“I had a hair cut last week and didn’t like it, so I went back the next day and had it all chopped off.”I bet he got some stick from the rest of the crew? “Respect, more like,” he says “They all think it’s quite cool. “They’ve sent us a box of shades and the boys have got to it first. They’ve left me with these.”As he tries them on it only serves to highlight his dramatic hair – or rather lack of hair – style. The intensity of the Redgrave-Pinsent partnership has given way to a more relaxed approach by the foursome, making both the integration and the daily grind of training easier as a result.As if to prove this point, Pinsent arrives at this moment and presents his long-term partner with a pair of sunglasses that even Elton John would say were garish “It’s from one of our sponsors, Oakley,” he explains. I started back last December, and it took me up to the end of June before I was back to shape, but it was worth it because I’m enjoying every minute of my life right now, even the training.”This is quite obvious to see. I’ve never taken so long off before in over twenty years of rowing, and in a muscular endurance sport such as rowing, four months is a long, long time. He meant it as well, at least for 24 hours.”That’s how long it took before I realised there was no way I was going to pack it in just yet,” he admits with a conscious smirk on his face “But I kept it to myself.

I realised I needed a break and the four months I took off did the trick for me.”Even though I did no exercise, and returned in terrible shape, the time out refreshed me. When the time comes for a repayment, it won’t be there if you don’t put in the work now.”Yes, but one session? “No, because if you miss one session, then why not miss another one? It’s easier to get a routine, and it makes life easier if you stick to training hard every day.”Thus speaks the man who has hated the training aspect of his trade for many a year now, and vowed, moments after winning his fourth gold medal with Pinsent at Atlanta, that he would never be seen in a boat again. Can’t they afford to take it a little easier occasionally, especially with the Games two and a half years away?Redgrave shakes his head “Today is always the most important day,” he says “You can never get it back What you do today is money in the bank If you don’t do it, then it’s a day’s loss of earnings. It’s still the only race that really matters to us, and if I’m motivated to win my fifth, then James and Tim are even more motivated, because they haven’t got a gold medal yet.”Which is why, on this cold, November morning, the four of them are pushing their bodies to the limit. Everything we do, even if it is winning world titles, is nothing more than a stepping stone for Sydney We’d trade everything to win the big one at the Olympics.

To others the Games may seem a long way away, but not to Redgrave “Doesn’t seem too long to me at all,” he insists “Believe me, the time will fly It always does. And in this country the opposition’s so good that we’ve always had to show world-class form. It’s always been a big enough problem for me having to beat the others from Britain in April, when the assessment is carried out, let alone trying to win at the Olympics.”As he speaks of the Olympics his eyes light up. “In fact, the most likely one to be in the four was James, followed by Matthew, then me, and then Tim.”We’ve always had to prove ourselves each year, regardless of what we’ve achieved. We were all thrown into the melting pot, and it was never a case of who would be joining us.”So there was even a chance, after all the hype concerning Redgrave and Pinsent changing from a pair to a fours, that the two might not even have made the British fours crew? “Absolutely right,” Redgrave replies, jabbing the remains of a slice of toast at me to emphasise his agreement. “Don’t jump on the bandwagon that it was a case of me and Matthew choosing the other two,” he points out “Everyone had to prove themselves, including us. We haven’t faced the Australians yet, and we know that they will be up for it by the time of the Olympics, especially as they will be competing in front of a home crowd, but I think they’re more worried about us than we are of them.”Foster and Cracknell, then, seem the right choice to join the sole Atlanta gold medallists in the British team, although this is not how Redgrave sees it.

“Sure, so we set out to be world champions, but I didn’t expect to win every race, and I certainly didn’t expect us to do it all with some style Everyone knows that they’ve got to beat us. Knowing Redgrave, that really is saying something.”It’s fair to say that everything’s going better than planned at this stage,” he admits. Although Redgrave has a track record of not even letting medical adversity get in the way of his relentless pursuit for Olympic titles – his colitis hampered him for four months just before Barcelona and left him close to a critical condition – the last thing he or his crew needed was anything to go wrong now, not after the impressive start the British fours have made.Born only last April, the team of Redgrave, Pinsent, Foster and Cracknell have won every single race they have entered, including the World Championships and the World Cup, a feat that even exceeded Redgrave’s expectations. But Redgrave, so it turns out, already knew this.”I’ve had it before, you see,” he reveals. Really? When? “I had it in 1993, but nobody would have been interested in it back then. It lasted for only a short period of time, and it was a direct result of the colitis I had prior to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics It went as quickly as it came My current diabetes might well go the same way It really is in its very early stages.