Sir Steve Redgrave relives past bobsleigh glories

A FIVE-time Olympic gold medallist and a rower of Herculean proportions, Sir Steve Redgrave is most definitely at home in a boat.

PAST GLORIES: More known for his exploits in a boat than a bob. Sir Steve Redgrave reveals he was on the verge of competing at 1988 Winter Olympics (Getty Images)

It may come as some surprise therefore that Sir Steve is a former British bobsleigh champion and was at one stage on the verge of competing for Great Britain at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

 Sir Steve, who topped the podium at the 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Games, is heading to Vancouver next month for the Winter Olympics, representing the British Olympic Association in an ambassadorial capacity.

Most would see Redgrave to be the proverbial duck out of water at the Winter Olympics - up the creek without a paddle - but investigation of the British records says otherwise.

In 1989 Redgrave teamed up with Tom De La Hunty to secure the national crown in Winterberg and had he not had to settle for silver in 1987, he could well have been on the plane to Calgary.

"I've got a passion for winter sports, I love my skiing and I used to do some bobsleigh - I did win the British championships back in the 80s.

"And I just missed out on going to the Calgary Olympics back when the sport was very amateurish in some ways but now sledders are fully dedicated all year round.

"And obviously I've got plenty of experience of the Olympics and the multi-sport environment and that can be difficult to cope with so if people what to talk about different issues while I'm out there I'm very happy to do that."

Redgrave is Great Britain's most decorated Olympian with five gold medals and one bronze to his name but things might have been very different had his bobsleigh career really taken off.