History-making Irish rowers won’t be bringing the house down

TOKYO:

Paul O’donovan partnered Fintan McCarthy to win Ireland’s first ever rowing Olympic gold on Thursday and said it is fortunate for their neighbours there are coronavirus protocols in place otherwise they “would knock down their apartment”.

O’donovan and Mccarthy triumphed in the men’s lightweight double sculls, an event threetime world champion O’donovan had taken silver in with his brother Gary in Rio in 2016.

O’donovan said it was hard to compare the feelings he had in 2016 and now -- “it is a long time ago and I would be hard pressed to remember them” -- and celebrations would be muted, at least in Japan.

Tokyo is under a coronavirus state of emergency with measures such as alcohol banned in bars and restaurants, which have to close by 8pm.

“There is not much celebrating to be done in Japan to be honest,” said 27-year-old O’donovan.

“We will have to be careful with the Covid you know, unfortunately. Otherwise, we would go all out and have massive parties.

“We would probably knock down the apartment but fortunately, for the Japanese and our neighbours, that won’t be happening this year.”

Mccarthy -- who partnered O’donovan when they won the 2019 world title, thereby qualifying for the Olympics -- said their initial celebration would be to eat a proper meal.

“We will have a trip to the dining hall first,” said Mccarthy. “We have been waiting all week. It will be nice to go there and not keep an eye on what we are eating.”