Rowing scandal brought choppy waters for Fintan McCarthy to navigate

It's tricky territory for the Olympic champion, caught between the testimony of former teammates and Rowing Ireland and Sport Ireland who are backing his journey to LA 2028.

Olympic gold medallist rower, Fintan McCarthy, pictured at the launch of the SPAR and EUROSPAR Community Fund 2026. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

There’s an understandable note of caution in Fintan McCarthy’s words as he addresses the scandal that rocked Irish rowing late last year.

On one side of it were some former teammates, who outlined their troubling experiences in the high-performance programme in a series of articles by Paul Kimmage in the Sunday Independent. On the other: bodies like Rowing Ireland and Sport Ireland, which will fund the two-time Olympic gold medallist on his path to the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

So this is tricky territory, to say the least.

But still, the question must be asked: What did McCarthy make of those articles and the subsequent fallout?

“To be honest, it was a really difficult time for us all – for different reasons, obviously. From my side, it was a really, really hard time, probably the hardest few months of my career so far. There had been so many changes in my eyes made in order to improve the welfare and make us a bit more central in the decision-making processes. For all that to come [out] after a year where we had so much growth and success was tricky to navigate.”

Does he believe the investigation highlighted a programme that needed to change?

“I was surprised by some of it,” he says. “I obviously had my own perspective on some of what was included in those articles but at the end of the day, everyone has their own version of reality, I guess, and you’re never going to get everyone totally on the same page. It’s fair enough for everyone to have their voice and their perspective. I just think maybe it was very heavy on a certain perspective, but I guess that’s what sells papers though.”

The articles outlined welfare concerns raised by Irish rowers who had worked under former high-performance director Antonio Maurogiovanni, who oversaw the programme between 2017 and 2024.

Rowing Ireland and Sport Ireland were summoned before an Oireachtas Committee in January to discuss allegations of a toxic culture in the programme, which clinical psychologist Paul Gaffney said functioned “like a cult”. 

Former rowers Monika Dukarska and Sanita Puspure gave evidence to an Oireachtas Sports Committee about their experiences in the programme, with Dukarska stating it was an “environment governed by fear, intimidation and selected silence, used as a form of bullying.” 

McCarthy believes much progress has been made in the area of athlete welfare. “Now there’s been even more work to try bridge that gap and we’re so lucky to have the staff that we have here. We’ve never been in a stronger position in terms of support staff, coaches. It’s a testament to the people we have that we’ve managed to kind of deal with that and also listen and look towards improving.

“Look, I’m not saying it was perfect [before]. And I think maybe last year, a lot of my focus would have been on the governance and the setup and all that. But I just think that’s not really for us to be worrying about. I’m really preferring this year to just focus on the rowing – that’s what my job is.”

Maurogiovanni parted ways with Rowing Ireland not long after the Paris Games in 2024, having overseen two Olympic cycles that delivered four medals for Irish rowers. Former lightweight coach Dominic Casey, who guided McCarthy to his two Olympic wins, was appointed last year as high performance lead coach.

“It was tricky last year,” said McCarthy. “Because Dominic is kind of our coach, and for him to come in and start coaching everyone, I just wanted for that to go as seamlessly as possible and for everyone to experience what we’ve experienced from Dominic in the past, which is a really good and a really positive style of coaching. Which was shown in our results.” 

McCarthy believes Irish rowing is now in a better place after a difficult period. “I guess it was just a bit of a setback in that progressing as naturally as we wanted to. But things seem to be back on track now.” 

In the meantime, his focus hasn’t strayed from his performance, with McCarthy preparing for a return to action in the single sculls at the World Cup in Seville in two weeks’ time. A back injury in February limited his training to the bike until mid-April but he said there’s been “a few moments of magic” since getting back on the water.

Having raced at 69kg in the lightweight category – which won’t be contested at the next Olympics – he now tips the scales at 78kg, well below many of his heavyweight rivals.

“Last year gave everyone that bit of insight into how we can go a bit faster against the bigger guys and hopefully we won’t be that far off,” he says. “It’s been a lot of learning and it feels like I’ve got a new lease of life in the sport in general. The height and size is not all it’s cracked up to be in rowing. We’ve really dug into the biomechanics of things, the physiology, just trying to maximise that for our size.” 

While he trained with Paul O’Donovan over Christmas, the three-time Olympic medallist has yet to return to action while focused on his medical career, though Ireland has a wealth of strong heavyweights in the programme. It’s yet to be decided how they’ll combine for the World Championships in Amsterdam in August and on the path to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“Last year and this year has been more about figuring out our options, how we’re going in different events and we’ll probably streamline it a bit next year in terms of targeting a specific event,” said McCarthy. “There’s eight pretty strong guys here at the moment. There’s definitely much more competition for seats but there’s also more seats to fill as well. LA is the main thing in everyone’s mind.” 

Fintan McCarthy was speaking at the launch of the SPAR and EUROSPAR Community Fund 2026. Clubs nationwide are invited to apply for the €60,000 fund by submitting a short application showcasing how their club is truly ‘Hungry For Success’. Entries are now open and close on Wednesday, July 8, with prize events in July and August.