Relief and redemption for Doyle as he takes Olympic bronze with Daire Lynch

REASON FOR CHEER: Ireland’s Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch celebrate with their bronze medals. Pic: Morgan Treacy, Inpho

The hour after an Olympic medal is won must feel like a full day in normal time. The adrenalin is flowing through and out of you, the muscles are recovering, and the mind is scrambled.

There is a plethora of media to be done, podium athletes being directed along a line of journalists and broadcasters like diners in a canteen with their meal trays.

Federation personnel and general well-wishers are all looking for a handshake, a hug, a smile and a selfie. The medal ceremony is a monster in itself with each venue replete with offices dedicated to it.

Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch had all those distractions and the swirl of emotions in their heads on Thursday too.

They entered the men’s double sculls tipped for silver behind the Dutch, their form here this week suggested gold was on offer, and then they claimed bronze.

The first thing to say here is that a bronze is an incredible achievement. 

It is Ireland’s first men's Olympic medal in the heavyweight rowing ranks and all the more welcome for the fact that the lightweight division - our traditional strength - has been scratched for LA in 2028.

But there’s no point in saying that there’s not a woulda, coulda about this, though in no way a shoulda. 

Doyle expressed his own regrets for a mistake down the stretch that put paid to their hopes of catching the Dutch who were themselves beaten to the top step by Romania.

The Romanians started fast, as expected. Then they stayed strong and in front, which was unexpected. It forced Ireland to push more than planned through the middle and then a neck issue that has affected Doyle all year started seizing up.

All of which caused him to lose his grip on the handle, and his rhythm, for a split second. A glitch, he called it. 

Philip Doyle, left, and Daire Lynch of Team Ireland celebrate after winning bronze in the men's double sculls A final. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

He found the groove again quickly enough for them to hold off the USA, so was it elation mixed with deflation at the end?

“I nearly dropped the flipping oar with 50 metres to go, so I think a little bit maybe was just relief,” Doyle said. “But I think when we won the semi, when we won the heat, there's that great feeling of adrenaline as you're coming in.

“You know, ‘you've got it in the bag’, whereas there, you know, you're, you're looking around and you realise… During the week, you try and get something from each race. You build off it, you build off it. Whereas today, it was just a release almost, it was kind of a wave of positive and negative and relief and disappointment.

“Sometimes you just have to contain that within yourselves and look back and just say like ‘give it all’. You can stand up and jump around, but if you're doing that, you probably could have done more during the race.” 

Lynch described himself as a “bit shook” after it. The Clonmel rower hadn’t been well during the week, even while they were cruising to such impressive wins in the heat and semi-final, but he felt much better for the big one.

Ultimately, you do what you can to the best of your ability and then you take what life gives you. That was exactly Doyle’s take. He is friendly with one of the Romanians and congratulated them more than once. 

They were the best crew on the day, he said.

The Dutch favourites echoed that too.

For Lynch, this is a rich reward after his decision to leave behind a good job and a good life in New York less than 18 months ago. 

For Doyle, it is a means of closing the chapter from Tokyo where his boat with Ronan Byrne failed to flow despite huge hopes for them at those Games.

“I’ve always used that word redemption over the last few years. Like Daire said, I kind of had a campaign in the single on my mind almost. Then Daire showed up from New York and we did a trial with some of the young guys coming off the U23 team, and it was close but Daire won out.

“He was coming back from New York and he wasn’t at his fittest, but then he just got fitter and faster, fitter and faster, and nobody else really had a chance to step into the boat.” 

Bronze medalists. Irelands fourth of these Olympic Games. Ireland's fourth ever in rowing and, again, the first for a men's heavyweight crew. 

Reason for cheer whatever way you look at it.