Ireland have secured their third medal of the 2024 Olympics, with Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch claiming bronze in the men's double sculls final in Paris this morning.
The Irish duo entered this race as one of the medal favourites, with it being expected that they will be in the shakeup for the gold. The Netherlands and New Zealand were likely to be their biggest rivals, with both of those crews having displayed some brilliant form in recent times.
Once the race got underway, it became clear that this was going to be a very fast paced affair. Both the Spanish and Romanian duos would push the pace in the early stages, although it soon became clear that the latter would be setting the standard.
Ireland could not quite manage to close the gap on the leaders, finding themselves in a battle with the USA and Netherlands for the remaining medals. They would eventually finish third.
🥉 Bronze medal for Ireland 🥉
Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch win bronze in the men's double sculls #RTESport #Paris2024
📺 Watch https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ
📱Updates https://t.co/FdweZoIeSi pic.twitter.com/G5oR1jTfCn— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 1, 2024
While this result may come as a slight disappointment for Doyle and Lynch, this is still a magnificent achievement. It is Ireland's first ever Olympic medal in this event.
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Ireland Win Historic Olympic Medal In Men's Double Sculls
There is no doubt that Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch will be thrilled to claim an Olympic medal for Ireland, although they certainly would have been looking to claim the gold coming into this morning's final.
The Romanians were a shock winner, having only scraped into the final on the back of an error from the Serbian crew in the semi-final earlier this week. Ireland also looked like they could overtake the Dutch for second at one point, although they would manage to hang on.
Speaking to RTÉ after the race Philip Doyle would actually apologise for an error he made late on that potentially stopped the duo from claiming silver. Despite this, they were clearly delighted to win a historic medal for their country.
'First heavyweight medal ever!'
Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch shake hands with the Dutch crew after winning bronze and silver respectively.#RTESport #Paris2024
📺 Watch https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ
📱Updates https://t.co/FdweZoIeSi pic.twitter.com/L0p1yz8Jpq— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 1, 2024
Doyle: I made a massive mistake there at the end, so I have to apologise to everybody. We were coming for the Dutch big time, we could smell them and sniff them.
We knew (Romania) were on some other kind of planet there on the left hand side. We went earlier, we pushed harder through the middle to get through. We knew people would have something else.
I think the mistake I made was a culmination of all the extra work I had to do in the middle. I could feel his legs, I could feel his calls, we went earlier in our sprint. Thankfully we had enough to make the mistake and keep going. We will look back and see where we can improve for whatever is coming next...
Lynch: What the Romanians did we expected, but we didn't think they were going to hold on. They nearly got knocked out in the semi-final, they were gifted that final spot by Serbia who stopped rowing. I didn't think they'd have that form in the space of two days, how they turned that around so much.
We were kind of going toe to toe with the Dutch. We knew out sprint was a lot better than the Americans. They might have a bit extra in an Olympic final, but we stayed in our boat and pushed on. We tried to push early just to let them know that they weren't getting a sniff...
Doyle: I might have mitochondria in my right arm there! We had to go early. We thought if we went like the Dutch did we would end up clearing the field, but the lads had a stormer so you can't take anything away from them.
First heavyweight medal ever (for Ireland), it's nice to write that into the history books. We've been saying all week that we tried to be calm, confident, and a little bit under the radar. It's nice to step out and get the podium for everyone at home.
I've never seen so many supporters at a regalia ever, so come to the next ones!
While there may be some small disappointment that they did not claim a gold or silver, this was still a fantastic result for the Irish duo.
It also continues what has been a remarkable start to the Olympics for Team Ireland, who have already claimed four medals if you count Kellie Harrington's yet to be handed out medal.
They now look on course to win a record medal haul at this summer's games.
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