An Olympic rower who stepped in to stop a motorboat driver from allegedly ploughing into fellow rowers on the Thames has described fearing he could become the man’s next target in what he called a “river rage” confrontation.
Jack Beaumont, 32, who claimed silver for Great Britain in the men’s quadruple sculls at the Tokyo Olympics five years ago, said he was “frightened” the 67-year-old skipper might “really ram into me” during the tense encounter.
Beaumont intervened early on Sunday morning near Maidenhead after the motorboat driver, later arrested, allegedly behaved in an “erratic” and “volatile” manner and appeared to collide with another rower on the river.
Video obtained by Our News Outlet captured the boat operator hurling abuse at Beaumont, calling him a “c***” and ordering him to “shut your f****** mouth”.
The two-time Olympian was out training when he spotted the motorboat heading toward two single scullers from Maidenhead Rowing Club coming in the opposite direction.
According to Beaumont, the rowers appeared not to have noticed the vessel, which he said seemed to be travelling on the wrong side of the Thames under normal navigation rules.
“When you’re rowing, you’re going backwards so [the rowers] weren’t expecting him and then at the last second they noticed. One of them managed to manoeuvre around him but the other one hit the boat,” he told The Times.
“And then he just lost his mind. He started shouting at them. I can’t remember what he was saying but it was very, very threatening. I was quite concerned because of the way he was speaking to them, I was quite afraid he might hurt them.”
The speed boat’s skipper starts shouting at Jack Beaumont, who is trying to calm him down
The captain reverses towards Mr Beaumont, who gets out of the way in his scull
The rower won a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan
He said he told the rowers to write down the name of the boat, understood to be called the Mayfair Lady, before the captain turned his attention to him.
After hurling abuse, he reversed in an apparent bid to ram the athlete’s scull.
One rower who witnessed the incident said: ‘I was a couple of hundred yards away, going upstream. I saw that there was a speedboat owner pulling out from the bank.
‘He charged over and rammed a rowing boat and the man in it nearly went in [the water]. This is someone in a power boat running somebody over, which is highly dangerous.’
The rower continued: ‘Jack [Beaumont] shouted out, ‘What are you doing?’ The man on the speedboat then started effing and blinding at Jack and tried to ram Jack in his boat. This could have been life-threatening, if not fatal.’
It is understood the boat owner sometimes lives on his craft and has previously argued with members of Maidenhead Rowing Club.
The exchange then intensified with Mr Beaumont attempting to steer clear
The boat gives chase to Mr Beaumont who lures it down the Thames and into the distance
He was heard shouting at Mr Beaumont from his deck: ‘I did nothing wrong. You f***ers think you own the water.’
The skipper revved his engine and yelled that he would ‘ram’ something down Mr Beaumont’s throat.
A source said: ‘Jack lured the speedboat away from the rowers. You have to wonder what could have happened if there wasn’t someone as able as Jack on hand. If the rowers were only taking their first lessons it could have been so much worse.’
The motorboat captain was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill, assault and using a watercraft in a manner that endangered a structure or individual. He remained in custody on Tuesday.
Mr Beaumont has previously raced for Maidenhead rowing club and broke his back in 2015, a career-threatening injury he suffered during a Team GB training session in Portugal.
However he went on to place fifth in the quadruple sculls in Rio the following year after being chosen to replace Graeme Thomas, who had fallen ill.
Mr Beaumont’s father, Peter, is also an Olympic oarsman, coming fourth in the men’s eight event at the 1988 Games in Seoul. Maidenhead Rowing Club, founded in 1876, forms part of an exclusive neighbourhood dubbed ‘Hollywood on Thames’.
