Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy row into history with another Olympic gold

Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy rowed into the history books today by retaining their Olympic title in the final of the men’s lightweight double sculls at Paris 2024.

O’Donovan has become the first Irish athlete to win a medal at three Olympic Games.

Winning gold again "was always the aim", according to McCarthy, but O’Donovan claimed the historic feat was "a fluke, to be honest".

"That’s definitely going down as a fluke in my eyes, that’s about it," he told RTÉ Sport.

However, the duo finished in a time of 6:10.99 to seal back-to-back golds in what was a dominant display, finishing almost three seconds clear of second-place Italy.

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Meanwhile, McCarthy joins his crew mate in the elite club of Irish competitors to win a medal at more than one Olympic Games.

The 27-year-old is the fifth person to join the list and the second just this week after boxer Kellie Harrington also guaranteed at least a bronze, in the 60kg category she won in Tokyo.

O'Donovan (30) won the first of his three medals alongside brother Gary at Rio 2016, where they took silver.

He was then partnered with McCarthy and they went on to win gold at the Covid-19 pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.

Today, they became the first Irish athletes to win golds at successive Games since Pat O'Callaghan in the men’s hammer throw at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics.

Boxer Paddy Barnes rounds out the list of Irish athletes to medal at multiple Olympics.

He won bronze at both the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2012 London Games.