London 2012 Olympics: Lightweight men snatch rowing silver

THE British lightweight men’s four won a silver medal in a sprint for the line yesterday, but their achievement in blustery conditions immediately sparked controversy at Eton ­Dorney.

Brothers Richard and Peter Chambers, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley were frustrated that world governing body FISA did not take the cross-wind into account and alter the racing lane order.

As a semi-final winner, Britain raced in lane three but the direction of the wind meant lanes five and six had the better conditions. Williams said after the race that the “gnarly” conditions over the opening 1,000 metres affected their performance.

An emotional Peter Chambers said after the race that FISA should be “ashamed” of not acting, while former Olympic champion Martin Cross accused the body of being “disrespectful” to the athletes.

In a race where the top three crews – South Africa, Britain and Denmark – were separated by three tenths of a second, the conditions could have made all the difference. Britain were anxious not to sound churlish and their pride in winning a silver medal was genuine – but it was slow-burning, given their immediate post-race emotion.

“We are gutted. We’re lucky to get silver right there in those conditions, with the way the wind was,” Peter Chambers said. “FISA should be ashamed that they didn’t change that [lane order] in the finals. The result could have been different, I don’t know. But you have to take that with the sport. Next time it could be us in a better position and we will be delighted when it is us. I don’t want to take anything away from the South Africans’ victory. They are incredible sprinters.”

FISA secretary general Matt Smith said they had “seriously considered” changing the lane order and he conceded conditions were “not perfectly fair”. But the fact the conditions were not considered “blatantly unfair” led to FISA taking no action.

Britain fought their way back into the race over the middle 1,000 metres and gave everything in a final sprint for the line but South Africa, in lane five, snatched the gold by 0.25seconds with Britain in second, seven hundredths of a second ahead of Denmark.

It was Britain’s third rowing medal of the games, following the men’s eight bronze and the gold won yesterday by Helen Glover and Heather Stanning.