Remarkable comeback of rower who never forgot the rush of winning

GREG Searle, winner of rowing medals at three Olympic Games over a period of 20 years, came to talk about the book he wrote about his journey, If Not Now, When?

The book takes us through Greg’s life from when he was a young boy, instilled with very strong family values by his parents, including a strong determination to succeed.

He was offered a place at Hampton after his brother Jonny, even though his dyslexia had made passing the exam difficult. It was here Greg first encountered rowing and where he won his first pot at Thames Ditton Regatta in 1986.

When Greg won at Henley Royal Regatta he said that deep satisfaction of crossing the line first seeped into his soul and that this feeling has never left him. In 1992, Greg and Jonny raced the coxed pair at the Olympics in Banyoles with Garry Herbert as their cox. Having trailed most of the way, they came through to win right at the end.

The video of the race was shown at the talk and watching it never gets old. “It is an amazing achievement,” said Greg, adding that he and his brother “didn’t need to take the time and effort to be nice to each other” and that this created a trust and openness beyond anything he had known.

In 1996, Greg rowed in the coxless four at the Atlanta Olympics and won a bronze medal. Afterwards he chose to train and race in the single scull, which gave him room to start his professional career and time to spend with Jenny, his now wife. She attended the talk and was able to tell us about Greg’s initial courting efforts and how her mother had seen Greg on the television and told her that she “ought to meet a nicer rower like that boy”, not knowing that she would be talking about her daughter’s future husband.

In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Greg rowed in the coxless pair with Ed Coode and was pipped into fourth place on the line. At that time, he stopped rowing and concentrated on his career. He sailed in the America’s Cup as a grinder and participated in Superstars on television.

By 2009, he had turned to commentating but he felt that this never completely captured his imagination and he felt like a bit of a “hanger-on” when it came to the rowing squad. This led him to question whether he should make a comeback. Greg, who would be 40 years old at the 2012 London Olympics, took up a three-year programme to return.

He began by winning the all-comers trials feeling a “deep satisfaction” that whatever magic he’d once possessed was still there. He trained while keeping his head down, battled with injury but on the day of the race felt that he was ready.

We got the ins and outs from Jenny about what it was like to support him on the day of the Olympics and how emotional it was for their whole family to go through it. Winning another bronze medal, almost 20 years to the day after winning his gold medal in the coxed pair, was a very special achievement indeed.

Since then Greg has been working as a performance business coach and has still been involved in rowing. He was elected as a steward of the royal regatta and recently became a British Rowing umpire.

The book concludes with a post-Olympics list drawn up by his daughter and Greg told the audience at the talk that yes, they had got a dog (a bronze-coloured ridgeback), they had been on a touring holiday in America and that he had played sport with his children more often than when he was a rower.

Greg and Jenny’s dream of going on a hot-air balloon trip together is still to be realised and those in the room suggested that they should organise this now.

The second talk of Series 3 in the Leander Library Rowing Book talks is on Thursday, November 14. Sandy Nairne and Peter Williams will talk about their book Titan of the Thames: The Life of Lord Desborough. To buy tickets, visit www.eventbrite
.co.uk/e/book-talk-titan-of-the-thames-the-life-of-lord-desborough-tickets-789006197777

• The Leander Library Rowing Book talks are held in aid of the Leander Trust, a charity which advances the lives of young people through rowing.

At the start of the talk, Irene Hewlett, librarian at Leander, spoke of a grant awarded by the trust to the girls’ programme at Hinksey Sculling School.

At a training session she asked the girls what it was they did not have but the boys did. Their answer was heavy weights so the trust bought a set, which were paid for by the book talks and contributions made by those attending.