Paul O'Donovan says Olympic champions are underdogs now
Irish duo started their title defence in style
Underdog day afternoon in Vaires-sur-Marne.
Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy sent out a message to their rivals as they began the defence of their men’s lightweight double sculls title with a commanding performance.
And they did it as eh, underdogs — even if their rivals didn’t know it.
“What’s happened is, we’ve kind of shifted it without them realising, so it’s after taking them by surprise now,” said O’Donovan, grinning. “And they’re kind of getting worried — that’s the feeling around the boat park. Being the favourites, they’re not used to it.”
Gone is the talk of pulling like a dog from Rio, but O’Donovan is still full of mischief and his eyes were twinkling in the mid-afternoon sun as he delivered a masterclass in the art of an béal bocht.
“If you look at the seeding list we are way down on it this time,” said O’Donovan. “I can’t even count how many names are above us.
“Maybe that’s down to the lack of my counting abilities and I forgot my abacus but the pressure is on everyone else here.
“We are just here to enjoy ourselves, do the best we can and take a few of the big scalps all going well.
“So we have been really enjoying it out there and hopefully there will be more to come from us. And the big names will be worried because there is a target on their back.”
Just two places were available for the semi-final in their heat and by the halfway point the Irish pair were already in control.
Within the space of 200m there was clear blue water between them and the other boats. And they never looked back, crossing the line in a time of 6:34.12 — seven seconds ahead of the Norwegians in second.
McCarthy is not looking at any one crew as the biggest danger to their hopes of back-to-back Olympic gold.
“I don’t think you can count anyone out at the Olympics,” said McCarthy. “It’s always one where things get shaken up a bit. So hopefully we’ll shake up the pecking order a little bit.”
The pair skipped Friday’s opening ceremony, although McCarthy did dress up for the occasion and walked around the garden at the hotel where they are staying near the Stade Nautique.
After some indifferent form earlier in the season the pair admitted they have something to prove.
“We always have something to prove,” said O’Donovan.
“Chips on our shoulders, really,” said McCarthy.
“Yeah, big chips on our shoulders,” added O’Donovan.
And two-time Olympic medallist O’Donovan dismissed any talk of the defending champions actually being the favourites after all.
“We've not heard that talk at all,” said O’Donovan.
“As I was saying we are seeded way down the list. People are delusional if they are having that talk at the minute. We have belief in ourselves that we can come out on top. That's what we are looking forward to trying to do.”
Earlier, Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh fought off a ferocious challenge from Czechia and Britain to take second in their heat of the women’s pair in near perfect conditions.
“We were out this morning, had a look out and we were like ‘Thank God it’s not the same as yesterday with the rain’,” said Keogh.
Keogh and Murtagh have a day off now before their next assignment in the semi-final.
“We’ve just come off a really hard couple of weeks of training and the body is still in that kind of shock of training so hard,” said Murtagh.
“It’s a long week until the semis and finals and stuff so the first race is always going to feel a bit of a hit but you want it to feel like that.
“You don’t want to necessarily feel good straight away, you don’t want to peak too soon. So we’re confident in ourselves in how we’re feeling at the moment and how we’re going to feel over the next couple of days.”
Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney grabbed third place in the men's pair, just holding off the world champion Swiss crew in a thrilling finish and are now through to the A/B semi-finals.
“It’s good to see where everyone stands and get something in the legs. Feeling very fresh. We’re not used to feeling fresh with the training programme we’re on. It’s nice to get a bit of fatigue back in the body,” said Corrigan.
However, there was disappointment for the women's four of Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen Magner, who finished third in their heat and now go into the repechage.
The women's lightweight double sculls team of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey are also heading to the repechage after another third place finish.
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