ROWING: The difficulties of being a lightweight rower at the very highest level were cruelly illustrated yesterday when the Irish double scull of Sam Lynch and Gearóid Towey had to lose weight fast before their Olympic semi-final.

"They had a weight problem," their coach, Thor Nilsen, confirmed last evening.

The athletes can weigh in two hours before their race, but must be at the weight not later than one hour before they compete. The Irish found themselves worryingly above the gross 140 kilos allowed (an average of 70 kilos, or just over 11 stone) and had to work hard to bring it down.

"There is only one way to do it and that is to get on the ergometer (rowing machine) dressed as much as you can and row like hell," said Nilsen.

Lynch and Towey are over six feet tall and reaching the weight to row as lightweights has often been a struggle.

"When you are all the time balancing on the edge of your weight you have no fat to lose; you have not got resources you can lose," explained the experienced Norwegian coach.

"The only thing you can lose is water, and two-per-cent reduction of the body weight in water reduces your (physical) capacity by 20 per cent."

Discovering they were over the weight before the race was a blow for the Irish.

"Suddenly at the last minute you need to reduce too much of your body weight. And they couldn't afford it. And so today you see on the water they were rowing tactically well, but there was nothing behind the boat.

"The body cannot adapt to the loss of so much water in such a short time." There was, said Nilsen, "no power in the strokes for the last 250 (metres)".

The septuagenarian, who has been something of a guru for Irish rowing for over a decade, suggested that maybe the future for the athletes was to at least consider competing as heavyweights.

"Last year I asked them to go heavyweight. But of course they have a (2003 World Championship) bronze medal (as lightweights) and I wanted to try. But aah . . . it would be a much nicer life for everybody if they could eat."