Oxbridge boat race: ‘One idiot enough to ruin Olympics’

He was speaking after a lone protester forced Saturday’s Boat Race to be halted for half an hour after swimming into the path of the Oxford and Cambridge boats.

Trenton Oldfield, 35, has been charged with a section five offence under the Public Order Act, which is punishable with a fine of up to £1,000. He was bailed to appear at Feltham Magistrates’ Court on 23 April.

The incident raised immediate concerns about the Olympics, where the public will line the route for the marathon, triathlon, road cycling and open water swimming.

Lord Moynihan insisted that Olympic security, which is being overseen by the Home Office, was under constant review but that it was difficult to stop individuals.

“It just takes, and is likely to be, one idiot,” he said. “It’s not likely to be a well-orchestrated campaign through Twitter or websites. It is likely to be someone similar to the idiot yesterday who causes major disruption.

“That is why all the security measures need to be put in place to minimise the chance of that happening. You can never completely remove it, but you can do everything possible to protect the interests of the athletes by minimising it. You can never get it perfect unless you remove all the crowds, and nobody is going to dream of doing anything like that.”

Boat Race organisers had been warned about potential protest swimmers ahead of last year’s event but there was no information suggesting Saturday’s race would be targeted.

David Searle, chief executive of the Boat Race Company, said: “We war-gamed this last year with the launches and the umpires and crews. We practised emergency stops. We did think it was a possibility last year.”

“We usually get good police intelligence. They can hear some chatter about what’s going on and obviously they didn’t hear anything about this.”

The incident forced a half-hour delay. There was more drama to come after the restart, with Oxford losing a blade in a fierce clash of oars.

Cambridge pulled clear to win by more than four lengths, and Oxford’s appeal was rejected after umpire John Garrett ruled the clash was their fault.

But there was no victory cere-mony after Oxford’s bowman Alexander Woods passed out in his boat after the finish line, having apparently rowed himself into a state of exhaustion.

The 27-year-old Pembroke College student, who was conscious and in a stable condition when he was taken to Charing Cross Hospital from the river bank, was discharged yesterday.

Oldfield, who said he was protesting against elitism, disrupted the race as the two crews approached the final bend.

Oxford rower William Zeng wrote on Twitter: “When I missed your head with my blade I knew only that you were a swimmer, and if you say you are a protester then, no matter what you say your cause may be, your action speaks too loudly for me to hear you. I know, with immediate emotion, exactly what you were protesting.

“You were protesting the right of 17 young men and one woman to compete fairly and honourably to demonstrate their hard work and desire in a proud tradition.

“You were protesting their right to devote years of their lives, their friendships and their souls to the fair pursuit of the joys and the hardships of sport.

“You … are a mockery of a man.”