Steve Redgrave

Holmes retired after the Seoul Games; Redgrave teamed with Matthew Pinsent, an Oxford-educated vicar's son, in 1990. "The two shared nothing but a love of rowing, yet that was enough to make them inseparable," Brian Cazeneuve wrote in Sports Illustrated. "When fans would ask Redgrave, who is dyslexic, to write a special inscription with his autograph, he sometimes called on Pinsent to watch over him so he wouldn't reverse the letters." The pair was relentless on the water, going undefeated for five years and winning gold medals in coxless pairs in four World Championships and the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

The 1996 Games in Atlanta offered Redgrave a shot at his fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal and a place in the history books. Danish sailor Paul Elvstrom had won gold medals at four consecutive Olympic games from 1948 to 1960 and Americans Al Oerter (1956-1968) and Carl Lewis (1984-1996) matched that mark in track and field. The Hungarian fencer Aladar Gerevich leads all athletes with six golds in consecutive games between 1932 and 1960 (no games were held in 1940 or 1944.) Redgrave downplayed the distinction of joining this elite group as he headed into the 1996 games. "I row to do my very best," he told Pucin, "and it is silly to think about pressure. There isn't a lot of hype in this sport. It is filled with good people who are never arrogant, and so the people who win will have done their best. That's what's important. If I win another gold, that is wonderful. If not, then that is too bad, but that's all."