Ireland's rowers Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy clinched the gold medal in the men's lightweight double sculls at the Paris Olympics on Friday morning (August 2nd), successfully defending their title from the previous Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The duo, backed by strong Irish support at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, delivered a dominant performance on the outskirts of Paris, crossing the finish line with a time of 6:10.99.
The Irish rowers, amidst chants of 'Ole, Ole, Ole' from their supporters, secured a clear victory, leaving Italy and Greece to claim the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Their strategic race strategy allowed them to surge ahead in the final stages, ultimately securing their place on the podium.
The victory not only marks their second consecutive Olympic gold but also adds to their impressive track record as three-time world champions and two-time European champions.
"Paul O’Donovan becomes the first Irish person ever to medal at three different Olympic Games"
Furthermore, O'Donovan's previous Olympic silver medal in Rio 2016 and multiple world championship titles, coupled with McCarthy's outstanding achievements, solidify their status as some of Ireland's most exceptional athletes.
With this win, O'Donovan and McCarthy have undoubtedly etched their names in Irish Olympic history, further elevating Ireland's success at the Games, following swimmer Daniel Wiffen's gold medal in the 800m freestyle event and the bronze of rowing teammates Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch.
In winning gold again today Paul O’Donovan becomes the first Irish person ever to medal at three different Olympic Games; moving himself into a new stratosphere when it comes to the Irish sporting history books.
Not to be outdone Fintan McCarthy now becomes only the fifth member of that exclusive Irish club of Olympians who have medalled at two Olympic separate Games; O’Donovan already a member of course.
Until today Ireland has only ever won back-to-back Olympic gold once before in our history; hammer thrower and fellow Corkonian Dr. Pat O’Callaghan achieved that feat in 1928 and 1932. The Skibbereen heroes now join him in that honour.
Prior the today’s performance from O’Donovan and McCarthy Ireland have won four Olympic rowing medals before; one most recently from team mates in the Men’s Double (M2x) of Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch only yesterday, one gold from LM2x of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in Tokyo, one silver from the LM2x of Paul and Gary O’Donovan at Rio in 2016, and one bronze from the Women’s Four (W4-) in Tokyo.
The duo, who have been coached to their success throughout by fellow Skibbereen Rowing Club man Dominic Casey become the first ever back-to-back Olympic champions in the history of Irish rowing.
Speaking before the medal ceremony record breaking O’Donovan said: Oh it was always in doubt for everyone else, no one believed we could do it coming into this competition and against all the odds we stuck with it, trained hard. Italy today were the number one seeds and really put it up there. Greece were underdogs like ourselves also put in a big one and got on the podium, unfortunately Switzerland missed out after some early (season) performances. We’re very happy to have proved the doubters wrong (tongue in cheek).It's a good day for the Irish!”
When asked if gold was always the aim McCarthy said: “Always the aim for sure. We said early in the week we had a rocky enough season, well I did. Paul is obviously as consistent as hell through the whole year. It was just really nice to get a couple of good races under our belt early in the regatta. I was trying to keep under wraps the nerves and the doubts but coming out for the final there were no nerves. We had some really good rounds, I really felt like we were back at our best for this race.
“It's just amazing to be here in front of all our family and everyone supporting us, especially from the club. I feel it’s been a crazy, crazy journey the last few years and honestly, the privilege of a lifetime to be rowing with Paul and under Dominic for my whole rowing career pretty much. It’s amazing.”
In a stellar performance from the two they started as they usually do; staying in touch with the field but not pushing to the front too early. Italy were the main competition having won both their heat and their semi-final but the Greeks were leading through the first mark. With 1250m to go McCarthy gave a little push for the pair to overtake the Italians and sit in just behind the Greeks at the halfway mark.
100 metres later the Irish crew had their nose in front of the Greeks and with the remaining field. Within a matter of strokes the champions made their decisive move leading by half a boat length with 700metres to go and extended that through the last 500m to take glory with clear water over the Italian and Greek crews who needed a photo finish to separate them; the Italians snatching silver.
McCarthy and O’Donovan will remain forever the final Olympic Champions of the lightweight boat class, with it being dropped from the Olympic programme in 2028.
RESULT Friday 2nd August 2024
Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls (LW2x), FINAL, Paul O’Donovan, Fintan McCarthy, GOLD MEDAL in 6:10.99
