Olympic gold medallist Paul O’Donovan graduates with degree in Medicine

Olympic gold and silver medallist, Paul O’Donovan, has proved he is as adept at time management as he is at rowing having managed to combine winning his fifth gold medal at the World Rowing Championships  last year with finishing the final year of his degree in Medicine.

Speaking following his conferring at UCC today the 29 year old native of Lisheen, in West Cork,  said that he always tries to stay as disciplined as possible. He hardly watches television and won’t be found binge watching shows on Netflix whilst eating pints of ice cream.

He joked that his hectic schedule of books followed by getting in the boat meant that he “hadn’t answered the phone to the mother in a long time.” He admits that his mother (Trish) “wasn’t best pleased with him” over his lack of contact.

Paul attributes his sporting and academic success to “cracking on with things” rather than over thinking or procrastinating.

“I get up and go straight out the door in the morning and do some training and it is done for the day and then I just spend the rest of the day studying in college and that kind of stuff.

"I sometimes get a bit of free times at the weekends and meet some friends and see the family once in a while. It is nice to have them (the family) all here today.

I get much more stressed about school stuff than the rowing with exams and things. A little bit of stress is good because you wouldn’t be motivated to do anything at all without it. A little bit is good for you but not to much.”

He said that having the focus of both rowing and studying alleviates stress by dividing it.

“When you are not rowing you have to think about your studying, so you can’t be thinking ‘am I doing enough training?’ You also have different social outlets.

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