London 2012 Olympics: Team GB men's lightweight four win silver but voice ... - Telegraph.co.uk

Matt Smith, executive director of FISA, the international rowing federation, supported the British sense of grievance about yesterday's racing when he said: "I wouldn't say those races were perfectly fair. During the final of the lightweight four, the cross-headwind changed to cross-tailwind. The wind jumped up. We seriously discussed reallocating lanes. We were faced with a very difficult decision, but we decided not to change anything."

Williams, who at 27 has just completed his doctorate at University College London, reflected: "It was pretty gnarly out there. We didn't have a bad start, but we didn't get off as quickly as we might have hoped. It was decided that the lane order would be kept, and that's what we had to go with. We have all thrown up after that race. We put everything we possibly could into it."

The sprint finish was one of spectacular, lung-bursting intensity. While originally it seemed as if world champions Denmark would stave off the British surge, the South African crew ended up making the jump on both of them. The British crew looked wretched in the aftermath and all four were physically sick after their superhuman effort.

"Whatever medal we won was going to be hard to celebrate," Richard Chambers, Peter's younger brother, conceded. "We were in absolute agony. We just had to get over that initial soreness. Really, we're on Cloud Nine. We have just won an Olympic silver medal at a home Olympics and it's going to take a while to sink in."

Stroke man Chris Bartley, 28, said: "I don't remember much about the last 250 metres, to be honest. We were so determined to come away with a medal and be on the podium that we would do literally anything we could to get there.

"The pain is so extreme. It took me a little while to compose myself. I was sick quite a few times and I'm still not feeling tip-top. There is nothing really to compare until you have tried it."

Despite the initially muted celebrations among the four, one sensed it would not be long before the party in the Chambers' brothers native Coleraine, County Londonderry, started in earnest. They had given everything in their powers, and barely half a length separated the first four crews in a frantic denouement.

The British paid, ultimately, for that sluggish start, as they lost ground in the first quarter. Into a slight headwind, Denmark and world champions Australia flew off the starting line with a high stroke rate. The result of this lightweight four was highly difficult to predict, but the Danes' dominance was proving hard to break.

"That was brutal," reflected the junior Chambers, who with his three crew-mates had made the most valiant attempt to seize Britain's second gold of this Olympic regatta. "It was a cracking effort, but we struggled at the beginning to keep pace with our rivals."

After the first 1,000 metres they still appeared relaxed, knowing that they could still rely on their formidable late turn of speed. The sprint finish materialised, but the South Africans' boat speed was just marginally quicker to deny Britain another gold 24 hours after Helen Glover and Heather Stanning's gold medal in the women's pair.

Despite the satisfaction of silver, there was a tinge of unfulfilled potential after this lightweight four had rowed themselves into gold-medal contention.

Their victory in this year's World Cup event in Munich had been described by David Tanner, British Rowing's performance director, as "sensational".

Ultimately, they could not replicate such an unexpected success at Olympic level. Richard Chambers, though, was still staggered by the scale of support the lightweights received yesterday: "It's amazing that there are 25,000 people supporting four midgets in a boat."

After the first 1,000m they still appeared relaxed, knowing that they could still rely on their formidable late turn of speed. The sprint finish materialised, but the South Africans' boat speed was just marginally quicker to deny Britain another gold 24 hours after Helen Glover and Heather Stanning's gold medal in the women's pair.

Despite the satisfaction of silver, there was a tinge of disappointment after this lightweight four had rowed themselves into gold-medal contention.

Their victory in this year's World Cup event in Munich had been described by David Tanner, British Rowing's performance director, as "sensational". Ultimately, they could not replicate such an unexpected success at Olympic level. Sir Steve Redgrave acknowledged: "I'm not sure if our guys will be celebrating too much."