Blade is article in gold (3)
I believe the answer is:
oar
'blade' is the definition.
(blade is the word for oar in competitive rowing)
'article in gold' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'a' (indefinite article).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'gold' becomes 'or' ('or' is the heraldic name for gold).
'a' put into 'or' is 'OAR'.
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for oar that I've seen before include "Rower" , "I'm involved in row" , "propellor" , "Implement to propel a boat" , "Rower's flat blade" .)