Men’s Olympic Lightweight Double Sculls Final - Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, Sea Forest Waterway, Tokyo Bay, July 29th.
Only when their work was done, did Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy finally let down their guard down.
O’Donovan, bearded and with man bun exposed to the world after shedding his baseball cap, heartily shook his partner’s hand on the victory rostrum before placing the gold medal around his fellow Corkman’s neck.
Seconds later, the gesture was returned. And then the national anthem cut into the sticky, hot air to confirm Ireland’s first ever gold medal in rowing at the Olympics.
Before that, the hard job of winning gold was made to look nonsensically easy by the two coolest men in rowing.
For the length of the 2,000 metres course, the Irish duo - carrying the mantle of favouritism throughout - stuck to a plan which had served them well in building up a reputation as rowing’s invincible: a steady start was followed by a burst of acceleration between the 500m and 1,000m and then a sustained, lung-bursting high tempo to the be greeted by the sound of the horn on crossing the invisible line.
The Irishmen had allowed Germany to set the pace and stuck to their own stroke tempo before taking the lead close to the 1,500m mark and kept edging further and further ahead, crossing the line in 6.06.3, with Germany 0.86 seconds behind in second and Italy taking the bronze medal.
“They didn’t let us have it easy, that’s for sure,” observed O’Donovan.
Of claiming gold at his first Olympics, McCarthy - who took over from Paul’s brother Gary in the back seat - remarked: “I’ve been chilled out. Usually I’d be a bit more nervous but felt really prepared. The expectation and stuff doesn’t weigh too heavily on us, we do what we always do, the best we can! . . . Paul is an absolute animal, so it was handy enough to just sit behind and just emulate that.”
O’Donovan, a silver medallist in Rio, claimed: “After winning the gold medal, you’d be a bit happier about that because as a kid you are dreaming about winning the gold medals. Fintan did the right job and went right to the top in his first Games.”
