Greg Searle

Nickname

Mr Indestructible. (guardian.co.uk, 24 Jul 2011)

Occupation

Athlete, Consultant

Education

Southbank University, London, GBR

Family

Wife Jenny and children Josie and Adam.

Club name

Molesey Boat Club, London, GBR

Coach

Christian Felkel (britishrowing.org, 09 Feb 2012)

Sporting relatives

After retiring from rowing in 2001, he took up a position as winch grinder with the GBR Challenge team in the America's Cup Challenger Series. He's also completed the London Marathon and the London Triathlon. (bbc.co.uk, 22 Dec 2009; britishrowing.org, 09 Feb 2012)

Other sports

His older brother Jonny also represented Great Britain as a rower and won Olympic medals alongside Greg at both the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. (guardian.co.uk, 18 Aug 2011)

Debut

1990 for Great Britain, World Championships (Australia) (rowingone.com, 09 Mar 2012)

Additional information

Start of sporting career
He started rowing in 1985 at the Hampton School in Surrey. (britishrowing.org, 09 Feb 2012)

Reason for taking up this sport
He was inspired by his school teacher Martin Cross winning gold in the coxed fours at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and his older brother Jonny winning the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. (britishrowing.org, 09 Feb 2012)

Ambitions
To become Olympic champion in 2012, 20 years after first achieving the feat and to be a good role model for his children and other people.
(maximisepotential.co.uk, 24 Sep 2010; britishrowing.org, 09 Feb 2012)

Most memorable sporting achievement
Winning gold in the coxed pairs alongside his brother Jonny and cox Garry Herbert at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. "Everything was going black at the end. There is no one I would rather row with and no one I would trust more than Jonny. It's brilliant to be on the same side. We knew that we wanted it more than them [Italy]." (independent.co.uk, 09 Mar 2012)

Most influential person in career
His older brother Jonny, his former history teacher and Olympic champion rower Martin Cross and late former New Zealand coach Harry Mahon, who coached him during his days as a single sculler. (maximisepotential.co.uk, 24 Sep 2010; guardian.co.uk, 29 Oct 2010)

Superstitions / Rituals
For training and race preparation, he likes to wear an East German rowing vest that he exchanged with an opponent at the 1990 World Championships in Tasmania, Australia. "Our chief coach Jurgen Grobler was an East German. Wearing the vest is a little way of showing my appreciation." (guardian.co.uk, 29 Oct 2010)

Sporting philosophy / motto
"Make sure you empty the tank and give everything you can in a set distance or a set period of time. In the case of a rowing race over 2000m, 4x500s, each 500 is about 1:20 and each one of those is made up of about 50 strokes. So to actually make sure that each one of those 50 strokes is as perfect as it can be. You push yourself as hard as you can to make each one as perfect as you can and then build them up on top of each other. So you have basically got 200 chances to do this thing as well as you possibly can using the maximum effort that you possibly can and you get to the end of the piece and hopefully you have used up every ounce of energy that you have got in your legs, in your back, in your shoulders, in your arms, then hopefully you are in a position where you are collapsing as you take the last stroke of the race." (maximisepotential.co.uk, 24 Sep 2010)

Awards
He was conferred Member of the British Empire [MBE] in the 1993 New Year Honours List. (lane4performance.com, 09 Mar 2012)

In 1990 he became the first Great Britain rower to achieve selection for both the senior and junior World Championships in the same year. (britishrowing.org, 09 Feb 2012)

General
LONDON OLYMPIC COMEBACK
He walked away from international rowing after finishing a disappointing fourth in the pair at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, but came out of retirement in the autumn of 2009 with the 2012 London Olympic Games as his main incentive. "I competed in three Olympics then I thought it was right to retire, get a serious job, and have a family," he said. "London is an absolute once in a lifetime thing. Winning the Olympics somewhere is going to happen every four years but winning the Olympics on home soil will probably never happen again in my lifetime. So that is an incredibly motivating thing. The thought is that if it's going to happen here, I want to be a part of it." After a series of trials, in May 2010 his comeback was confirmed and he was named in Great Britain's eight for the World Cup series. He held his seat for the 2010 World Championships in New Zealand, his first appearance at the championships since 1999, and the crew went on to claim silver - his first championship medal in 12 years. (bbc.co.uk, 22 Dec 2009; maximisepotential.co.uk, 24 Sep 2010; telegraph.co.uk, 09 Mar 2012)

FROM SWEEP TO SCULL TO SWEEP
After the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games he switched from sweep to sculling for the 1997 season and won a bronze medal in the single at the 1997 World Championships. He couldn't repeat that achievement at the 1998 and 1999 championships and returned to sweep rowing in 2000, taking the stroke seat in a pair with Ed Coode in preparation for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. (britishrowing.org, rowingone.com, 09 Mar 2012)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
He is Practice Director for the Lane 4 Management Group - a company set up by 1988 Olympic breaststroke swimming champion Adrian Moorhouse - and works with senior executives to facilitate effective communication and improved performance. He specialises in the areas of performance leadership, team development and motivation, performance coaching and psychological preparation for performance. (lane4performance.com, 09 Mar 2012)

Previous Olympics

Sydney 2000, Atlanta 1996, Barcelona 1992