Under the microscope
Olympic rowing gold medallist James Cracknell, 47, answers our health quiz
CAN YOU RUN UP THE STAIRS? I REFUSE to take a lift for less than six floors on principle. When I was rowing competitively, I would train for six hours every day, but now it’s just an hour’s running as I’m training for this year’s London Marathon.
GET YOUR FIVE A DAY? YES. I stick to the maxim that it’s OK to eat more of anything growing above the ground without putting on weight. Anything below ground is more carbohydrate-heavy.
EVER DIETED? MY WEIGHT hasn’t wavered much. I’m 6 ft 4 in and when I won my first Olympic gold I was about 14 st 9 lb. I’m about 14 st 1 lb now, but I’m doing loads of weight training for the marathon.
ANY VICES? BEER and nachos on a summer’s day. ANY FAMILY AILMENTS? MY DAD has type 2 diabetes. I’ve consumed a lot of sugar in my life, so I think it’s a route I’ll be heading down. My mum is as hard as bullets, though. When I was 14 I had a stomach ache and asked for the day off school. She said: ‘No, you’re fine.’ I was in such pain I got a detention for lying on my desk. I had my appendix out that night.
WORST INJURY? MY CYCLING accident in Arizona in 2010. A wing mirror hit the back of my head and damaged the parts of my brain that control high-level thinking — organisation, planning, motivation, empathy and confidence. Apparently 80 per cent of people with a brain injury get divorced because it changes your personality [he and wife Beverley are divorcing].
POP ANY PILLS? VITAMIN D tablets and glucosamine for old man’s joints.
HAD ANYTHING REMOVED? APART from my appendix, my teeth. When I rowed across the Atlantic in 2005 and lost 3 st, my teeth started falling out. I’ve had two of them capped and I’ve got two implants.
EVER HAVE PLASTIC SURGERY? I’VE GOT tattoos and I can see their potentially addictive nature; I think plastic surgery can be like this, so I’m steering clear.
COPE WELL WITH PAIN? YES, but not MRI scans because of claustrophobia.
EVER BEEN DEPRESSED? AFTER the accident I was mucking about with my children and thinking: ‘I really should be enjoying this.’ But I felt numb. Cognitive behavioural therapy and antidepressants have gradually improved things.
HANGOVER CURE? I PURGE myself on a rowing machine. WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT? I WORRY during the day, but at night I’m out cold.
LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER? NOT after seeing those pictures of Kirk Douglas before he died.
James CraCknell is running the Virgin money london marathon on april 26.