Double Olympic rowing champion Fintan McCarthy has questioned the tone of media coverage surrounding concerns raised last year about Irish rowing’s high-performance programme.
In an interview with The Irish Times, McCarthy said some reporting on the controversy was “very heavy on a certain perspective”.
“I just think maybe it was very heavy on a certain perspective, but I guess that’s what sells papers though,” McCarthy said during a recent sponsor promotion event.
McCarthy’s comments were later addressed by Paul Kimmage in The Irish Independent.
Kimmage previously conducted a series of interviews in the Sunday Independent with former Olympic rowers, including double world champion Sanita Puspure, which reported concerns raised about athlete welfare and safeguarding within rowing’s high-performance programme between 2021 and 2024.
Earlier this year, both Rowing Ireland and Sport Ireland appeared before an Oireachtas committee in relation to the issues raised.
During the period in question, McCarthy trained separately with the lightweight crews under coach Dominic Casey alongside doubles partner Paul O'Donovan.
Their training programme operated independently from the group overseen by former Rowing Ireland head of high performance Antonio Maurogiovanni, whose contract was not renewed following the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“What I can say, from my side, is that it was a really, really hard time,” McCarthy told The Irish Times.
“Probably the hardest few months of my career so far. I don’t think there’s any point trying to sugarcoat it, it was pretty rough,” he said.
“There had been so many changes in my eyes made in order to improve the welfare, and make us a bit more central in the decision-making processes.
“For all that criticism to come after a year where we had so much growth and success was tricky to navigate,” he said.
Responding in the Irish Independent, Kimmage said his investigation titled “Troubled Waters: Anatomy of an Irish Scandal” was based on testimony from athletes and contributors, and noted that it led to two Oireachtas hearings and a commitment to an independent review by Sports Minister Patrick O’Donovan.
Kimmage also said McCarthy had declined to discuss the issues when previously contacted and said he received no response after seeking comment on McCarthy’s recent remarks.
Read The Irish Times interview and the Irish Independent response for full coverage of the ongoing debate.
