26 April 2017

Five more British rowers have been honoured by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for their services to rowing by winning gold in the men’s eights at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Recognised at yesterday’s ceremony, when the awards were handed out by Princess Royal, were Paul Bennett, Scott Durant, Matthew Gotrel and cox Phelan Hill, who were all made MBEs, while another member of the crew, Pete Reed, Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, received an OBE.

In a statement after the ceremony, Reed, who is a two-time Oxford Blue, three-time Olympic champion and has five World titles under his belt, said: ‘It’s an honour beyond anything. Crossing the finish line in Rio was my job, it was a relief and it was exciting, it was the happiest time of my life really with the greatest men to do it with and a very special time, but that’s not the honour – this is the honour.’

Reed intends to carry on to the Tokyo Games in 2020, but right now he is without a crew, as his crew mates have hung up their oars. At the age of 35 and a heap of medals, many would retire, but not Reed.

Why not?

In an article by Rachel Qarrell in the Daily Telegraph on 4 January, Reed said: ‘I like training, I love the sport. Now because I’m hungry to train, I just want to be back.’

Reed’s decision to continue made Jürgen Gröbler, head coach for the GB Team, very happy. In Qarrell’s article Gröbler made a comment: ‘I always say nobody’s too old and nobody’s too young. Especially in endurance sport. But still, it’s a big challenge. He’s a very good model for dedication. He does it for the right reasons, nobody earns mega-money from rowing. Nobody can predict what will happen, but let’s see.’