My Job: Balancing work and chasing Olympic rowing glory

'Basically, I was working full-time with Deloitte up until the moment last year when I got the call to join the Irish team,” Zoe recounts of the call-up that has changed her life. 'They were very good in giving me flexible hours to integrate with the sporting schedule.'

Irish international rower Zoe Hyde thanks the pandemic for pushing her further into the rowing side of life.

Zoe Hyde is relaxing under the Italian sunshine when we talk, but it’s only a brief lunchtime break from a training camp regime that occupies her life on a 24/7 basis these days. 

“We have the World Championships starting in early September, which is the first chance of qualifying for the Olympics in Paris next year. Depending on how that goes, we do have a second chance to qualify at another event coming up next May — so our focus is totally geared to that timeline,” she explains.