– Niall Kelly reports from Lagoa Stadium, Rio de Janeiro
SINÉAD LYNCH AND Claire Lambe finished their Olympic adventure with their heads held high after playing their part on a historic day for Irish rowing.
Brothers Gary and Paul O’Donovan stole the show with their silver medals in the men’s lightweight double sculls, just moments after Lynch and Lambe finished sixth in the women’s race.
It was the first time in Irish history that two boats had qualified for A finals at the Olympic regatta, and though they never challenged for the medal places, the duo were proud of their final performance.
“We did our best there,” Lynch said. “We have absolutely no regrets.
“We had a really good row, maybe not the best start, but I think if we hadn’t been side by side with the five top crews in the world, we might have thought that was a brilliant start.
We got into a really good rhythm, tried really hard and even sprinted at the end, which we don’t normally get right, but we did that really well.
Netherlands took the gold ahead of Canada and China with the Irish time of 7:13.09 a full five seconds faster than their effort in Thursday’s semi-finals.
For Lynch, who won world championship gold in the single sculls back in 2001 before turning her hand to track cycling in the hope of qualifying for the Olympics, just making it to Rio at the age of 39 was the measure of her dreams.
“I wanted to do everyone proud because watching at home there are so many gathered. My parents are with a crowd at home in Hawthorne Heights (in Letterkenny) and at St Michael’s Rowing Club there is a gathering. It’s just amazing the support from home.
“It would have been so amazing to grab a medal and we didn’t do that. But we did ourselves proud.”
She added: “I knew coming here that it was going to be so, so tough to make the final.
“As you saw, the crews are so tightly packed and it’s a dream come true to make the final.
“Today everything was going to be a bonus but we really thought we might be able to grab one of those bonuses, but it is disappointing.
I think what we’re most disappointed with is that it’s the end of our journey together. We’ve had 18 fabulous months and the highs and the lows have been unbelievable.
“It’s going to be really sad hanging up the boat now and knowing that’s the end of it.”
