Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy have retained their Olympic title in Paris.
The Skibbereen pair produced a masterclass performance, totally dominating the 2,000m race after taking the lead shortly after halfway and literally streaking away from the rest of the field
Chants of ‘Ireland, Ireland, Ireland’ rang out from the Grand Stand as the pair secured the gold medal with consummate ease to become the most successful Irish partnership not just in rowing but in sport.
Not since Pat O’Callaghan retained the hammer at the 1932 Olympics had an Irish athlete retained an Olympic title. Furthermore, Paul O’Donovan (30), who is a qualified doctor and physiotherapist becomes the first Irish Olympian to win medals at three Games.
He won a silver alongside his brother Gary in the double sculls in Rio, and then partnered McCarthy to take the gold in Tokyo three years. McCarthy (27), meanwhile, joins O’Donovan and O’Callaghan as the only Irish athlete to win gold medals at successive Games.
It was a fitting finale to lightweight rowing in the Olympics but the pair are likely to be back competing in the open class next year.
Their list of achievements is astonishing. Not only have they won back-to-back Olympics they won world titles together in 2019, 2022 and 2023 as well as back to back European titles in 2021 and 2022.
What’s even more extraordinary is that this is the second successful partnership that Paul has had on the water.
Initially it was it partnership with his brother Gary that the Skibbereen brothers hit the headlines becoming the first Irish crew to medal at the Olympic Games when they won a silver medal in 2016 in the lightweight double sculls as well as a world title in 2018 and European gold medal in 2016 and a brace of silver medals in 2017 and 2018.
As per usual Paul O’Donovan tried to insist all week that they were the underdogs but they were the favourites of course and they justified that tag today.
Ireland has now five medals at the Paris Games and it is Ireland’s fifth rowing medal since the 2016 Games in Rio.