I am immensely proud to say that the Paris Olympic Games have not only confirmed but also surpassed the success we achieved in Tokyo, which had been our most successful Games until now.
Securing two medals—a Gold and a Bronze—matching our performance in Tokyo and achieving our best-ever result with a Lightweight crew confirming the Gold and the Heavyweight Men’s crew winning a medal for the first time, has been a monumental accomplishment. We had four crews in the A final (top six), twice as many as in Tokyo, and all seven crews that we qualified for – one more than Tokyo – reached the top 12. These results are a testament to the sacrifices, dedication, and hard work of our athletes, coaches, and staff.
The journey has certainly been challenging, with the entire team training permanently at the National Rowing Centre in Cork, traveling, and spending weeks overseas for camps and competitions. Could we have done even better? I believe so, and a thorough reflection and analysis will help us identify where and how. However, I am confident in saying that everyone—athletes, coaches, and staff—gave their absolute best.
My greatest personal satisfaction comes from witnessing the joy and pride of our athletes, coaches, and staff at the end of the competition. While some crews with high expectations faced challenges in achieving their anticipated results, I am confident that these teams are on the path to reaching their full potential. The High-Performance team remains committed to providing them with all the support and assistance they need to succeed.
It’s important to note that most of our team members were competing in their first Olympic Games, with some in their second, and only one in their third. This is also true for our coaches and staff. Before Rio 2016, we were barely on the world rowing map. We finished 13th in Rio after winning our first-ever Olympic medal, moved up to 8th in Tokyo with two medals, and now, we are 5th in Paris—matching the performance of powerhouses like the USA and Germany, and surpassing countries like Canada, Italy, Australia, Poland, Switzerland, Spain, and France.
These achievements would not have been possible without the massive support from Sport Ireland, Sport Ireland Institute, Sport NI, the Olympic Federation of Ireland, our Board, Chair, and President, our CEO, all the coaches, staff, families, friends, and the spectators who cheered us on at the venue. We also extend our deepest gratitude to our sponsors, whose generous contributions have been instrumental in our success.
The job isn’t finished yet, with Coupe later this week, the U19, U23, and Senior World Championships in 10 days, and our Para crew set to compete in Paris at the Paralympics at the end of the month. September and October will be months of review and planning for the future. Achieving great results is hard, but maintaining and improving upon them is even harder.
