AIN’T LIFE G TV hosts back in choppy waters
bout A TV bust-up between rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave and presenter John Inverdale has flared up again.
Yesterday five-time gold medallist Redgrave, 54, rollocked Inverdale for trying to interview a Kiwi single sculls champion before New Zealand TV.
Social media backed the intervention and accused Inverdale, 58, of “lacking class”. Rowing legend Matthew Pinsent said: “Nice to see Sir Steve Redgrave schooling John Inverdale on post-race interview etiquette on live TV.”
On Thursday, Redgrave walked off after Inverdale compared him to mute James Bond villain Oddjob for his apparent lack of conversation on air.
He hit back, adding: “We’ll have to call you Jaws because I can never get a word in edgeways.”
Their spat has also seen Inverdale joke on air about Redgrave having the strength to hold an umbrella and the rower responding by shaking off rainwater all over his co-presenter. TOWERING hero Paul Bennett led the men’s EIGHT to victory in the rowing yesterday – clinching our EIGHTH gold of Rio 2016 on day EIGHT.
And less than an hour earlier, the women’s team snatched silver in the same event at the city’s Lagoa Stadium as the day billed as Super Saturday got off to a sterling start.
The gongs put Team GB third out of 206 nations in the medal table, behind the USA and China – with eight gold, 10 silver and six bronze.
And London 2012 superstars Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford were hoping to swell the tally early today.
The race is now on to beat our alltime record from London 2012 – 65 medals including 29 golds – or our Beijing haul, which at 47 gongs with 19 golds was our best “away” Games.
Rower Paul, who is 6ft 9in, led the men’s eight home 1.33 seconds ahead of Germany, in five minutes 29.63 seconds. Jubilant cox Phelan Hill, who is 5ft 7in, leapt into the air as they sailed across the finishing line. And it was the third title for Andrew Hodge, 37, and Pete Reed, 34, after twice winning the men’s fours.
Rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave described the team – also featuring Scott Durant, Tom Ransley, Matt Gotrel, Matt Langridge and Will Satch – as the best he had seen in the event.
The crew were embraced by coach Christian Felke, who joked: “I am not sure of Paul’s exact height but giving him a hug is difficult.”
Paul, 27, who actually stands at 7ft in his training shoes, said: “It is an incredible feeling crossing that line.
Bizarre
“Beforehand, you have so many things going through your mind, it is bizarre, you are looking for people you know in the crowd, people who have been there for you. You worry about things that have gone wrong, think about everything you have missed, the birthdays and everything. I want to thank everyone who has been supporting me through the years.”
Phelan, 37, added: “They were absolute gladiators. That was the angriest, the fiercest, ruthless, we gave absolutely everything. It was very, very aggressive. It was a fist fight.”
Earlier, the women just snatched silver from Romania with a late surge while the US won.
Katie Greves, Melanie Wilson, Frances Houghton, Polly Swann, Jessica Eddie, Olivia Carnegie-Brown, Karen Bennett, Zoe Lee and cox Zoe de Toledo crossed the line in six minutes 3.98 seconds – 0.12 seconds ahead of the bronze medallists.
Rowing team manager Sir David Tanner said his crews, who are top of the medal table in their sport, were inspired by Team GB’s achievements. He said: “We are now among the top nations overall. It is great watching the other sports do so well.”
Sir Steve, five-times Olympic rowing champion, added: “It is all about the Gold medals for me. Team GB has quite rightly set a target and while we may not beat the 29 of London, I think we can beat the 19 of Beijing. That is a huge success. In terms of golds, anything more would be amazing.”
Another highlight in Rio yesterday was superstar sprinter Usain Bolt mak-