Paul O’Donovan not taking his spot on the Olympic team for granted
Silver medallist focused on sealing Irish spot in Tokyo after hospital placement
THE countdown clocks have been reset and are ticking again for the Tokyo Olympics. Though nobody knows for sure whether the Games will go ahead in six months’ time, oarsman Paul O’Donovan is assuming they will proceed on schedule.
He is a full-time athlete again having taken a sabbatical from his medical studies just before Christmas.
Life in the real world brought him up close and personal with the challenges facing hospital staff in the middle of a pandemic. Last year, he did a rotation in Cork University Hospital which involved time in the areas of surgery, medicine and psychiatry.
Though O’Donovan had finished his rotation before the hospital had to cope with the third wave of the pandemic, he still had to be cautious. However, he suggests reports of panic are exaggerated.
“There’s not a crazy panic like what you’re reading in the media about how it’s madness and it’s huge pressure,” he said. “They’re really working hard. It obviously wasn’t peak as it is now, but they’re quite calm.”
He sidesteps the thorny issue of whether Olympic-bound athletes should be prioritised in terms of being vaccinated.
“It’s not something I’ve thought fully through yet, so it’s not something I could give you an answer on what I think is right or wrong,” said the 26-year-old.
“I think there is [an argument] for and against both. Fortunately, I won’t be the one making the decision. So we’re listening to what the more senior guys are saying about the whole situation.”
O’Donovan’s focus has switched to securing a slot on the lightweight double sculls boat which has qualified for the Games.
On the back of winning four World Championship gold medals, as well as silver at the Rio Games, he is in pole position to secure one of the berths. But he offers a different view.
“Some people assume that I’m in the boat and that I have to think about being in peak shape in the last week of July for the Games. But selection for the boat is really early and the boys are in better shape than they’ve ever been as well. So it’s going to be really competitive to make the boat.”
The decision will be made after trials at the end of March. Essentially, it is a battle between two families.
Paul and his brother Gary – who he won Olympic silver with in 2016 – are in contention together with their Skibbereen club mates, twins Fintan and Jake McCarthy.
A fifth contender, former World Championship gold medallist Shane O’Driscoll, dropped out of contention last summer when he took up fulltime employment as an engineer.
The 2019 World Championship-winning boat was crewed by Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy.
Jake McCarthy injured a disc in his back last summer but is now back on the water, according to O’Donovan.
“He’s back in the boat a bit more often now and he’s training with the group, but he’s not done any testing or anything like that yet. So it’s yet to be seen how he’ll shape up.”
Regardless of what pans out between now and the end of this summer, O’Donovan has a refreshingly philosophical approach to his beloved sport.
“In the end, it doesn’t make that much of a difference,” he says. “People think that winning a medal would be the happiest moment of your life and you would remember it forever.
“But really, the happiness doesn’t last that long. Maybe half an hour of peak happiness and then it declines quickly. After a few days or even a day, you don’t think about it at all.”
This pragmatic approach helps him not only cope with the stress associated with elite sport, but sitting career-shaping medical exams.
“Doing the university stuff is good mental training for trying to use that stress to the best of your ability and to remain calm to perform when it is needed,” he says.
But rowing will never define him. “You just kind of learn that it’s not that bad when things don’t work out. It is a little better when they do. Some people say it (success) is the best thing in the world. It is good but it’s a little bit over-rated.”
‘They’re really working hard (in hospital). It obviously wasn’t peak as it is now, but they’re quite calm.’