THE sparkling lustre of gold and silver lit up the eyes of rowers at the King’s School Rowing Club as they cheered on Olympic champion Tom James and lightweight fours rower Chris Bartley to the London 2012 podium.

Both former King’s School Rowing Club members, Bartley, hotly tipped by Sir Steve Redgrave as a gold medal favourite, brought home silver, while Tom James successfully defended his Olympic gold medal from Beijing to become a double gold medallist in the men’s coxless fours.

As James arrived at the start line on Saturday morning, over in Christleton King’s School rowers past and present gathered for a brunch to watch the race and will their alumnus on against their biggest challenge – the Australian boat.

But Team GB were dominant and as James landed his second Olympic gold medal in a row, his exceptional efforts and glittering rewards infused current King’s School rowers with the belief that they too could become world-class rowers.

“It’s really good to be associated with such success,” said Anna Willis, a 14-year-old who has only been rowing for a year.

“The coaches here coached rowers like Tom, Chris and Olivia Whitlam (who finished fifth in the women’s eight final) so you are getting the same training. That makes it possible to think that you could get there as well and try and get a medal.”

For 15-year-old Ben Monk, the knowledge that he rows with a club that produced medal-winning Olympic talent is a key motivation.

“It is quite pleasing to see someone from our own club, who was coached by our coaches, winning an Olympic medal,” said Monk, who has been rowing for two years.

“It is inspirational. You see these coaches and they tell you that Tom and Chris were good and you guys can get there as well, but it’s all about giving the time.

“It’s one of those things where you just have to get down and work hard.”

Monk and his clubmates roared Bartley’s boat on during last week’s final but at the end of the race fell silent as they briefly feared he had finished a close race outside the medals.

But as soon as the caption appeared on screen confirming silver, the cheers erupted.

For 16-year-old Alice Carr, who has rowed at King’s School the three years and recently represented Wales at the Home Countries International regatta, Bartley’s silver medal was a source of great pride.

“I think a lot of people forget how hard it is to get into the Olympics,” she said.

“Even coming fourth means you are the fourth best in the world so being second is pretty amazing. I think they did really well, there’s no disappointment at all that they didn’t get gold, silver is fantastic.”