Matthew Pinsent and Tanni Gray Thompson
Sir Matthew Pinsent and Dame Tanni Gray Thompson are famous for their amazing sporting achievements and record breaking talents. With 15 Olympic and Paralympic gold medals between them they certainly know the value of sport and that's why they are supporting a new charity foundation that helps young people get both active and musical.Matthew having retired from rowing and Tanni leaving the track behind her they have both decided to spent their time encouraging young people take up sport by supporting the The Vodafone Group Foundation. They took time out from searching through the floods of applications already coming in to talk to Female First.Tell us a bit about the Vodafone Group Foundation?
Tanni: The foundation has already spent over £100 million over five years and what we are doing with it now over the next year is looking at sports and music. The criteria we look for with a charity that wants to apply for money is that it has to be multi-national and has to cross a number of borders. We've already had a wide range of applications so far but we are looking for more people to apply and get some money from us. Matthew: Both Tanni and I sit on the board of trustees and decide where the money goes. At the moment we have a pot of about £22 million. As Tanni said they have to be a cross-border project, exciting and have a particular emphasis on sport or music or bothWhat kind of programmes are going to be organised with this money?
T: Well we are just going through the first round of applications now and some of the things we are looking at are aids awareness, sexual health. There are also a number of football projects applying for money too so it's very wide actually. We are still looking for applications so charities have got until 20th November to apply within this first round of applications. There's lots of information on the website. What we don't want in the first instance is 100 page application. It's just kind of 4 or 5 sides just outlining the project and the differences it's going to make to young people and sustainability etc. Just to give us an idea of what people want funded and then we can explore those in more detail later on.What made you both decide to get involved in this?
M: Well both of us came from a career in elite sport and we saw the difference sport can make to us and our lives and also to the teams and individuals we operated with for that 20 years or whatever it was. And I think sport has some very basic lessons than you can teach anybody- whether you play at elite level or just your first introduction to sport. It's a very powerful tool and that's what a lot of these charities are tapping into. Seeing some of the ideas and the implications for sport in these ideas is fantastic.T: I think as well it is apart giving young people the opportunity. Matthew and I were very lucky to have the opportunity when we were young and probably took it for granted at the time really. But it's about giving young people the opportunity to try different things, to push their own barriers and to learn about themselves. That could be in a competitive environment or more of a participation environment with music. It's about people exploring their interests. It's about changing people's lives. What's exciting for me about the Vodafone Group Foundation is it's a company with shareholders and it doesn't have to put it's money into this but it genuinely wants to make a difference to young people's lives.
Do you think there is enough young sports talent for us to be serious competitors in the 2012 Olympics?
M: Yes I think there is. If you look at this summer- we've had a fantastically successful cycling team, sailing team, rowing team and even track and field hasn't done too bad.
T: (laughs) Yes it's been ok.
M: As much as Tanni and I would love to think we were propping up the team when we were on it and now there's no chance they will win any medals- the reality is there are plenty of people coming through. I think the public is going to see a fantastic games in 2012 and plenty of people on the podium and hopefully in the middle of it.
In this country we tend to have a big focus on football, especially money wise. Do you think this means other sports can get neglected?
T: I think football is such a powerful sport all around the world. You only have to look at pictures around the world, in Africa and other countries where football is the life blood of the community. I've seen pictures of kids in South Africa who don't have access to a football so they have stuffed jumpers into a condom. The great thing about the foundation is that it supports a wide range of programmes and uses all the benefits of football in other projects.
Tanni why did you decide to retire this year?
T: I was getting old and it hurt too much. My shoulders were starting to fall apart and I think I kind of decided I'd done enough and finally felt it was ok to go off and do other things- like this. When I was competing I wouldn't have had time to do things like this. I was very fortunate in my career, I had a huge amount of support and a great time doing it but I can also see the benefits of sport for young people and it's great to be able to put something back into that. It's also very exciting being able to spend other people's money.
It's nice to be able to carry on promoting sport and helping young people. I'm very keen that we encourage young women from all different communities to get involved in sport and give them the opportunity to do that.
You are also a patron of the British Disabled Flying Association. Are you a fan of flying then?
T: I like being flown round by other people at the moment (laughs) I haven't had time to get my pilots license yet although I keep having a bit of a half-hearted attempt at it. Maybe one day I will have the time to do it. I've got lots of friends that fly and that's pretty good fun.
Matthew, You are only the 5th person to win 4 consecutive gold medals. How does that feel?
M: It's difficult to describe really. If I could put it into one sentence it really wouldn't do it justice. Even winning on Olympic gold medal is life changing so I was lucky enough to go to 4 games and win them and life will never be the same again and I'm really glad about that.
Have you ever been tempted to get back in the boat and beat Steve Redgrave's record of 6 medals?
M: That would mean if I would have had to go on for another 8 more years and I feel I have been retired a long time and it's only been 3 and a bit years. If you're training every day, twice a day, and putting yourself and your body and your family through that it takes quite a toll so like Tanni said- when I retired I was pretty sure that was it and I wasn't going to go back.
How did you get into rowing in the first place?
M: : I was given a choice at school of playing cricket or going rowing and I was crap at cricket.
I recently read that you have the largest lung capacity recorded in the UK until you were beaten by Peter Reed. Is this true?
M: (laughs) No it's not lung capacity. It's a bit technical actually. Its VO2- it's the volume of oxygen that your body can get into your bloodstream that I was particularly good at. But i was a rower and we always tend to be at the top end because we are big people and when we are training those numbers are always quite big for us.
Do either of you have any advice for anyone aspiring to follow in your footsteps?
M: You've got to find something that you are going to enjoy. Never do it for any reason other than the enjoyment of it. Always back yourself and always believe that you can do it. Never doubt your own motivation and your own ability.
T: I would say the same. You've got to enjoy it because if you want to be the best you've got to spend an awful lot of your time doing it. I trained 2 times a day, 6 days a week, 50 weeks of the year so you have to love it. Always train hard and be honest with yourself about how hard you're really training. It's easy to lie to yourself and other people so honesty is really important.
The Vodafone Group Foundation is a UK registered Charity established by Vodafone Group Plc in 2002. It currently receives £25million per annum from the Vodafone Group Plc Board which it distributes between projects globally and a network of 22 Vodafone Foundations and social investment projects established by the operating companies. Vodafone is committed to making a difference in the communities in which it operates.
Vodafone recognises that sport and music are vital tools for development for some of the most marginalised and disadvantaged groups in communities around the globe.
In addition, the passion that sport and music creates is evident from the interests Vodafone employees across the globe. Vodafone has a predominantly young workforce and the contribution which sport and music make to peoples lives is part of Vodafone's shared and common understanding.
Caz Moss- Female First
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