Weather blows rowing off course

It is one of the scenarios that Olympic organisers dreaded – freakish weather turning the rowing regatta into a lottery.

Shifting winds made rowers fret and the decision to cancel racing on Monday, as a storm brews over the Athens peninsula, underlines the concern of officials.

A year ago a test regatta on the course was a disaster as crews capsized in the seasonal winds known as meltemia, which traditionally arrive in early August.

Critics of the facility at Schinias, point to a wind farm on the hills that overlook the site as a reason for its unsuitability for rowing, a sport dependent on calm conditions.

“The conditions today were unpleasant but rowable,” said Matt Smith, executive director of world rowing governing body, FISA. “During the last races of the day, the men’s eight, the wind was six metres per second, gusting to eight.

“The forecast for Monday is 11m per second, gusting to 15. The weather forecasts have been very accurate and we are now 99 per-cent certain it would be unsafe to race.”

Tomorrow’s repechage races, for those not qualified directly for their semi-finals or finals, will now be held alongside Tuesday’s repechages - although the forecast could hamper that plan.

“The conditions are forecast to be still quite windy on Tuesday morning but improving in the afternoon. The five-day forecast looks better,” added Smith.

Among the possible repercussions if the winds continue blow is racing being reduced to a series of time trials rather than the heats and repechages. The 2000m course could also be cut in half.

In the worst-case scenario, repechage races could be dropped altogether and the remaining places in the finals decided on world rankings.

“Time trials are used when the conditions are unfair, normally that means cross winds. That’s very different from these unfavourable conditions,” added Smith.