I hope you enjoyed the race! I’ve spoken to lots of people since then that have told me they were on the edge of their seats and screaming at the television, so I hope you’ve recovered from the shock and thanks for the help!

Beijing might be over, but London's on the horizon.

The days since the race have rushed by in a whirlwind. Immediately after we stepped off the medal podium the madness started and it’s barely stopped since. That night we were taken into a press conference at the Olympic Village that started at 11pm and finished about 3am.

I received personal congratulations from the 1^st Sea Lord, and then of course there was the interview with Gaby Logan where slow-mo footage of Hodgey telling me he loved me was played to ‘Je t’aime’ – I haven’t been allowed to forget that since.

I managed to catch some athletics at the Bird’s Nest (what a stadium!), some wrestling (where I felt small) and the modern pentathlon (where I saw our girl Heather Fell get a silver).

In the evenings I was able to go with my girlfriend Sally to meet friends at some fantastic Beijing venues. London House was the pick of the bunch for me – an amazing outdoor venue in the heart of Beijing set up by Boris Johnson for British people connected to the Games and 2012.

It was a real home from home and a fantastic place to start unwinding and catch up on the BBC coverage on the big screen. We also met with friends from U.S. rowing that I know from my Boat Race days at America House and saw plenty of sports coverage on the big screens at the China Club where we were kindly invited by Omega.

On the last night in the Village most of the Team GB athletes got together outside our block of flats and met properly in a much more relaxed state. We stood outside chatting, having a drink and listening to music in what looking back now seems to be the calm eye of the storm.

Towards the end of the night I struck on the idea of putting up a human pyramid with a 6-man base, using all the athlete’s different body shapes to their best advantage – heavyweight rowers and judo players on the bottom, swimmers, athletes and canoeists in the middle and gymnast Beth Tweddle on the top. One of my friends thinks it is “probably the greatest achievement of the whole two weeks”!

Flying into Heathrow on the Team GB flight on Monday with the nose cone painted gold was a unique experience. Before then, we’d all been in a bit of a Beijing bubble and it suddenly dawned on us at the same time that lots of people at home have been following us too.

It’s been fantastic hearing all the different stories of support and celebration and I feel very proud to have come home to such a great country. Can you imagine how good our home Olympics is going to be in 2012? Count me in!

Posted by: British rower, Peter Reed
Filed under: Athlete's blog •Beijing •China •Olympics •Sports

BEIJING, China - British rower Peter Reed looks a little bleary-eyed when we meet on Friday morning. Three hours sleep and the gold medal in his pocket explain the reason why.

"It's gloves off and enjoy yourself, now," he says while gently sipping water in a café around the corner for the Athlete's Village.

While there are still some athletes competing, it's clear that the atmosphere in the Athlete's Village changed from the site of professional dedication and focus to something more like a university campus at the end of term.

Since his win in the coxless fours in the rowing competition, there have been plenty of late nights for Pete and his crew to go along with all the press events and conferences.

As for GB team rules: "Just respect the other athletes who are still competing, and don't get arrested," he jokes.

The British block is next to the Brazilians and Swedes and everyone rubs along pretty well, he says while the café’s waiting staff come over for photos with Pete and his gold medal.

"The Kiwis have a whale of a time, the Aussies and Americans, too. It helps speaking the same language, but we can go out and have fun with the Chinese, speaking the international language of having fun and dancing."

It's understandable that after four years of dedicated training and self discipline, cutting loose from the strict regime leads to a heady atmosphere.

"We've got a nocturnal lifestyle now. It's so, so far away from what we do normally which is training seven days a week, in bed by 9.30 p.m., getting up at 5.30 a.m. It's a world apart but so much fun."

Sometimes too much fun. While athletes train to perform feats of physical endurance, speed and strength it seems they're not always too well prepared for a big night out.

"I came back at close to 6 a.m. a couple of nights ago and I had to step over athletes who hadn't quite made it back to the Village. They'd staggered out of the taxi but hadn’t quite able to get their accreditation out and pass through security."

He was too diplomatic to say from which country they came from, demurring to at least say they came from Asia.

As for activities in the Village: "It's an amazing place to be. It's going to sound a bit pervy, but the swimming pool in the Village is incredible, there are the most amazing bodies lounging around by the pool, it's like a music video."

A slightly freaky one, perhaps.

"There are incredible athletes from different shapes and sizes, from different nations. Guys that are nearly 8 feet tall that tower over me and girls that weigh about 35 kilos (77 pounds). It's all completely different, very nice to see and a crazy place to be."

In a place that has such a high concentration of perfect physical specimens, the Games have been renowned for the socializing between athletes to become even more intimate - 100,000 condoms were supplied to the Village at the start of the Games.

"100,000?," he laughs. "I reckon it's just the Kiwis making water bombs out of them and chucking them out the windows at the support staff. That sounds like a good night out for them."

Posted by: CNN.com's Dean Irvine, Peter Reed
Filed under: China •Olympics •Sports

I think that throughout history, every athlete at every Olympic Games will have wanted to crawl under a rock and hide until it’s all over at some point in their preparation.

Pete Reed, suited and ready.

It is difficult not to when you know how big and important one race is. Whether it is 9.7 seconds or 2.5 hours long, you know that other people who are the best in their country, at the peak of their form, are trying to take what you want most in the world; the one thing that you have been working so hard for, for more than 4 years.

These feelings are natural and so important in the last few days before I start racing. They are the sign that my body is getting ready for something special. It isn’t nerves, it’s excitement and passion. We’re ready.

I am not scared of how much it is going to hurt, or how much I have to do in training to get a Gold medal, I just want to make sure that I am as good as I can possibly be and turn every bit of that into boat speed during my 3 races.

I just had an interview with the BBC and the most difficult question to answer was ‘How are you?’. I said I’m in Olympic mode, which is a bit of a cop-out, but it is too difficult to describe the mix of excitement and apprehension. We’re all enjoying ourselves and in fine form so that has got to count for something.

This will be my last blog, because the International Olympic Committee rules state that no athlete can post during the period of the Games (unless it is on your own site or one of the official supporting companies). So, I hope you enjoy the race; I hope we enjoy the race. I hope it has all been worth it.

Posted by: British rower, Peter Reed
Filed under: Athlete's blog •Olympics

For the last 3 weeks, I have been at over 2000m above sea level in a remote location in the Austrian Alps with my coach and crew. We come here once a year in the summer to train our bodies harder than at any other point in the season. This is called a "work camp".

Pete and the crew training at high altitude in Austria.

Being so high up has a big affect on our bodies. The air is much thinner than we are used to so whenever we are out rowing or lifting weights it feels like you are having to breathe through a few drinking straws.

We have to do more than the usual training load with less oxygen to fuel our muscles, and after 3 weeks of this we become more efficient machines able to cope with higher loads back at sea level. At Beijing level.

The weather up here can turn in minutes and we have seen everything from burning hot sunshine and blue skies to snow storms, with everything in between – all in the same weekend.

This is my favourite training camp for so many reasons. I love the solitude that the team gets and the focus that we have so close to our big goal. The scenery and fresh air are more spectacular than I have ever seen and the excitement for what is now on our doorstep keeps us going through the toughest times.

The coxless four is in a good way and so are the other Olympic crews. We are really starting to shape up into a good team. Team GB.

Posted by: British rower, Peter Reed
Filed under: Athlete's blog •Olympics

The final World Cup regatta in Poland was the last opportunity for us to compare ourselves to the majority of the qualified Olympic opposition. After getting Andy and Tom back into the boat (with their injuries behind them) we knew that we had a lot to do in a short space of time.

Silver in Poznan, but no smiles.

We finished 2^nd to the Dutch crew who we have raced at nearly every international regatta for the last 4 years – it is a big step up from the 8^th place of Lucerne, but still not where I want to be and it is hard to hide the signs of disappointment after defeat.

What’s done is done. I’m just pleased to be back in the full line up again and with a monumental training load on its way in the form of an Austrian Alps altitude camp I’m sure I will have all the fire and drive I need to dig deep through session after session.

One thing is for sure, we are not at all complacent. I’m hoping this year, on the Austrian work camp, to find out new things about what I am capable of because I know this is what I have to do to win gold.

We leave the comfort of our own homes for the last time before the Olympics in just a few days and the next time we’re back will be after Beijing 2008 is all over. It is going to be an intense experience that I know I’ll never forget.

Posted by: British rower, Peter Reed
Filed under: Athlete's blog •Olympics

I am sure there is not a single sportsman in the world that enjoys losing. There are probably only a handful who don’t mind losing.

Pete and the crew put the work in to little reward in Lucerne.

For me, the toughest thing to take is the feeling that you were not good enough or you under-performed.

This disappointing and irritating feeling has stayed with me this last week since our defeat in Lucerne. At this second World Cup, we raced without our selected stroke-man (Andrew Triggs Hodge) and bow-man (Tom James).

They were both on a recovery programme with back injuries so we decided to race the coxless four as planned with 2 ‘substitutes’ onboard. I use inverted commas here because it is not right to call these guys subs: Colin Smith (at stroke) and Tom Lucy (bow seat) have so many strengths. They are both world bronze medalists from 2007 in the coxless pair and eight respectively.

Although we had found some good speed in training and raced right on the red line, we just couldn’t find enough to make the A final, missing out by just 0.2 seconds to the World Champions, New Zealand.

In the B final the next day, I have no doubt that we all put our heart and soul into the race again to prove to ourselves that we could race against the best times of the A final. We just didn’t have enough speed, efficiency and power after the flat out racing to finish the race off – ending up a disappointing 8^th overall.

Having been back in the UK for a week I am pleased to say that things are back on track with Hodge and TJ. I’m already looking forward to the next chance to set the record straight.

Posted by: British rower, Peter Reed
Filed under: Athlete's blog

It is difficult to know whether or not this year has flown by. On the one hand, the weeks and months through the tough winter training dragged on and on like never before, with the Olympic goal like a bull’s-eye target too distant to make out. On the other hand, we are now right in the middle of the World Cup season just 10 weeks before the Olympic final in August.

Peter Reed (left) with his gold-medal winning crew in Austria, June 2007.

The summer racing season is here. Each year there are three World Cup regattas in Europe where the majority of the countries enter their boats for a chance to measure themselves against the opposition and to get ready for the main event of the year. For three years out of four, this main event is the World Championships in September that marks the end of the season, but every 4^th year is the big one: The Olympic Games.

So far this season, I have pushed my personal best performances in training and won the National Trials Regatta in a pair (two-man boat) with Andrew Triggs Hodge for the 4^th year in a row. Three weeks ago the newly selected coxless four raced in Munich for the 1^st World Cup.

The last time we raced was 8 months ago at the World Championships, which coincidently shared the same venue. It wasn’t a nice feeling going back to face the course of our 4^th place defeat last year. We didn’t know how fast the opposition were, we were racing as the underdogs and we had a substitute with us.

Tom Lucy, who recently turned 20, replaced the injured, and recently selected, Tom James in the bows of the boat. Lucy was only in the crew for four training sessions before we raced the heat, which wasn’t ideal preparation, but he fitted in very well and showed class and maturity of someone a lot more experienced, racing in the lead boat for the first time. He had an equal contribution to the boat in training sessions and all three races and thoroughly deserves his first senior international gold medal.

After racing well in a tough semi-final draw (which was made up of five of the six crews from the World Championship final last year – only the World Champions, New Zealand were missing from the event), we were relaxed and confident that we could perform well in the final. Everything went to plan and we had a good lead by half way. I was just enjoying every stroke and proving something to myself once again.

Of course, we know that we were in seeded lanes and all the crews in that race will move on. The Dutch and Italians, who beat us last year, have experience and class and we are yet to race the New Zealand coxless four, so rather than getting ahead of ourselves we are carrying on with our own preparation with our full crew.

This great start now needs to be followed up on June 1, 2008 in the final of the Lucerne World Cup.

Preparation could have been smoother, with two of our crew out of the event with back injuries, but even with two substitutes, who are fantastic athletes, we are going there to win. We will need to race well with the World Champions (New Zealand) showing up for the first time.

I’m feeling very relaxed about the build up at the moment. It is important for me to stay calm as I find rowing well is less challenging with a calm head. It is also easier to concentrate on the job in hand if you are not getting worried about your own performance.

Posted by: British rower, Peter Reed
Filed under: Athlete's blog