Paul O’Donovan
Age: 30
Event: Men’s Lightweight Double Scull
Club: Skibbereen Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020
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Paul O’Donovan is aiming to become the first Irish athlete to win medals at three Olympic Games, having won silver in the double scull with his brother Gary in Rio, and gold alongside his Skibbereen clubmate Fintan McCarthy in Tokyo. O’Donovan is already the most decorated Irish rower of all-time, having won gold at six World Championships, including twice in the single scull. His total medal haul from the Olympic Games, World and European Championships is a staggering nine golds, three silver and one bronze. This is the final Olympics for lightweight rowing, but O’Donovan has already competed as a heavyweight sculler and won a bronze in that event at this year’s Europeans.
Fintan McCarthy
Age: 27
Event: Men’s Lightweight Double Scull
Club: Skibbereen Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: Tokyo 2020
Fintan McCarthy hails from the same townland outside Skibbereen as Paul O’Donovan and their partnership in the lightweight double scull began early in 2019. Two years later they won Ireland’s first gold medal in Olympic rowing at the delayed Tokyo Games. They have been the preferred pairing in the boat ever since. McCarthy had only been rowing for a few months when he competed in his first National Championships as a teenager in 2012 – falling into the water halfway through the race. During the Tokyo Olympics cycle he joined the high performance programme along with his brother Jake; they competed together at the 2019 European Championships. Along with his Olympic gold, McCarthy has three gold medals at the World Championships and two at the Europeans.
Margaret Cremen
Age: 25
Event: Women’s Lightweight Double Scull
Club: UCC Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: Tokyo 2020
A native of Rochestown on the outskirts of Cork City, Cremen started rowing when she was 14 years old and her partnership with Aoife Casey in the lightweight double scull started when they were juniors. They qualified for their first Olympics just two months before the Tokyo Games – where they finished second in the B final, and eighth overall. The pair won bronze at the 2023 World Championships and finished 7th a year later – which qualified the boat for these Olympics. When Casey was sidelined with illness earlier this season Cremen won silver in the single scull at the European Championships. Cremen is studying Sports Studies and Physical Education in UCC where she is heading into her final year.
Aoife Casey
Age: 25
Event: Women’s Lightweight Double Scull
Club: UCC Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: Tokyo 2020
Daughter of Dominic Casey – the most successful coach in the history of Irish rowing – Aoife Casey began rowing as a 10-year-old in Skibbereen. She competed in her first major championships for Ireland as a junior in 2016 and won silver at the World U-23 Championships four years later. Casey has spent most of her international career in a lightweight double scull alongside Margaret Cremen, although she also finished fourth in a single scull at the European Championships two years ago. A year later Casey and Cremen won bronze at the World Championships. After the Paris Games, Casey is moving to London to study for a Masters in Bio-Science Innovation and Enterprise.
Philip Doyle
Age: 31
Event: Men’s Double Scull
Club: Belfast
Previous Olympics: Tokyo 2020
A late starter, Philip Doyle only began rowing in his early 20s while studying medicine in Queen’s University Belfast. Four years later, in 2018, he made his first appearance at a major championships for Ireland, finishing eighth at the World Championships. Alongside Ronan Byrne, they took silver at the World Championships a year later, which qualified the boat for the Tokyo Olympics. In their first appearance at the Games, Doyle and Byrne reached the B final and finished 10th overall at the regatta. With Daire Lynch as his new partner in the boat, the men’s double scull finished third at last year’s World Championship, securing their passage to Paris.
Daire Lynch
Age: 25
Event: Men’s Double Scull
Club: Clonmel Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: None
Having travelled to the Tokyo Olympics as an unused reserve, Daire Lynch struck up a partnership with Philip Doyle in the men’s double scull last season. Their bronze medal finish at the 2023 World Championships ensured their qualification for Paris; they also finished fourth at last year’s European Championships. A native of Clonmel, Lynch attended Yale University in the United States on a rowing scholarship before returning to Ireland last year. Lynch is a gold medallist from the 2020 European U-23 Championships, where he partnered Ronan Byrne, and he also has a European bronze from the same season.
Zoe Hyde
Age: 27
Event: Women’s Double Scull
Club: Killorglin Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: None
Zoe Hyde started training full-time in rowing’s high performance programme in 2022, having rededicated herself to the sport during the pandemic. Hyde drifted away from the sport when she went to college and only took it up seriously again in her final year. After she graduated Hyde started a career in Deloitte. In 2022 she won bronze in the double scull at the World Championships alongside Sanita Puspure. Last season she teamed up with Alison Bergin and their fourth-place finish at the World Championships qualified the boat for Paris. They also finished sixth at last year’s European Championships.
Alison Bergin
Age: 22
Event: Women’s Double Scull
Club: Fermoy Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: None
A precocious talent and the youngest member of the team, Alison Bergin first represented Ireland at the World Junior Championships four years ago. She followed that with three impressive appearances at the World U-23 Championships, claiming a bronze and silver in 2022 and 2023. She also set a world U-23 record in winning her semi-final in 2022. Last season was her first in the senior ranks and only weeks after starting her partnership with Zoe Hyde they finished fourth at the World Championships, qualifying the boat for Paris. Bergin is currently studying Sport and Exercise Management in MTU in Cork.
Ross Corrigan
Age: 25
Event: Men’s Pair
Club: Enniskillen Boat Club
Previous Olympics: None
Ross Corrigan started rowing in his mid-teens at Portora Boat Club before it became Enniskillen Boat Club. The club had a proud history of producing Olympic rowers with Ian Kennedy competing for Ireland in Montreal and Moscow while Derek Holland represented Ireland in Atlanta. Leona Maguire, the professional golfer and Olympian, is Corrigan’s cousin. Corrigan has been a full-time member of the high performance programme since 2022 having won a silver medal at the World U-23 Championships a year before. Alongside Nathan Timoney, another Fermanagh native, they came third at last year’s World Championships and qualified the boat for Paris.
Nathan Timoney
Age: 24
Event: Men’s Pair
Club: Enniskillen Boat Club
Previous Olympics: None
A Business Management student in Queen’s University Belfast, and a native of Enniskillen, Nathan Timoney is a former member of the Fermanagh senior hurling panel. He first met Ross Corrigan – his partner in the heavyweight pair – when he joined Enniskillen Boat Club, although Corrigan was a year older and training with a different group. Timoney won bronze at the World U-23 Championships two years ago in a men’s four, but after a disappointing performance at last year’s European Championships that crew was split up. Later that season, and with very little experience together in the boat, Timoney and Corrigan won bronze at the World Championships, securing a qualifying spot for the Olympics.
Aifric Keogh
Age: 32
Event: Women’s Pair
Club: DULBC
Previous Olympics: Tokyo 2020
A Galway native, Aifric Keogh was a member of the first Irish women’s crew to win an Olympic medal at the Toyko Games. She was also part of first women’s crew to reach a World Championship final, six years ago. Having graduated from NUIG with a degree in microbiology, and later from UCC with a masters in food science, Keogh paused her career to train full-time in the high performance programme in 2018. In this Olympic cycle she has rowed in a pair with Fiona Murtagh – both of whom won bronze in the women’s four at the last Olympics. They qualified for the Paris Games with a fourth placed finish in the 2023 World Championships.
Fiona Murtagh
Age: 28
Event: Women’s Pair
Club: University of Galway
Previous Olympics: Tokyo 2020
A member of the crew that won bronze in the women’s four at the last Olympics Murtagh switched to the pair, a new event in the women’s schedule for these Olympics. Alongside Aifric Keogh they qualified the boat at last year’s World Championships. Murtagh started her academic career in her native Galway but after a year switched to Fordham University in New York. While in the United States she won twice at the prestigious Head of Charles regatta. Murtagh committed to full-time training in the Toyko Olympic cycle and won a silver and a bronze at successive European Championships as part of the women’s four.
Emily Hegarty
Age: 25
Event: Women’s Four
Club: UCC Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: Tokyo 2020
Emily Hegarty hails from Aughadown, the remarkable townland outside Skibbereen which has produced a cluster of Olympians: Fintan McCarthy, the O’Donovan brothers and Aoife Casey. Hegarty was introduced to rowing in Kilcoe national school, where the numbers were so small that she shared a classroom with McCarthy. Her first international success was silver at the World U-23 Championships five years ago, followed by bronze at European U-23s a year later. At the Tokyo Olympics she was part of the women’s four that took bronze. Hegarty is studying Biological Studies in UCC.
Natalie Long
Age: 34
Event: Women’s Four
Club: Lee Valley Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: None
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Natalie Long’s family moved to Cobh in Co Cork when she was six years old. She started rowing in Imperial College in London, initially to keep fit, but continued in the sport after she graduated and soon reached elite level. In 2018 she decided to train full-time. Injuries prevented Long from making the Tokyo Olympics, but she recovered her place in the Irish squad for the following season. She was part of the women’s four that won silver at the 2022 European Championships, and also competed in a pair with Imogen Magner last season.
Eimear Lambe
Age: 26
Event: Women’s Four
Club: Old Collegians Boat Club
Previous Olympics: Tokyo 2020
Younger sister of Claire, who rowed for Ireland at the Rio Olympics, Eimear Lambe was a member of the women’s four that won bronze at the Tokyo Games. Lambe and Emily Hegarty are the only survivors from that boat in the women’s four for these Olympics. A native of Cabra in Dublin, Lambe studied Commerce with German in UCD. She rowed at the Youth Olympic Games ten years ago and won silver at the World U-23 Championships five years later. Since then she has won silver and bronze at the European Championships as well as her Olympic medal.
Imogen Magner
Age: 25
Event: Women’s Four
Club: Carlow Rowing Club
Previous Olympics: None
Magner spent most of her teens trying to become a tennis professional. With that intention her family moved to Barcelona when she was 12 and Magner lived there until she was 17. At that point she swapped tennis for rowing. Her family returned to England where Magner studied Zoology at Reading University. She entered the GB ‘Start’ programme in 2018 but when she reached a ceiling in that system she tried her luck at Irish trials in 2022. Magner has an Irish grandfather, on her Dad’s side, and she first competed for Ireland at the 2023 European Championships.
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