Paris 2024 Olympics: Irish eyes smile in Paris as O’Donovan does it again in men’s lightweight double sculls

Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan stormed to victory for the second Games in a row in the men’s lightweight double sculls, delighting the thousands of green-clad supporters who had come to see him make Olympic history for the country.

After winning silver in Rio with brother Gary in 2016 and coining the phrase “pull like a dog” to describe his style, O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy dominated in the muggy heat of the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Friday to successfully defend the Olympic title they won in Tokyo.

Italy took the silver medal and Greece the bronze but the day belonged to McCarthy and O’Donovan, who medalled for a third Games in a row and had no problem describing the secret of his success in the event over the years.

“A few moments of magic, a bit of luck and Fintan McCarthy and Gary O’Donovan to drag me down the course,” he told Reuters with a glint in his eye.

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O’Donovan’s modesty stands in stark contrast to his new-found standing in Irish sporting history – on Friday he became the first Irish athlete to medal at three Olympics, and his success has seen the sport of rowing grow in his wake.

For McCarthy, who at 27 is three years younger than his rowing partner, the race went perfectly.

“It felt great, we’ve been on we’ve been on fire all week. It’s just about getting into the thick of it – we knew that the others would try to get into it with us,” McCarthy said.

“We kind of knew the middle would be our strength and that’s where we pulled ahead, and then it was just about a desperate sprint for the line, trying to stay ahead of everyone really,” he added.

The fact that lightweight sculls is set to be replaced by coastal rowing at the next Olympics in 2028 will do little damage to Irish medal chances in rowing, O’Donovan said.

“I don’t think it will make too much difference, you know, there is still all the heavyweight classes and our men’s double (Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle) took a medal there yesterday and fair play, it was a great race from them,” he said.

Having grown their squad for a third Olympics in a row, O’Donovan said he would not be surprised to see even more Irish rowers in Los Angeles.

“There’s plenty more guys out there, so I think there’ll be a strong heavyweight squad that we can move into,” O’Donovan added.