An Olympic rowing great and a recovery from a life changing accident… Mail Sport interviews Tory candidate James Cracknell on his toughest challenge yet as he campaigns for Parliament

The former Olympic rower is now seeking to become the MP for Colchester He branded the Conservatives a 'shower of s**t' despite standing for the partyCracknell sat down with Mail Sport to outline his ambitions in the political world 

It is an Olympic summer and a double gold medallist is putting in the hard yards ahead of his date with destiny. Only this Team GB legend is not training for a medal in Paris but campaigning for a seat in Parliament – and it is the toughest contest of his career.

On the very afternoon British Rowing name their Olympic squad at Kew Gardens, Mail Sport finds one of their most famous former oarsmen, James Cracknell, outside a shopping centre in Colchester handing out flyers.

The Conservative candidate is holding a ‘street surgery’ as part of his election campaign and appears at home in his new political role, confidently answering questions from constituents on a wide range of topics, including potholes, trans rights and the NHS.

Cracknell, though, has it all to do ahead of polling day on Thursday, with Labour’s Pam Cox widely expected to beat him to the Colchester seat, despite Tory incumbent Will Quince winning here with a majority of 9,423 in 2019.

‘The Olympics were a damn sight easier,’ admits the 52-year-old, who won back-to-back Olympic golds in the coxless four at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. ‘At the Olympics, it didn’t matter whether people liked you or not. You were in absolute control of the result.

Double Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell is competing to become Colchester's MP

Mail Sport caught up with Cracknell handing out flyers at a shopping center in Colchester

The Conservative candidate faces a battle to claim the seat with Labour ’s Pam Cox widely expected to beat him

Cracknell, who won back-to-back rowing gold medals at the Olympics, admits competing at the Games was easier than attempting to secure a seat in Parliament

‘This is totally different. You are asking somebody to trust you with their one vote. They might not like the party or the way I dress or what I say. But all I can do is be honest and be the best version of myself.

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Olympian Tory candidate James Cracknell brands the party a 'shower of s**t' amid gambling row

‘If you believe the polls, you may as well give up, but that is not in my nature. When we were rowing, our attitude was that second place meant as much as last. Politics is very much like that as well - there is only one place to finish.

‘I won the Olympics in Athens by eight hundredths of a second. If we win here it’s going to be by a similar tight margin - and it’s going to be done by leaving it all out there.’

The former rower recently found himself in choppy waters when, in a candid campaign video on Facebook, he referred to his own party as a ‘shower of s***’ amid the election betting scandal.

Cracknell’s message to voters, though, is that he at least can be trusted. ‘Integrity is high in me,’ he says. ‘When I was rowing, if you tested positive, you were banned for life. Not only are you cheating, you cost your team-mates medals as well.

‘I don’t think Steve Redgrave would have looked too kindly on me if I got busted for cheating and he lost his medal.’

Cracknell’s crack at becoming an MP has been more than a decade in the making, having first got involved in politics as an anti-obesity campaigner when David Cameron was prime minister.

He then unsuccessfully stood to be an MEP in the European elections in 2014 and tried and failed to become the Tory candidate for Brentford and Isleworth in 2017. But after Quince announced last year that he would not contest the next general election, Cracknell was selected as the candidate for Colchester last September.

Cracknell told Mail Sport's David Coverdale, left, that it is not in his nature to give up despite polls suggesting he will miss out on the seat

The 52-year-old said he is hoping to be the best version of himself as he bids to convince voters

Cracknell had landed himself in choppy waters after he referred to his own party as a ‘shower of s***’ amid the election betting scandal

He admitted being more teary after members of the local Conservative Association had voted for him to be a candidate than he had when he was on the Olympic podium

‘I remember being on the podium with Redgrave in Sydney and I said, “What do we do now?”,’ begins Cracknell. ‘He said, “Drop the flowers and don’t cry”.

‘But it was so different in a small community hall in Colchester. When I found out members of the local Conservative Association had voted for me, I got more teary than I did on the podium.’

Cracknell has had messages of support from many of his former crew mates, as well as some of the current British team. So what does Redgrave make of his bid to become an MP? ‘Well, he’s yet to come knocking on doors with me in Colchester, put it that way!’ laughs Cracknell before reflecting on their rowing days together.

‘My greatest sporting moment was when our coach Jurgen Grobler sat down with me, Tim Foster, Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent and said, “This is the four”. Steve and Matt trusting their Olympic legacy with me meant more than winning. There was just an element of relief that we got the job done. His fifth gold medal slightly overshadowed my first!’

Cracknell was spurred on to go for a second gold in Athens by Grobler, who said to him at Sydney airport: ‘Anyone can win once, real champions do it again.’

He won by that tiny margin in 2004 alongside Pinsent, Steve Williams and Ed Coode, before turning his attention to more extreme endeavours, like rowing across the Atlantic with TV presenter Ben Fogle.

It was during one of his physical challenges that Cracknell’s life changed for ever. During an attempt to cycle, row, run and swim from Los Angeles to New York in 18 days in 2010, he was smashed off his bike by a petrol tanker and suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, which altered his personality.

Cracknell was part of the victorious British coxless four team at Sydney 2000 with Matthew Pinsent, left, which saw Steve Redgrave, centre, claim his fifth Olympic gold medal

Cracknell was part of the team to win gold again at Athens 2004, before turning to more extreme endeavours

In 2006, shortly after his retirement from elite rowing, Cracknell crossed the Atlantic in a two-man boat with TV presenter Ben Fogle

Cracknell split with his ex-wife Beverly Turner in 2019, left, before marrying Jordan Connell, right

In 2019, Cracknell won the Boat Race as part of the Cambridge crew at the age of 46. He was the oldest competitor to take part in the contest in its near 200-year history

‘The accident was tough, the divorce was tough, not living with your kids is tough,’ says Cracknell, who split from his wife Beverley Turner – the mother of his three children - in 2019 and is now married to Jordan Connell. ‘But it’s how you respond to a setback that defines you.

‘Having a traumatic brain injury, people’s perceptions of what I could do changed. I got sick of the feeling of other people saying, “You won’t be able to do that”.

‘So I went to Cambridge University to study human evolution and while I was there I did the Boat Race having not rowed for 15 years. I thought that if I could prove myself athletically and cognitively, no one would say, “Are you OK after the accident?”.

‘Then when I left Cambridge, I thought about how the best politics gives people the freedom to succeed. I would like to be part of a Parliament that gives people that platform.’

Cracknell, though, knows he has his work cut out to achieve his dream. Being famous, he has found, counts for little on the doorstep.

‘Knocking on people’s doors is daunting and humbling,’ he says. ‘There is a bit of name recognition, sometimes there’s facial recognition. It might mean I get a question for free, but then they are quite happy to say what they think of me and the party.

‘It is tough. Not everyone is going to like you. In a relationship, if a girlfriend is trying to end it with you, and they’ve made up their mind, no amount of trying to talk them round is going to work.

‘It is pretty much like that on a lot of doorsteps. With some, you are literally trying to save a failed relationship and you are not going to do it.

Cracknell admitted part of his decision to compete in the boat race was to prove himself athletically and cognitively to people after suffering a traumatic brain injury

The 52-year-old said knocking on people's doors has proved daunting and humbling as he seeks their vote

The Conservative candidate stressed he wants to be part of a Parliament which gives people the best platform to succeed

‘But you’ve got to put yourself out there and put your ego to one side. When you stick your head up above the parapet, you are going to get pelters.’

There are no such pelters thrown on the afternoon we meet as Cracknell is warmly received by locals young and old. How that translates to votes, though, will only be known on Friday morning.

‘It will be a huge, huge honour for the electorate to put their trust in me,’ adds Cracknell when asked what it would mean if he pulled off the greatest result of his career.

‘Redgrave’s words of “Drop the flowers and don’t cry” will massively fall on deaf ears if at some point on the morning of July 5 I get announced as having won.’