Rowing brothers are world champs in the boat... and ‘sculling’ pints
IRISH Olympic medallists and brothers Paul and Gary O’Donovan joked that a late-night boozing session helped them win the lightweight double sculls in the World Rowing Championships yesterday.
In another classic post-race interview the livewire pair suggested, with their tongues firmly in their cheeks, that the same night out resulted in one of the Norwegian favourites being substituted at the 11th hour.
The brothers were exuberant as they celebrated gold in Bulgaria yesterday.
The Olympic medallists, from Skibbereen, joked to RTÉ Sport how they headed away ‘early’ – at around 2am on the morning of the race – in preparation for their ‘big day’.
The brothers later discovered one of the Norwegians was ‘buckled’ by 3am and a decision had already been made to substitute him.
Paul joked: ‘We were out on the town last night with them and we said it’s our big day tomorrow, we need to be on form. We headed away early around 2am and we met the Norwegians on the way in and they said by 3am Kristoffer was buckled and it was best to make the substitution then. Early this morning he was still hung over.’
Norwegian reports suggest Kristoffer Brun had been sick since Friday with fever and stomach ulcers. Norway was favourite in the race, but could only manage fifth after the illness meant Brun had to be replaced in the boat.