At the Paris Olympics, Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy defended their Olympic crown, with O’Donovan becoming the first person to win medals for Ireland at 3 different Olympic Games. The double join Dr Pat O’Callaghan as the only Irishmen with two gold medals.
Paul O’Donovan should now be regarded as Ireland’s greatest ever sports star.
Yes, others may have won more medals on the global stage, but no Irish athlete has had level of domination that O’Donovan has shown over the past 8 years. Since winning silver in Rio, he is unbeaten in global finals.
- 2016 – Lightweight single world champion
- 2017 – Lightweight single world champion
- 2018 – Lightweight double world champion with Gary O’Donovan
- 2019 – Lightweight double world champion with Fintan McCarthy
- 2021 – Olympic Champion with Fintan McCarthy
- 2022 – Lightweight double world champion with Fintan McCarthy
- 2023 – Lightweight double world champion with Fintan McCarthy
- 2024 – Olympic Champion with Fintan McCarthy
It was the silver medal winning performance at the Rio Olympics in 2016 that catapulted Paul and his brother Gary from nowhere to two of the most recognisable athletes in Ireland. Their “pull like a dog” mantra gained a worldwide following.
Of course, the O’Donovans were never underdogs. In the run up to the Rio Olympics, it was clear that the brothers were Ireland’s best chance of an Olympic medal and so it proved with a fine second placed against a previously unbeaten French crew. Shortly after the Olympics, Paul raced in the singles at the World Championships and picked up his first goal medal, winning the final by a huge four seconds.
A year later, and with Gary injured, Paul raced the single again and eased to gold medal. In the space of 14 months, he had won two World Championships, an Olympic silver medal and graduated UCD in physiotherapy. The men who “pulled like a dog” and ate nothing but “schteak and schpuds” were master tacticians and data driven.
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Paul O'Donovan joins forces with Fintan McCarthy
They got their reward in the 2018 World Championships in Plovdiv, blitzing the field to win their first gold as a double. It was their last major championships racing together as another pair of brothers from Skibbereen emerged.
In the early part of 2019, there were four lightweight rowers looking to make the world champion boat as Fintan and Jake McCarthy challenged the O’Donovans. For the Worlds in Austria, the new Irish double showed no sign of letting up and won gold with clear water ahead of Italy and Germany.
The delayed Olympics saw huge pressure on the lads but it never showed. O’Donovan and McCarthy unleashed their trademark sprint to win a first ever rowing gold medal for Ireland. It was also the first gold won by Irishmen since 1992 – only the second since 1956!
O’Donovan, now in medical studies, and McCarthy continued to dominate when it matters in 2022 with another gold by clear water. 2023 saw new young crews emerge and, you’ve guessed it, the lads from Co. Cork won gold with relative ease.
Dominating a sport for any length of period is exceptionally rare, but Paul O’Donovan, first with brother Gary and laterally with Fintan McCarthy, have dominated lightweight rowing for two full Olympic cycles.
While world rowing may have seeded them third, there was no doubting who the gold medal winners in Paris would be 500m into the opening heats. In the final, they rowed a superbly controlled race, only allowing themselves to up the pace in the last 500m to open up the gap on the pack. A third Olympic medal for McCarthy, a second gold for McCarthy.
They’re the greatest Irish team of all time.
And on his own, Paul O’Donovan is the greatest Irish sports star of all time. In 2012, Ireland qualified one boat – Sanita Puspure in women’s single sculls. In 2024, there were seven boats winning two medals and all in the top ten of their class. O’Donovan won’t take any credit for that. He should though. His early success in Rio shown a light on the sport in Ireland and, along with coaches like Dominic Casey, Ireland was emerging as a world challenger.
He’s already talking about competing in the heavyweight classes as the lightweights are being removed from the Olympic programme, and who will bet against him making a success there too? A six-time world champion, two-time Olympic champion. His domination of a global sport at the very highest level mean Paul O’Donovan is, with the greatest of respect to several other grand champions, Ireland’s greatest-ever sports star.
