Let’s be frank here, there’s not much Greg Rutherford hasn’t conquered. From a home Olympics to Celebrity Masterchef, the 34-year-old has just about done the lot, both in and out of sport.
But, it’s not enough. Rutherford who was, so he says, happily retired following the conclusion of his golden long jump career in 2018, is striving for one last shot at reaching the summit.
Well, not the summit quite literally. His fiancée Susie, who gave birth to the couple’s third child last month, vetoed Everest. Instead, he looked elsewhere.
Greg Rutherford has come out of retirement in an attempt to win gold at the Winter Olympics
The 34-year-old is striving to go from retired long jump champion to success in bobsleigh
The competition? Winter Olympics. The sport? Bobsleigh. The aim? Gold.
Barking mad? Quite possibly.
Rutherford thinks differently though: ‘I definitely believe I can make it – I’ve thought this through. I genuinely believe the talent we can put in that sled can come away with a gold medal.
‘To win an Olympic title 10 months after announcing I’m doing it, that would be the most impressive sporting achievement in my life – and probably a lot of people’s lives.
‘It’s not very often someone goes from retirement to trying to win Olympic gold in such a short amount of the time. But I think the team is talented enough to do it and I’m relishing every moment of trying to get there.
‘I’m 34 and I’ll be 35 by the time of Beijing. The shortest answer to give is… why not give it a go?!’
That may be, but an unparalleled ambition to be the best is one thing. Perfecting a skill, making the team and being the best on the planet is quite another.
So, what triggered this? In short, lockdown.
With plans – like all of us – for 2020 out the window due to the pandemic, Rutherford started training again. That, and conversations with Canadian bobsleigh champion and good friend Kallie Humphries, who had been ‘badgering him to do it since 2014.’
But here’s the catch: Rutherford has never been in a bobsleigh. Though he’s been secretly training for months, he is yet to feel the ice beneath his feet. As irrepressible as his focus is towards the end-goal next February, he is under no illusions about just how difficult the task will be.
Rutherford was urged to get involved in the sport by Canadian gold medalist Kallie Humphries
‘It’s all guns blazing but equally I have to be smart,’ Rutherford explains, ahead of a training programme which will take him to the United States and across Europe.
‘In my view, the bobsleigh is a very easy cross-over from a speed-power event like the long jump. In terms of a sport switch, it’s one of those which makes sense. I’ve got a lot to learn and I’m not trying to claim I’m in the team already and off to the Olympics.
‘But I’m fully convinced I’ll be able to do it… I’m not going go into anything half-a***d. It’s nine months effectively where I will push my body hard – and then retire again!’
It’s quite the near-insurmountable challenge. Yet fortunately, Rutherford has previous in that category.
From September 2015 to June 2016, he was the first British long jumper in history to hold every outdoor title. He is the British record holder – both outdoors and indoors – and was one-third of a trio which formed one of the most memorable days in the history of British sport.
Everyone knows where they were on Saturday August 4, 2012. Rutherford, Ennis and Farah – three GB golds in under an hour.
Rutherford won the men’s long jump title on that memorable Super Saturday at London 2012
‘Nothing will ever beat a home Olympics. Nothing will ever eclipse that,’ he admits.
‘But I love trying things that people don’t think is possible – the idea of doing something in sport which no one has ever done.
‘Also, I’ve had a lot of experience of what it takes to succeed and I can bring that to the team too.
‘I’m the only one who’s an Olympic champion and I think that mindset can be useful for others as well. I’ve been retired long enough – it’s time to go from nothing to something again.’
By doing something in sport which no one has ever done, he means winning gold at both a summer and winter Games. He’s not strictly right. Eddie Egan of the USA did just that, back in 1920 and 1932 in boxing and bobsleigh respectively.
But Egan is the only one. Indeed, Rutherford would be the first European – and the first person in close to a century.
Say maybe, just maybe, it is achievable after all – it’s still not as though Rutherford hasn’t got other things to focus on.
A family of five, with daughter Daphne a new arrival at the beginning of April. He is working for Eurosport in Tokyo this summer, sampling an Olympics from the outside instead of the inside for the first time.
Rutherford with fiancée Susie Verrill (left) and their third child Daphne (right)
Rutherford is part of the Get Britain Energy Fit For The Future campaign
And he’s an avid follower of Manchester United, with his musings on match-after-match readily available on his Twitter feed, where his 240,000 followers can also track his day-to-day work in the gym and various sponsorship commitments.
One wonders then how Susie reacted when Greg mooted such an audacious return to professional sport?
‘She rolled her eyes! She was like “for crying out loud!” But she knows what I’m like as a person.
‘I’m incredibly driven and strong-willed. This is a conscious effort to get my body back to a level I need to perform. It’s genuine excitement, I cannot wait to go to the ice for the first time. I’m a thrill-seeker, anyway.’
Yet the battle won’t just be with himself. GB Bobsleigh is no longer funded by UK Sport and in Rutherford’s blunt and forthright way, he says: ‘A new sled is needed for a medal – the technology of the British team is well behind.
‘We need to be on a level-playing field to the Germans, Americans and Swiss.
Rutherford has his eyes set on the Olympics once again – but this time it’s the Winter Games
‘But then it comes down to physical capabilities. And I’ll be honest with you. The four-man we can put out can be one of the most physically gifted bobsleigh teams ever…’
As is quite evident, a lot of cards need to fall the right way up from now until Beijing. But, should the funds be raised and a new sled be bought, with the current one used way back in the 2006 Winter Games, Rutherford will have no excuses.
And that’s just the way he likes it. Quite simply, it’s all or nothing. The high-road or the end-road.
Strap yourselves in. And enjoy the ride.
Greg Rutherford is part of the Get Britain Energy Fit For The Future campaign, encouraging everyone to do their bit to help modernise our outdated energy system by getting a smart meter – paving the way for smarter homes and more integration of renewables.
More at: https://www.smartenergygb.org/energy-fit-for-the-future