Fintan McCarthy climbed out of the boat at the victory pontoon, gleaming white socks stepping on to a vivid blue mat. In the fastest vessel that ever left these shores McCarthy is responsible for in-race strategy and post-race jubilation. Those roles come naturally. He flexed his knees, raised his arms towards the packed grandstand and roared at the top of his lungs. “Come on!!”
Then he turned to the greatest Irish Olympian that has ever lived and wrapped him in a brotherly embrace. On a sweltering morning at Vaires-sur-Marne, 25 miles from the centre of Paris, their boat travelled through time. In the lightweight double sculls McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan became the first Irish athletes to successfully defend an Olympic title since Dr Pat O’Callaghan in 1932.
Set alongside the silver he won in Rio, O’Donovan became the first Irish athlete to win medals at three Olympics, an extraordinary feat of athleticism and endurance and bloody-mindedness.
In the biggest race of their lives McCarthy and O’Donovan were impeccable in their execution and utterly dominant. They hit the front with about 800m to go and turned the screw on Greece and Italy, their closest pursuers. At the finish they were more than a boat length clear.
“I don’t think we had a whole load of pressure on us, to be honest,” said O’Donovan, nonchalant and deadpan. “I don’t think we felt it either in Tokyo or other years.”
Whether that is entirely true or not, it is tempting to believe him. They win so many of their races a long way from home, covering the water with graceful rhythm and smooth power, that it must be a boundless source of confidence. Rowers talk about the “pain cave” in the middle of a race, and they must visit that place too, but it never shows on their faces or in their stroke.
“We take pride in what we do every day and in our training,” said McCarthy. “Like, you don’t ever really think about that stuff [winning gold] so when people say it, it sounds a bit strange and a bit alien but we’re just proud that the work has paid off and the plan worked out.
“It’s been great. It’s just been so much fun, and from the very first stroke I’ve just loved rowing. To be able to do it for the last however many years I’ve been at it, it’s an honour and a privilege and not many people get to follow their dreams like that.”
Over the years McCarthy and O’Donovan have been good at explaining themselves. There are layers of sophistication in rowing – in the make-up of the boat and the physiology of the athletes – that don’t lend themselves to small talk, but they have never tried to shroud it in mystique. They spend their training days in grinding pursuit of volume and meaningful tweaks. Whatever makes the boat go faster.
“We like training, day to day,” said O’Donovan. “The two of us like to get into some of the physiology and science behind it and discuss with Dominic [Casey, coach] different bits about the training programme and trying to change little bits day to day, looking for improvements every couple of weeks, testing, monitoring and stuff.
“We’d take a real interest in that kind of stuff as well ourselves. So, it’s not kind of like we’re going out there mindlessly getting through training with the goal of hopefully it will pay off at the end of the year. We just kind of really enjoy those day to day bits and then you don’t have to worry about motivating yourself for a year’s time or two years’ time.”
Friday was the glorious outcome of all kinds of everything. This partnership came together in 2019 when McCarthy won his seat in the boat for the first time. For a while, he said, he suffered from “impostor syndrome.” Medals were the best cure. Their tally now stands at two Olympic gold medals, three World Championships and two European titles. Their boat is a rocket ship.
This season, though, was not straightforward. In the early part of the year McCarthy suffered from injury and illness that dragged on for months and his training was disrupted. When they were beaten into third at the World Cup race in Lucerne McCarthy had very little training in his legs. In the last two months all of that was addressed.
“Fintan was on fire this morning,” said O’Donovan. “He had the legs to get us over the line in first place.”
“I think I had a bit of an off-season nearly, [that’s what I was thinking] halfway through the year,” said McCarthy. “But I clawed it back. It’s just been great to have Paul for the year being the consistent workhorse, and then I did a bit of a cram and it all worked out in the end.”
The atmosphere at the regatta was electric. From the tent at the top of the course, where they tended to their boat before racing, O’Donovan said they could see the mass of green shirts and Tricolours in the grandstand. A couple of hours after the race they went down to where the Irish crowd was still waiting and stood for selfies and signed Irish shirts and smiled on all who smiled on them.
“It was amazing,” said McCarthy. “The amount of Irish supporters in the crowd – I’ve never seen anything like it. Looking up into the crowd and seeing all the friends and family, and people who have just been there, it’s extremely special.”
They were witnesses to greatness. Eternal greatness.
