Last newsletter, Terry O'Neill wrote about the problems he perceived in the current British Heavyweight Men's rowing squad. He attracted a number of responses, with Judith Howell's letter being representative of the mailbag:Judith Howell: I do normally enjoy Tel's Tales, but perhaps he could be persuaded to check his facts prior to publication. I was on the 1/4 mile signal on Sunday 4th July and distinctly saw the GB coxless 4 go past, in the lead. OK it wasn't the original line-up, but the boat was certainly not withdrawn and Ed Coode is a superb rower who only just missed out on a place in that boat in the first place. The men's pair also did really well considering that their opposition are the top of the world, and the boys had only been rowing together in that combination for a few hours. I'm also of the opinion that it is very unhelpful to write disparaging articles about the ability of the squad to medal at Athens, when we still have the altitude training camp to come, plus the emphasis will now be switching over to speed work. I was truly impressed by the quality of the women's quad and the UL/Thames composite that were racing so have high hopes of the squad for the future as well.Perhaps Rog could be persuaded to produce a cartoon of Tel eating his hat on 23rd August this year?Terry O'Neill: Thank you for your email and I mean that. It's good to know that there are people out there reading the stuff and getting passionate. I can assure you that my info was solid gold. This was the course of events: after Lucerne, Partridge was thought to have a rib injury and Williams was ill. Neither of those was considered a long-term problem, and so it was felt the best thing to do was withdraw from Henley and allow the boys to recover. It then transpires that Partridge does not have a rib injury but a collapsed lung and so was out for the rest of the season. This meant that a permanent replacement had to be found and so Ed was moved into the 4-. It also meant that, in the new line up, the first race of the unit would be the Olympic heats. A race before the Olympics now became important and, as they had not officially withdrawn, they raced.Ed is a superb oarsman and a personal friend, but he's only going to be able to row in one boat, and his move to the 4- must inevitably have a detrimental affect on the 8. The most disappointing news at the weekend was that Partridge will be out for the Olympics and this is a great loss to the team. If you read the article again, I think that you may be the one eating their hat. With the exception of the fact that the four were withdrawn and then reinstated, there was nothing I wrote that was either inaccurate or disparaging. I am, and always have been, a supporter of GB rowing. I have been to every World Cup regatta this year and watched every race involving the team. I gave full credit to the woman's team and said that, at the moment, they represent the best chance of a gold medal in Athens. I said that the men's pair were coming to grips with the event and were a creditable fourth place in Lucerne.I also said that the team was an outstanding group of athletes who can beat anyone on their day and wished them good luck in Athens. Also I drew a parallel with the progress of the 8 to that of our Olympic champion 8, illustrating that the year prior to the Olympics the Sydney 8 were second and the current 8 were third, so they are on course for a medal. I also said that the fact that the 4 were 3rd in Lucerne was no reason to panic because the Redgrave 4 was 4th in the corresponding regatta.As enthusiastic as I am about GB rowing, I am not an ostrich. You would need some strong rose-tinted spectacles to not be concerned at the performance of the men's team through this year's World Cup competition. If you are pinning your hopes on altitude, then I have some bad news for you: there is no evidence to support the view that training at altitude yields any benefit for competition at sea level, but that's another argument.There are, however, still 40 days to go, but they will need a considerable change of luck to that which has dogged them all year if they are going to pull it around.Although it might not be considered cricket to have a pop at sports stars and their progress, I think we need to be wary of Emperor's New Clothes syndrome, otherwise people who are crap can get away with it ad infinitum because no one has the balls to call it as it is; a case in point is the GB Men's lightweights. The risk of not dealing with issues is this: rowing now receives substantial funding to support international competitions. This funding is based on performance; if the performance does not meet expectations then the funding is cut for the next Olympic cycle. So what about the kids of the future if that happens?Don't be too generous; our rowers and coaches are paid professionals and as such must be accountable. They are not enthusiastic amateurs and it's not Chariots of Fire.We are now having to come to grips with life after Redgrave, and this is a serious comment. I don't think people really know just how great this bloke was and his influence not just on the crews he rowed in but on the whole team. On the coaching side we have not replaced the skills and experience of Mike Spracklen and Harry Mahon.Redgrave retired, Harry died but Spracklen was sacked after the most successful era of GB Women's rowing ever. He has since gone on to push Canada ahead of us.Real supporters of the sport will want to weed out bad practice and secure its long-term health, which will only come about with democratic, open debate.