Konnichiwa from Tokyo BY EMMETT BOWEN
AS A FAMOUS IRISH BAND THIN LIZZY SANG: “THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN”. YES, I’M TALKING ABOUT THE TWO CORK BOYS. IRISH OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALISTS PAUL O’DONOVAN AND FINTAN McCARTY IN MEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT DOUBLE SCULLS JUST TOUCHED DOWN BACK HOME IN IRELAND.
The two lads have not had it easy in rowing but have a long-proven record of not giving up, ever. Both of the lads grew up in Ireland in the south west part of County Cork. Fintan is from the small town of Skibbereen and Paul is from the town of Lisheen near Skibbereen. Paul O’Donovan’s records are: • Bronze medal in the men’s lightweight single sculls in the under 23 world champions; • Silver medals in the men’s lightweight double sculls in 2017 and 2018 in European championships with a silver medal in Rio 2016 Olympics; • Gold medals in lightweight double scull at the European Championships in 2016 and 2021, World Championships in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and his newest achievement of Gold at the Tokyo 2020 games. Fintan McCarty’s records are: • Bronze medal at the2020 European Championships in lightweight single sculls; • Gold medals at the 2019 World Championships in lightweight single scull, European championships 2021 lightweight double sculls and now the Tokyo 2020 Olympics lightweight double scull. Fintan McCarty and Paul O’Donovan started their winning partnership in 2019 winning gold in the lightweight double scull at the World Rowing championships. Then in 2021, they again won gold in the lightweight double scull at the European Rowing championships. Their greatest achievement to date however, is winning gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the men’s lightweight double scull. They also broke the world record time of 6:05:22 in their semifinals, prior to winning the gold medal in Tokyo.
54 | THE IRISH SCENE
