TEARFUL and quivering, his face contorted with emotion, Matthew Pinsent proved once again on Saturday that while tough men rarely cry, Olympic gold medallists can do little to stem their emotions.
Pinsent’s copious tears, which were shed after the photo-finish showed that he had won gold, were seen by 4.7 million viewers on Saturday morning. The Olympian now joins the ranks of the cox Garry Herbert, the Wimbledon winner Roger Federer and the golfer Nick Faldo, whose precision on the pitch but lack of emotional control off it have remained in the memory of millions.
This contrasts with their female counterparts who have been models of decorum on the victors’ podium, tending only to break down and cry as a result of disappointment and despair. For Pinsent it was the closest of races, with Team GB and the Canadian boat crossing the line at virtually the same time. This left Pinsent, his crew and hundreds of fans in agonising uncertainty.
Moments later a photo- finish picture revealed that Pinsent had won by just eight hundredths of a second, the blink of an eye. Relief and joy overcame the oarsman and he broke down in tears as he sat exhausted in the boat, with the dejected Canadians taking silver and the Italians bronze.
In the minutes that followed Pinsent, normally the most gregarious of people, left all the talking to his teammates as he struggled to keep his emotions in check during interviews with the media.
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By the time of the medal ceremony, he could not even lift his head to acknowledge the applause, proving once again that there is nothing like sport to get men blubbing, and nothing like blubbing to turn sportsmen into heroes.
But he will be shedding few tears over the riches that will accompany his fourth gold medal, expected to be between £250,000 and £500,000 a year in potential sponsorship. He is currently thought to be worth about £100,000 a year. Pinsent has been sponsored by Camelot for the past four years. In 1999, he shared a four-year sponsorship package with fellow rower Sir Steven Redgrave believed to have been worth £1 million, of which it is understood Redgrave got two thirds.
A sponsorship expert said: “What Pinsent has that Redgrave does not is that he is absolutely perfect for the big business market. The corporate stuff is worth a fortune. Someone like Pinsent is as good as you get. He went to Eton and Oxford and he is articulate and engaging. He could easily earn around £500,000 a year.”
It is understood that Pinsent was paid £20,000 for a two-day seminar recently. Even the tears will have helped: his lachrimose performance during the handing out of the medals make him both more memorable and more human, meaning he will carry an even bigger premium, according to experts.
No one will have recognised Pinsent’s emotions more than Garry Herbert, whose face contorted as he received his coxed-pairs gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. He even struggled to hold back the tears again on Saturday as he was commentating on Pinsent’s win. Among other tearful men at this year’s Olympics was Bradley Wiggins, the Briton who cried after winning the cycling yesterday. Swimming is also notorious for tearful finishes.
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At last year’s Wimbledon final Roger Federer sobbed and stole a million hearts. Alex “Hurricane” Higgins, who ended up in a flood of saltwater after winning the World Snooker Championship.
But history too shows that if the men break down when they win, the women cry when they lose. Paula Radcliffe proved this yesterday, when she broke down in tears 6km before the end of the women’s marathon as her chances of victory came to an end. Last week in Athens, Azerbaijan’s Elena Jemayeva, the world champion in 1999 and 2000, flung down her mask and slumped to the floor in tears when she missed out on women’s sabres last week.
The tennis-player Jana Novotna memorably sobbed on the shoulders of the Duchess of Kent after losing a Wimbledon singles final, and the runner Mary Decker was in tears as she was lying injured beside the track in the 3,000 metres final at the 1984 Olympics.