Our Esprit Ski Brand Ambassador
Big is an understatement when it comes to Sir Matthew Pinsent’s physique as well as his international sporting achievements. Four gold medals in four Olympic games, and ten world championship medals (two of these won in the same year with each race just two hours apart), define him as one of the world’s greatest sportsmen. Even if your interest does not lie in rowing, he is truly an inspiration for anyone, no matter what their sport goals or ambitions are and as a result he was chosen to become Esprit Ski’s brand ambassador.
I meet Sir Matthew at the 2013 Ski and Snowboard Show in London where he was spending the day with us at the Esprit Ski stand.
It was the first day of the Ski and Snowboard Show and the expectations were high. There were a lot of press and important people in the ski world mingling around and the wine bars were busy. I was preparing my last questions when Sir Matthew arrived to our stand. My first impression of him was extremely friendly, down to earth and extremely tall, a real athlete and a great role model.
Sir Matthew attended Eton College, then read geography at the University of Oxford, St Catherine’s College. He started rowing at the age of 13 and when I asked him if his children are rowing he answered; “You really only start rowing at the earliest at the age of 13, so they are way too young for that”. He had brought in his Olympic Gold medals and we were all astonished about the weight and size of them. “2004 was my last Olympics and that’s the time when I took up skiing” said Matthew when I asked him how long he had been skiing. He also told me that when training for his rowing they did a lot of cross country skiing, a skill that certainly helped him when learning to ski.
Since all the gold medals and publicity, Sir Matthew now has a lovely family, wife Demetra and their 3 children Jonah, Lucas and Eve. “My wife and I had never tried the ski chalet concept before with the children and we loved it after our first chalet holiday with Esprit Ski last year in St Anton. The weather was amazing and the children loved it” said Sir Matthew. When asking him how the chalet concept worked being a bit of celebrity he laughed out loud and says: ” It was 8 families in our chalet and everyone was really respectful, we actually didn’t talk about rowing the whole week. We just had great food and wine, lots of laughter and great skiing”.
Esprit Ski is all about families and the programme that we offer is unique. Something that drew him to book with us last year. “It’s just really works as a family holiday, you get a full week as a family with the children as well as treasured alone time as a couple” .
Sir Matthew and his family will be skiing with us this winter season as well but due to the winter Olympics they have to ski at Easter, something Jonah, Lucas and Eve weren’t too impressed about due to the long wait. ” I am broadcasting for BBC in Sochi during the Winter Olympics so the skiing holiday has to wait. I will be broadcasting mountain events though so will be in the middle of all the skiing and snowboarding events, something I’m really looking forward to”. Matthew and his family will be skiing with Esprit Ski in La Rosiere in the spring and they are staying in the beautiful Chalet Belina, one of three chalet apartments that make up the Ourson chalets, all of which are staffed and run separately. The lovely self-contained suites, built to our specification, offer superb family accommodation, all with their own en suite facilities.
