A bet is a bet, and Australian sports minister Kate Lundy won’t row back on her wager.

Lundy will put on a Great Britain team shirt — the height of embarrassment for a citizen of the UK’s fiercely competitive former colony — and row the Olympic course at Eton Dorney, west of London.

The bet was with British sports minister Hugh Robertson over which nation would claim the most Olympic medals in London.

British athletes have already powered to 48 medals, including 22 golds, while Australia — which retains Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state — is lagging behind with 25 medals and just 4 golds.

‘‘I have cheerfully conceded,’’ Lundy said Wednesday as a national inquest began at home over why the sports-crazed nation has stumbled so badly. Australia claimed 46 medals at Beijing.