's going to touch the heartstrings of the people who are voting but we did a good presentation and just got everything right."

It is clear that Redgrave has high expectations for the British team as a whole in 2012, but his focus will inevitably be on Dorney Lake near Windsor, where the rowing will take place. It is a sport that has given Britain so much Olympic success over the years and Redgrave – who won gold at five consecutive Games between 1984 and 2000 – has been an inspiration to many of the current team.

He was in China to see the squad win an impressive six medals. "Six months before Beijing, if you'd said we were going to get two gold, two silver and two bronze I would have bitten your hand off," he said. "Actually we came away a little bit disappointed because we had some close fourth places and one of the bronzes could easily have been a gold.

"Hardly any of last year's team have retired because everyone wants to be part of 2012. That's the good thing about British rowing at the moment – it's not just one crew. If you go back to my early days, there were one or two boats and then there was a big gulf. But now, if you're in any of the British rowing boats, you've got a chance of winning an Olympic medal, and there are 14 boats, so that's a healthy position to be in."

One athlete who is already a hot favourite to take home several Olympic medals from London is Usain Bolt. The Jamaican sprinter was the star of the Beijing Games, winning three golds and breaking three world records in the process. Redgrave said: "I was in the stadium when he won the 100m and it was unbelievable – very, very impressive. I had my son out there and he's never really been that into watching sport. He just said: 'That was magical.' It was pretty amazing.

"There is going to be so much focus on Usain now, and 2012 will be difficult because expectations are going to be so high. Everyone's going to be looking for him to break records in whatever he does and the reality is that's probably not going to happen. But he's great for athletics and he's great for sport in general."

Redgrave on...

How 2012 was won: "The IOC were really not that interested in what had gone on before – it was about what actually happened on the day. We did a good presentation and just got everything right."

Bettering Team GB's Beijing success: "Hopefully we can step up from that. We won 19 gold medals and I think we can do better in 2012."

The state of British rowing: "If you're in any of the British rowing boats, you've got a chance of winning an Olympic medal, and there are 14 boats, so that's a healthy position to be in."

Usain Bolt: "There is going to be so much focus on him now, and 2012 will be difficult because expectations are going to be so high. But he's great for athletics and for sport in general."

The 2018 World Cup bid: "Some people say with the amount of big sporting events we have, do we need another one? Of course we do – I think it would be fantastic."