Former Olympic rower James Cracknell OBE and his brave young son saved a pensioner and his grandson from drowning in a heroic rescue over the weekend.

The double-gold medallist and father-of-three, from Chiswick, was surfing with his 11-year-old son, Croyde, when Jim Greatorex, 67, and seven-year-old Emerson Fairclough were swept away by the tide, at around 5.30pm on Saturday (August 8).

Young Emerson was heard shouting from the water: "I'm too young to die," as Mr Cracknell, 43, swam to him and brought him back to safety, while Croyde went to the aid of grandad Greatorex and put him onto his body board and started paddling towards shore, on the North Devon beach.

The youngster's grandad had jumped in fully-clothed to save his grandson when he got carried out by the tide while paddling in the water with his brother Joshua, 10.

He thanked the sporting ace for saving their lives, before saying: "Bloody hell - it's the rower!"

The drama unfolded on the beach in Croyde, Devon, where the Cracknell's have a holiday home, in the town after which their son is named.

James’ wife Beverley Turner watched the rescue from the beach where she had been relaxing with the couple’s daughters Kiki, six, and Trixie, four.

Beverley, who dubbed her husband and son the "crackers A team", told the Mirror: “Croyde just shouted to James: ‘Dad, dad, there’s a boy drowning’, and the lad was going under and was in a bad way at that point.

“James swam over to the boy while Croyde went to the older man and told him to hold onto his board.

“He helped him get onto his board and kicked and dragged him back to the shore with James helping him towards the end.

“The man was still fully-clothed and had trainers on so would have weighed quite a bit.

“They must have been around 70m away from the beach - they were quite a way out.

“I’m so proud of them both. James is a very strong swimmer and Croyde was very mature.”

The rescued grandad and grandson were believed to have arrived just hours before the incident, for a week-long family holiday at a local campsite. The family were shaken up but thankfully safe and sound.

A rescue helicopter and coastguard were told to stand down after the pair had been pulled out of the water.