Sir Steve Redgrave won five Olympic golds but that has not stopped him looking enviously at the Team GB athletes who have reaped the rewards of National Lottery funding.

Redgrave called time on an illustrious career with gold at Sydney 2000 just after National Lottery funding started to transform the sporting landscape in Britain.

No one supports Olympic and Paralympic athletes more than National Lottery players and Redgrave regrets that he didn't have the chance to benefit from their game-changing support.

“There's no question that I wish I had benefited from National Lottery funding,” he said.

“In rowing and British sport, we were going through a bit of a struggle as amateur sports through the 1970s and 1980s, trying to compete with the Americans and the Eastern Bloc countries, especially in rowing with East Germany.

“The crews I was involved in gave us a really good structure so when The National Lottery came on board, it was for structural improvements for sports facilities.

“But it wasn't until Atlanta, where we won just one medal, that the government at the time and John Major (Prime Minister) decided that sport needed a helping hand.”

National Lottery funding supports elite sport – helping athletes to be the best they can be, through training camps, world-class facilities, physio, nutrition, sports psychology etc and more – and the grassroots to support local community sports clubs all over the UK.

According to Redgrave, the funding provided a shot in the arm which rapidly cut the gap to GB’s Olympic rivals.

“Before The National Lottery funding we had amateur coaches, we had professional doctors and physios, but they were doing their roles as amateurs for us,” he recalled.

“So, I remember going to Charing Cross Hospital and seeing our head of physio for a knee and she had to fit me into her schedule with other NHS patients.

“That's how it was in those days, we were trying to be professional, trying to get the best possible results, but there just wasn't the support throughout the whole system.

“The National Lottery and the grants that they give out have made a huge difference right across the board.”

In the six Olympics since National Lottery funding kicked in, GB have won 29 rowing medals compared to 12 in the six Games from 1976 to 1996.

And Redgrave feels the funding has been the key factor in unlocking Great Britain’s potential as a sporting powerhouse.

“I always felt that our country, with our sporting background, should be winning about 15 gold medals at the Games, somewhere between 15 and 20 is where we should be at an average Games,” he said.

“All the games I was involved in up until Sydney, was five golds or less.

“For almost 100 years, we were in single figures and that's for a country of our standing, country of our resource, the a country of our real sporting fans. To be at that level just isn't where we should be.  

“Now we've excelled, we’re at the top end of the table, finishing in the top five every time, not 36th as we did in Atlanta.”

Thanks to National Lottery players our Olympic athletes are supported to live their dreams and make the nation proud. With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, The National Lottery has enabled Great Britain to become a global sporting force in rowing and has provided more opportunities for people inspired by athletes like Sir Steve Redgrave to take part in the sport. For details visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk