OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: Rowing: 'Cleaver' threatens medal bid

A DENSE fog settled over the Estany Banyoles and delayed the semi-finals of the regatta yesterday. Although the fog had cleared after only half an hour the decision to change the programme had to be made by the coaches who had warmed crews up for the start only to take them off the water. By the time the women's eights raced for a place in the final the heat was shimmering on the water surface in the low 40s, and several crews faded and collapsed before the end of the 2,000-metre course.

In the British men's eight Tim Foster, rowing at No 2, lost all power on his blade in the last 10 strokes of the race. He was lifted out of the boat at the finish and held at the medical centre for over an hour. His crew qualified after a burst at 1400m had carried them past the Unified Team which wilted into sixth place.

Martin Cross, bow in the eight, said: 'If Tim does not recover in time we will use a substitute from one of the boats which finishes racing on Saturday like . . . Steve Redgrave.'

The men's eight joined the two men's pairs, coxed and coxless, in the final. However, the eight will find its route to a medal blocked by a rejuvenated German eight which lost its heat and switched to the new American-made 'cleaver' blades and found itself able to row back through the United States crew which had led the middle part of the race. The Americans were not at full bore and they, the Germans and Romania, winners of the other semi-final, will be the most likely medallists with Great Britain, Canada and Australia, probably in that order.

Jonny and Greg Searle set up their medal chance with a narrow, victory in the coxed pairs semi-final. The draw throughout this regatta has been kind to the Abbagnale brothers of Italy. They have seven world and two Olympic championships already, but their time at the top has been hard and they now depend on not having too many tough races on the way to the final. They came through in a fast time but untroubled.

The Searles held fourth place, with three to qualify, and took their time to break out of the pack. But when the push came at 1000m they slipped into third and held it until the last 400m when the Americans began to fade and the French burst through pushing the British pair to win by 1.5sec. On the evidence of the race times and their known ability to beat certain crews the Searles look able to take a silver medal on Sunday. But they are only interested in the big prize and are capable of anything when the smell of gold hits their nostrils.

The Abbagnales, however, are the toughest two men in the history of the event. They have only lost to three crews in their 11 years at the top, one of them Steve Redgrave and Andy Holmes in 1986. The Abbagnales have been off form in the early part of the season and Giuseppe, known to all Italians as 'Peppe' to distinguish him from the other Giuseppe, their coxswain, usually known as 'Pepinello', has been under constant treatment for a back injury which first troubled him three years ago. If victory does go to the Azzurri it will be for the last time because the Searles, at 20 and 23 respectively, have the world at their feet.

The men's coxless four missed a place in the final by half a length after chasing New Zealand for third place for most of the last 1000m and are well placed to win the 'B' final, taking seventh place overall.

The British women's eight was dropped early in its repechage, in spite of a change of order, and although they finished hard and closed on the Unified Team to go out by just over a length. Tish Reid, the single sculler, finished last in her semi-final, 12sec behind Elizabeta Lipa of Romania who is also racing in today's final of the double sculls.

Today Redgrave, in his own words, has 'just got to do it one time' to rank alongside Jack Beresford as the only Britons to win three Olympic golds. Like the Abbagnales he is older than most of his pursuers but has a young partner in Matthew Pinsent, 21.