Medal chance for coxless four

IRELAND'S coxless four waited until the last 40 strokes of their semi final, before revealing a devastating surge of pace which swept them past the current, World champions and earned them a place in final a race they now start as serious medal contenders.

Lying in fourth and needing to finish third the four stroked by Tony O'Connor with Neville Maxwell, Sam Lynch and Derek Holland behind found the extra gear that has so far been kept in reserve at these Olympics. Wednesday's repechage and the preliminary heat that went beforehand were relaxed and controlled, this race was more about physical character.

At the semi final stage, the draw allows little room for tactical rows. Yesterday's opposition included the Italians, World champions in the event and with an established pedigree in lightweight rowing the Danish, World silver medallists who flagged their Olympic form by winning the Lucerne regatta at the end of May the Australians, and the surprise crew of the competition from South Africa.

Fastest off the start, the Danes stayed out in front throughout and left the racing to the rest of the field. At the 1,000 metre halfway mark the Irish four was in fourth, a length behind the lead and several seats down on the bowball to bowball Australians and South Africans.

As the race entered the last third of the course the Italians, stroked by Andrea Re (a winner of eight world titles since 1985), made their push and with 500 metres to go had managed to gain a half a canvass over the Irish. As in the preliminary heat it was an effort they were unable to capitalise on and the response, when it came, exposed the Italian's current off form.

Raising the strike rate, the Irish put in a long 40 stroke push to the line. With 250 metres left they overhauled the tiring Italians and in the last 100 metres raced past the South Africans with a third of a length to spare. The finish, on a par with the Searle brothers' nail biting gold run four years ago, answered the only unproven element of the boat's overall race.

At the Duisberg International regatta two months ago, the then newly formed four lead their race to the line only to be caught by the German's and at the Lucerne qualifiers the final wind up was not called. As Lake Lanier saw yesterday the Irish boat has another gear and in the final tomorrow (4.30 p.m. Irish time) they may have to use it earlier.

The United States, Canada and Germany qualified from a semi final won in a time of 6:09.89 three and a half seconds or more than a length quicker than the Danes. However, against a headwind both races were significantly slower than any of the three repechages on Wednesday and O'Connor, Maxwell, Lynch his arm strapping worn for comfort value only) and Holland must now be regarded realistic medal prospects.

The final represents the culmination of a five year lightweight programme instituted by Thor Nilsen, an internationally respected coach. At the World championship's in Finland last year the medal rated coxless four missed out on direct qualification to Atlanta when the steering was lost in strong crosswinds.

After exhaustive selection trials and a demanding training programme Sam Lynch from the Limerick club St Michael's and the only non Neptune oarsmen of the four and Derek Holland remained from the championship four. They were joined in the stern of the boat by Tony O'Connor and Neville Maxwell, an experienced World medal rated pair in their own right.

"When I started, the aim was to get into a championship final. Now, the minimum standard has gone up and we'd expect to come away with a medal. We're very close to being a big rowing country and obviously we're in Atlanta to take a medal, no one wants to be here unless we come away with something," Maxwell said.

A medal tomorrow would be the first in the country's Olympic rowing history. It is now two decades since the Sean Drea raced in the single scull at the Montreal Olympics to finish fourth and in the intervening years success has been limited to B and C final placings.