Why top rower Philip Doyle is facing dilemma of aiming for 2021 Olympics or resuming his medical studies
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HAD things gone to plan, Philip Doyle would be starting to increase his preparations for the Olympics right about now, ramping up the intensity of his training sessions for an intended peak in Tokyo.
Instead, the Irish rower is currently sitting in Cork waiting to hear if he’ll be called back to Belfast to continue his foundation training with the NHS next week.
That’s the realism of the impact Covid-19 has had on some athletes. While most professional sportspeople simply put their plans on hold until their respective leagues start back up again, some don’t have that luxury.
Banbridge man Doyle is one of those. His plan had been to compete at the Olympics, hopefully bring a medal back to our shores and then begin his medical career after that. Now that his trip to Tokyo has been pushed back a year, the future looks cloudy.
“I have to finish eight months of my first year foundation training — I’ve only done four months so far — and those eight months have to be done before August 2021,” explains Doyle, who was considered to be one of Ireland’s top medal hopes in the double sculls alongside partner Ronan Byrne.
“Obviously the earlier I get them started, the sooner I get them finished, so at the moment I’m in talks to potentially start work next Wednesday, so I could be back up north working in a hospital by then.
“It will essentially mean a break from training with Ronan. I did it before, from December 2018 to April 2019, but this will be a longer stint this time. It was a struggle back then, working 50-hour weeks and then doing 20, 30 hours of training, so I’m a bit apprehensive.
“Obviously with the rowing schedule being so strict and the medical schedule being so flexible, there’s going to be a lot of challenges in my way over the next few months.”
Doyle anticipates that his situation won’t prevent him from competing in next year’s Olympics, and the Co Down man is anticipating that he would return to work next week and finish those eight months in December, which would let him switch back to rowing full-time and build back up to Tokyo in 2021 with Byrne.
The frustration for the pair is that everything had been trending in the right direction for this summer. Ireland’s rowing squad had spent the last few weeks together at the National Rowing Centre — which closed yesterday — where they were able to operate on a regular schedule, and things had been going as well as hoped.
The Irish duo won silver medals at last year’s World Championships, which already had them as one of the favourites to finish on the podium in Japan, and that feeling was only boosted last week when Doyle and Byrne both unofficially broke the Irish 2,000m indoor record, and confidence was soaring.
“Mentally it’s very tough. It’s very tough for the whole team because we were at such a high point recently, physically and mentally,” admits Doyle, who also revealed that, although Ireland are guaranteed to have a boat in Tokyo next year, he and Byrne will have to re-qualify to be in it through national trials.
“Our boat speed was better than it had ever been, and that showed we were really pushing on with our speed and endurance, and we were starting to get really excited about the racing and how fast we could potentially go, and the medal hopes were getting stronger and stronger.
“Now we need to take a step back and look at how we replicate this process next year and see how we make it better than where we are now. That’s quite difficult to look that far ahead.”
The ideal situation would be pushing his medical training back by another year, of course, giving him a full 16 months to train for the Olympics that he should have been competing in this summer.
However, that’s not an option according to Doyle, who, understandably, has his priorities straight.
“I was at the limit of what I could ask for already, with the Olympics being this summer, so I don’t know how it would be done,” he says of asking the NHS for an extension.
“You have to be practical as well. To take that amount of time off and be just out of medical school, even though I keep up with my studying while I’m away, it’s not the same.
“You have to take a step back and remember you have to put the patients first.
“I wouldn’t want to be returning to work as a sub-par doctor, and I’m sure nobody wants to be treated on by a sub-par doctor either, so the sooner I get back and boost my knowledge and experience, the better for me in my future career.
“Obviously it’s not great for my rowing, but I think I do need to step back and look at my longterm future rather than just the immediate future.”
So, until he can return to the water in an official capacity —
Doyle is still planning to train by himself once he returns north of the border — the medical side of his life takes over.
While he doesn’t know where he will be working yet, he is eager to get back onto the front lines and help out during what is one of the toughest times for medical personnel in British history.
“I’ll be working as a full foundation one doctor wherever they need me,” says Doyle.
“It could be medicine, it could be surgery, could be respiratory, could be renal, could be anything.
“It’ll be wherever I’m needed essentially, and I’m sure they’ll have a few vacancies because people are off sick right now.
“I’d been conflicted down south because I have skills that could be useful, so I do think at times that it would be good if I could be up there and help out some of my friends and colleagues.
“But I’m glad I’m getting to help out now, and hopefully I can use this work as motivation to help for the Olympics next year.”