GARY O’DONOVAN IS still coming to terms with being called a European champion. The fact that the 23-year-old shares that title with his brother Paul, 22, makes it even more special.
It’s been a whirlwind day and a half for the Skibbereen siblings since they won gold in the lightweight men’s double sculls yesterday at the European Rowing Championships in Brandenburg, about 80km west of Berlin.
The O’Donovan brothers timed their race to perfection, finishing strongly to claim gold with almost two seconds to spare over the home pair, with pre-race favourites Norway back in third.
“It’s huge,” O’Donovan told The42 when asked what the result means for Irish rowing.
“I think the last time that the Irish anthem was played at a major rowing championships was in 2002 with Sam Lynch at the world championships in the lightweight singles.
So to have the anthem playing was so exciting, it was such an honour.
The Irish pair went into the final in excellent form, having won their heat and their semi-final.
They scraped home ahead of the Germans by two tenths of a second in their semi, while the Norwegians completed the 2000m distance almost five seconds quicker than the Irish in the other semi-final.
Ahead of the final, the Norwegian pair of Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli looked the ones to beat. They had recorded the quickest times in the heats and in the semis and have plenty of pedigree; having won bronze at the last two world championships and gold in 2013.
But in difficult, windy conditions reminiscent of home, the O’Donovans were confident they would be in the mix come the finishing line.
“We had beaten the Germans already,” Gary O’Donovan explained.
“We’ve been racing these German guys since 2013 at under-23 level.
“We were training with them in Seville in November and December. We were in the same hotel and were hanging out at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We’re really good friends, and likewise with the Norwegians, we’re good friends with them as well.
“The conditions were very difficult for the final. There was an awful wind coming in from the right-hand side but everyone has to put up with it.
“But when we see wind at a regatta we say ‘yes’ because coming from Ireland we obviously get plenty of wind.
“We were doing our warm-up and we were finding the conditions challenging, to balance the boat and keep our form and everything. But we got through it and just kept a positive mind for the race.”
Their race tactics played out like clockwork. The brothers always aim to conserve energy for a strong finish, so if they’re in touch with the leaders heading into the final stretch they know they’re in good shape, and that’s how the final panned out.
“During the race the Norwegians got out to an early lead. Ourselves and Germany were level coming into the middle of the race, with the Norwegians a little bit ahead.
“We started moving then. We got into a really good race rhythm.
“We try and get through the race as efficiently as we can, without burning too much energy. We know we have a good finish. It’s a good asset to have.
“We say it all the time, ‘if we are in touching distance with Norway we’ll have a very good finish and we can beat them’. And we did.”
The O’Donovan gold capped off an outstanding weekend for Irish rowing that also saw Sanita Puspure claim bronze in the women’s single sculls and fourth-place finishes recorded in the lightweight men’s pair by Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll, and in the lightweight women’s single sculls by Denise Walshe.
With Rio qualification already in the bag the O’Donovans have plenty to look forward to this year but they hope that their achievement, and that of their team-mates, will have a lasting impact and inspire others to make Ireland a force in rowing once again.
“I hope it will spur on a lot of people and people will start to realise that Irish rowing can be really successful again. We used to be really successful in the early 2000s.
“It was huge, we’ve been progressing each year and hopefully we can keep going on an upward curve.”
You can watch how the O’Donovan brothers won gold in English commentary here.
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