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PAUL O’DONOVAN HAS said he and his brother Gary haven’t been able to let their Olympic medal win sink in as they’ve been so busy since claiming silver in the men’s lightweight double sculls final on Friday.
Speaking on C103’s Cork Today, Paul said: “We haven’t had too much time to think about the achievement really.
“We’ve been hearing a lot of things from home and they’re all after going mad in Skibbereen and all over the country. It is kind of a big thing really.”
He said they have “done a little bit [of celebrating]“, and tried to fit in some sightseeing in Rio de Janeiro too.
Gary is staying on in Brazil for another week, but Paul is leaving to go to the World Rowing Championships in Rotterdam.
The brothers have made international headlines thanks to their laid-back approach to interviews and humble attitudes.
Paul said it’s “kind of frightening to think about [the internet reaction]“, adding that Irish race walker Rob Heffernan told them their lives might “never be the same again” due to the media attention.
He expects a homecoming party to take place in Skibbereen in late August or early September.
The brothers also have another event coming up, with Paul noting an open invitation to a Debs was sent to them on Twitter, saying: “We’ll have to decide who’ll go to that.”
Proud parents
On the same show, their mother Trish said:
It seems that the world and their mother are happy for them and delighted for them, and have taken them on board as two ambassadors for the country and rowing … that is fantastic.
She said she is very proud of her sons making history, securing Ireland’s first-ever medal in rowing at the Olympics.
When asked about their personalities, she said: “Ah sure they’re stone mad, they’re wild. They were always as wild as could be [as children] … They’d find fun in everything.”
Their father Teddy, who coached them for years, said:
The day I took them rowing, their lives were never the same again really.
He said his sons truly love the sport and that drive “was always in them”.
Teddy added that he always thought they had a good chance of winning a medal.
“I had made the prediction. When it comes down to an Olympic final you obviously don’t know because it comes down to the finest of margins. But I did, I had them tipped to be challenging for a medal … that was before they went out to the Olympics at all.”
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Sympathy to the poor woman, but serious sympathy to the poor truck driver, this is becoming all to frequent in this country, he was only doing his days work, minding his own business.
That poor woman. Her whole life turned upside down on a morning where we all should be just enjoying the sunshine and then this happens. Devastated for her.
This is utterly horrible. Poor young mum. Poor wee kid. Words fail me
So tragic. How is that mother ever going to get over this. Rip little man. Watch over your mam.
Looks like it was deliberate. I could be wrong but it looks like attempted murder of the woman and murder/ suicide of the child and man. I know that road well and if he was from Lattin he would know it well too and would know not to overtake. Rip to both and my utmost sympathy to the mother of the little boy.
He’s not eastern European, his parents are Italian, but he was born and raised here,
Don’t like the look where this story is going
It’s easy to condemn but the poor man must have been in a very distressed state of mind to do something like that.
RIP.
Fcuk him. He just destroyed a mothers life and murdered her son. If he lives we would all be saying he should be locked up. But now that he died we feel sorry for him. And don’t get me started on the funeral service for this fella where the priests says “it’s a dark day”.. This man just murdered his son and attempted to murder his partner. S(umbag
Ricky.. Most murdering b@stards are in a distressed state of mind
When a mother murders her children society reaches out the hand of compassion and understanding.
Why is it not the same for fathers?
Ricky. Murdering mothers are worse than mothering dads
Just think about what happened here for a moment………and reflect on how this situation spiralled out of control to this point. The human tragedy involved.
Can we truly say we understand it and as such are in a position to make a judgement call one way or the other?
Sinead I hope you are never in a situation where your mind is so badly messed up by depression that you are not thinking rationally. Obviously this man was out of his mind doing this and it breaks my heart that a little boy has died and his mother had to go through such an assault, but nobody knows his circumstances and shouldn’t be quick to judge that he was ” evil” . I’m not saying I agree with what he did because I don’t , but with serious mental health problems a while back myself I know that your mind does not think normally . I certainly hope this is the case with him because I’d hate to think this WAS an act of pure evil
Oh no. That poor little boy. Whether the crash was an accident or deliberate, no child deserves that.
So sad, too much detail re the crash. Horrible set of circumstances
It’s just so sad to be hearing about theses suicides , people should always realised that life is 2 step backwards and 1 step forward , this carry on could be avoided… RIP to the little lad … So sad !
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