These disputes are more publicised and there is more focus on the need for transparency

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"These disputes are more publicised and there is more focus on the need for transparency and clear, impartial decision-making, which is very important for all sporting bodies," he added. Bodies like justice to be seen to be done and it is increasingly important to provide reasons for judgments."Ms Friend, who represented the Scottish skier Alan Baxter when he was stripped of his slalom medal two years ago, has advised the leaders of London's bid to stage the Games in 2012.In disputes over medals, a solution is first sought between the team leaders, chefs de mission and the International Federations. Philip Pope, spokesman for the British Olympic Association, said: "In these modern times I think it is right and proper to have an adequate level of assistance."Shortly after the Sydney Games, the British Olympic Association appointed a former city lawyer, Sara Friend, who is supported in Athens by a freelance lawyer on-call 24 hours. Many of the larger Olympic teams have at least one specialist sports lawyer on their payroll, with experience ranging from doping cases to protocol surrounding visits from VIPs.And lawyers are eager to get on board the Olympic bandwagon. There was complete unanimity between the countries affected that this was an incorrect decision."Britain is also considering a second appeal to the CAS after the international swimming federation reversed a decision to disqualify the American winner of the 200m backstroke which cost James Goddard bronze.The case have highlighted the growing influence of lawyers in high-level, competitive sport.

"As I understand it, once a rider crosses the start line the time starts; it is as black and white as that," Mr Clegg said. "If we feel an injustice has occurred, we have a responsibility to our athletes to try and put it right. An impromptu sitting of the "Olympic court" in an Athens hotel was hearing evidence in a three-day eventing controversy that may hand Britain two more medals. As the medal table begins to take shape and the blue riband track events started in the Olympic stadium yesterday, competition was also hotting up in the field of arbitration. If they win, the British rider Leslie Law will be handed the individual gold and Pippa Funnell will move from fourth into bronze-medal position.A verdict, binding on all parties, is expected today, but Simon Clegg, the British team's chef de mission, is convinced the British team have a cast-iron case.

However, her earnings are unlikely to match the tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, who have signed a $40m deal with Nike.. It was a feat that prompted the organiser of the cash-rich Chicago marathon to put a $1m (£550,000) price tag on Radcliffe simply turning up at future events. Nike, the sportswear manufacturer, is believed to be offering her a $200,000 win bonus for tomorrow's race."If she wins it will confirm her as the greatest distance runner Britain has ever produced" said David Bedford, the organiser of the London marathon. "She will become the most recognised person in the UK if she wins."Radcliffe's entourage has grown and she is now on the roster of the marketing company Octagon. Thousands of dedicated teachers quite capable of the former are being demoralised by unremitting pressure to do the latter.

The four oarsmen who were to contest this year's race were already alongside. So low were the decks of their rapier-like sculls, that they appeared to be sitting in the choppy water of the Thames, with its sinisterly beautiful bloom of subsurface silt. The Prime Warden's launch appeared; on board was the Barge Master, wearing a cockade hat and a frogged coat with an epaulette on its right shoulder like gold platter.Loudhailers crackled out Cockney information: "If yer wanta know anyfing abaht ve oarsmen, ask ve steward an' eel tell ya." Race slips were passed among the champers-supping mongers, the sunlight danced on the water. Sitting here, in the very cockpit of ultra-urbanity, with a scale replica of the Golden Hinde moored in the notch of St Katharine's Dock across the river, and the high stony mundanity of London Bridge soaring overhead, I felt the dangerous tickle of full temporal simultaneity agitate my psyche. Then they were off, rowing hard against the tide.It's a measure of the awesome power of this plutocratic oligopoly that all traffic on the river was stopped for the 40-minute duration of the race. In splendid isolation our flotilla proceeded upstream past central London's burnished landmarks. "The race," Julian remarked knowledgeably, "is effectively decided in the first few minutes." And that much was clear, holding the crown of the river, the oarsmen in the yellow singlet had immediately pulled ahead, leaving the other competitors floundering.