Olympic legend Steve Redgrave is axed from BBC’s Paris 2024 coverage

Rowing icon Steven Redgrave will be missing from the BBC’s coverage of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The 62-year-old has been involved in some capacity since 1984, having won the first of five consecutive medals up to the year 2000.

Since retirement Redgrave has been a staple of the BBC’s punditry team, but he has now lost his place in the line-up to fellow pundit Dame Katherine Grainger who will work alongside Sir Matthew Pinsent, with the broadcaster deciding it did not need all three presenters.

“I wasn’t told that I’ve been discontinued, but it’s sort of evolved.” Redgrave told the Daily Mail. The rowing legend continued: “Matt is the presenter and Katherine Grainger is the equivalent to what I was doing. The three of us worked together at the World Championship the year after Rio, but then they went ‘Male-female’ covered on Olympic medals, why have three.”

Redgrave was at the 2020 Games as the high-performance director of China’s national rowing team. He claimed this decision ‘didn’t help matters’.

Redgrave helped China finish sixth in the Olympic medals last time out and applied to become British Rowing performance director for this summer, but missed out to Louise Kingsley, having not even made the final round of interviews.

He added: “I’m disappointed that I couldn’t give my skills to helping the team. I felt that I was in a position to be able to help with the experience of my career, and the experience of being with China, taking them from nowhere on the Olympic medal table to sixth, well ahead of the British team.

“I felt that I was the right person at the right time to do that. Obviously, the powers at British Rowing didn’t think that was the case. But saying that, the team is in very good state going into Paris.”