WITH OAR WITHOUT Y
Laid-back Olympic rower Paul no longer fixating on medals, he’s going to enjoy every step of journey
PAUL O’DONOVAN came to an important realisation earlier this year.
For the Rio silver medallist, his journey as a rower is as important as the destination.
Notably, his medals are scattered here and there.
“I live in student apartments when I’m in university, so whatever I’d have on the desk then I’d just throw into a box and throw them at home or in the grandmother’s house,” said O’donovan, a World and European champion.
“They’re a bit all over the place. It’s always nice to win but I’m rowing because I enjoy it, not to get a big collection of medals.”
The Skibberreen man is fast approaching legendary status in Irish sport – a process that would be accelerated if Olympic gold is added to his collection in Thursday’s lightweight double sculls final.
“I was doing a bit of thinking earlier in the year,” he reflected.
“From my experience there’s a ceiling on how happy you can be from winning medals.
“For me, it’s not that much of a goal. If I really didn’t enjoy rowing and found it hard and miserable in training, knowing the experience I’ve had from winning medals, it just wouldn’t be worth it.
“As long as I’m enjoying the day to day stuff and hanging out with the lads, obviously the medals are a nice bonus.
“As a youngster, when you set out your aspirations they are winning Olympic gold medals. But every season when you’re planning your goals you pinpoint the big race and would like to win it.
“But day to day, that’s not what’s really motivating you when you’re getting up, that ‘I have to go and win the Olympic gold and if I don’t train hard, I won’t do it’.
“You’d lose your mind if you were thinking about that. It’s mostly just that we enjoy training every day.
“When training is getting a bit hard, you might think that maybe it would be worth it in the end if you win an Olympic gold medal.”
Their bid begins at 3.20am Irish time on Saturday – and O’donovan is confident the heat and humidity won’t be a factor after their pre-games camp in Banyoles, near Barcelona.
Similarly, the salt water lake is similar to what he experienced in Rio and reminds him of rowing near Rowing Ireland’s home near Inniscarra.
Yet it is a different scenario to Rio, where the O’donovans were not flagged as medal hopefuls and are gold medal favourites this time around.
By winning the Worlds in 2019 and becoming the dominant force in their field, the O’donovan-mccarthy partnership have fuelled hopes of Olympic gold.
True to form, Paul is not fazed. “I don’t think it makes a massive difference,” he said. “Ah, none at all, really.
“We’re just thinking about the racing . We’re not worried about what people think.
“We’re here doing it for ourselves and want to get the most out of ourselves, which is the ultimate goal.
“Our goal is to go as fast as we can. If we can win the gold that would be great. If we don’t but we still gave it our best shot, then we’ll be happy.
“So I wouldn’t pay heed to this ‘favourites’ and ‘pressure’ and all this stuff. I think it’s more made up than anything.”
Although he will return to Cork University Hospital and his medical studies and work in September, O’donovan is already thinking about the World
Championships in
Shanghai the next month.
And it’s all for the fun of it.