ROWING: In Olympic rowing the difference between going straight into the semi-finals and coming through the repêchages can vary to the extremes - a big gain, no real gain or else a definite loss. For Sam Lynch and Gearóid Towey it's clearly been a case of a big gain.
Yesterday they were back in the Olympic Village from their temporary camp out at the Schinias rowing centre, the setting for their convincing victory in Sunday's heats of the lightweight doubles. They lounged around after a leisurely breakfast and spent the remainder of the day resting and relaxing, and no doubt still buoyant.
Like the French, the Danish and the Greeks, the Irish pair didn't need to worry about weather forecasts and bus timetables. All they had on their minds was their semi-final on Thursday, still scheduled for 8.50 a.m., and the race that could leave them just 2,000 metres away from a medal.
But for the 17 pairs sent into the lightweight repêchages, there's hardly been a moment to relax since Sunday. First came the announcement that yesterday's rowing was postponed until early this morning because of the high winds expected out at Schinias. Then came the news that the rowing was put back again until this afternoon, starting at 2.30 local time.
That means they'll just get a day and half before the semi-finals instead of three days as originally expected.
"I certainly think that Sam and Gearóid did themselves a huge favour by avoiding the repêchages," says Irish rowing manager Richard Parr. "It's worked out so much better for the boats that went straight into the semi-final.
"But all rowers know they have to be ready to compete any day, and time of the day. And at this stage it doesn't look like there will be any more changes to the schedule, but anything is possible."
The forecast late yesterday was for moderate winds on Thursday and Friday, and then dying down further on Saturday and Sunday.
"Yesterday was the first real calm day they've had in a while," added Parr. "The last few weeks have been sort of non-stop training-travelling, training-travelling. So it was just nice for them to spend some time taking is easy, without any pressure and things like that."
Meanwhile, south of Athens, at the beautifully modern canoe/kayak slalom centre, Galway's Eadaoin Ní Challaráin today gets her first taste of the Athens Olympics. She'll have two runs in the K1 kayak singles heats, the first set for 10:50 local time, and the second for an hour later.
Among the other Irish enduring a long wait before their next Olympic action is middleweight boxer Andy Lee - not that he's been sitting idle. Along with his coach, Billy Walsh, he's been reviewing the video footage of his opponent in Saturday's second round, the Cameroon fighter Hassan Ndam Njikam, who just sneaked past the Pan-American champion Juan Jose Ubaldo on a split decision last Saturday.
After resting all day Sunday, Lee was also back to some light training: "With all the hard training done it's just short, fast sessions from here on," said Walsh.
"And from what I see the Cameroon fighter won't like Andy. But sure, no one likes Andy, because he's a big, rangy southpaw, and hard to get to. So I reckon this guy will try to jump all over him."
