Irish Rowing: For our next trick…

So what happened next? Right after Paul and Gary O’Donovan became rowing royalty with their Olympic medal honesty in and out of the water in Rio de Janeiro.

After the heroics, welcome to fame, endorsements and awards. Agents. The People of the Year. The television documentary at Christmas on two ordinary Skibbereen lads doing extraordinary things. Filling in what Irish rowing’s first Olympic medallists did next. But catching that shooting star before it vanishes: How does Irish rowing ensure an appropriate and substantive legacy from its finest six and a half minutes?

In the cold blows of December, the National Rowing Centre at Inniscarra in Cork seems an odd spot to be making miracles, but the warm aftermath of that August Friday continues to radiate across the stretch of River Lee that weaves its way around the sport’s headquarters.