ROWING: When they chose to man-make the Olympic rowing centre at Schinias, north of Athens, they must have had the Irish in mind. There's always a strong breeze coming in off the coast and like yesterday morning, the surrounding mountains frequently create rain clouds. Ian O'Riordan reports from Athensin Athens

Without the Greek heat it could have been Blessington lakes.

Just the conditions, then, which the two Irish crews had wanted. Sam Lynch and Gearóid Towey took full advantage when winning their heat in the lightweight double sculls, although the lightweight fours seemed to give the Australians the advantage to win their heat.

Still second place also ensures a lane in Thursday's semi-finals, from which the top three there go through to the finals on Sunday.

The weather at Schinias is so changeable the latest forecast has resulted in the cancellation of today's rowing, which will now be combined with tomorrow's schedule. The crews know the conditions are going to play a role in deciding the medal winners.

While Lynch and Towey rowed the conditions perfectly, the lightweight fours felt they'd been caught a little off guard. They'd come home just 2.30 seconds down on the Australians, who won in five minutes 50.24 seconds, but were more frustrated than satisfied.

"Well, we don't like to be beaten," said Tralee's Paul Griffin. "But it's very quick out there with the wind. So we'll just have to sit down and plan for the semi-final, and see what we can learn from this."

Niall O'Toole, the veteran of the foursome at 34, agreed the wind was a real factor: "It was one move the Australians made at about 1,000 metres, and because the conditions are so quick it amplifies any move, and so they just cleaned us in about 10 strokes.

"So we'll have to find some way to answer that. But then with three boats going through I think everyone wanted to stamp their authority a little bit.

"So it's definitely first blood for the Aussies. But we haven't raced in about nine weeks, and were a bit raw. So that's been a real pipe opener. I think we'll be more polished next time."

Eugene Coakley, the 25-year-old from Cork, believes they can better utilise the wind next time out. "Sure we've trained in those conditions a lot," he said. "But it's just good to get the first race out of the way. We can regroup now, because the semi-final is definitely the big one."

Lynch and Towey were intent on winning no matter what. They'd seen the Poles and the Italians and, in their heat, the Americans all forced into the repêchages.

In the end they looked so comfortable it seemed they'd just cruised through. But Lynch likes to break things down into a lot more detail. "Well the Americans are deceptive. They do sit back, so you can never be sure if you are safe. We knew we'd be leading them at 500 metres, and our stroke rate was already down at 35. That's very low for these conditions.

"So we just moved away, and we'd open water on everyone at the halfway mark. And no one would come back in those conditions. It was too fast and too rough. And we're too experienced to give away an open-water lead in the second 1,000 metres."

"You have all this fanfare around the Olympics but when you break it down it's 2,000 metres, against people we know. I don't look across and say my God, that's the American Olympic team. I look across and see Steve Tucker, my friend, and also my rival."

Coach Thor Nilsen reiterated that thought: "It's the same water, the same boat, same opponents. It's only the surroundings that make the difference, and when people aren't used to that stress then it can get to them. But Sam and Gaggs (Towey) have the experience.

"But they just did what they were supposed to do today, so we'll take it step by step. The next step is on Thursday, and we'll take it from there."

With Greece beating the Italians, the world champions in Milan last year, there is the temptation to suggest the Irish are now one of the main gold medal contenders.

"Look, the heat is a heat," said Lynch, "step one of three. We can only think about Thursday now. Yeah the Italians were beaten, but don't try to predict anything from these races. But if you want to make one assessment, I'd say the Italians aren't as good as they were, but everyone else is better. But at least we're not in a vacuum anymore, and we have a reference. We also have four days to feel good about ourselves."

Towey added a more insightful assessment of yesterday's race and where it leaves them: "We were expecting a tougher race from the Americans to be honest. Once we got the lead we knew we just had to cover their moves. And with 500 metres to go we did a big move, and that finished them.

"So yeah, I feel like there is more in the tank. It wasn't the toughest race I've ever done, put it that way. Whatever happens now happens. We'll just do our own thing, but there are a number of dark horses in this event. I'd say there are 10 crews in here that could potentially win a medal."

Roll on those semi-finals.