BY KIERAN McCARTHY
HOLLYWOOD needs to make a movie on the incredible success of Skibbereen Rowing Club – that’s the view of the club’s first Olympic rower Eugene Coakley.
The Skibb native was on commentary duties with RTÉ as Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy successfully defended their Olympic title in the lightweight men’s double sculls at the Paris Games.
It means that of the five Irish boats that have won Olympic medals, four have been powered by Skibbereen rowers – Paul and Fintan (Tokyo and Paris) and Paul and Gary O’Donovan (Rio) in the men’s lightweight double and Emily Hegarty (Tokyo) in the women’s four.
Skibbereen Olympian Eugene Coakley on commentary duty for RTÉ with Pauric Lodge.
Coakley has played his own role in this success story as part of the Irish men’s lightweight four that raced in the A final at Athens in 2004.
‘If it comes up in conversation that I went to the Olympics, at this stage of my life I’m happy to say I was the first. If it played any small part showing that the path from Skibb to the Olympics is possible, I take enormous pride in that,’ Coakley said.
‘From the guys who do all the work to Dominic (Casey) with the programme, this is an incredible story. Hollywood needs to make a movie on it!’
Coakley knew at the halfway point of the Olympic A final last Friday that Paul and Fintan were on course to defend their title.
‘When they made that move at the 1000-metre mark, I knew that they were going to win it,’ he said.
‘To be fair to the Italians and Greeks they hung on a little bit but when Paul and Fintan made that final kick with 500 to go, it was game over. It was déjà vu, we have been here before and there was nothing the opposition could do.
‘To win an Olympic medal by open water is a phenomenal achievement, they are two exceptional athletes.
‘I don’t know if they even know how much people expected of them because people think now you win an Olympic medal easily, but the work they put in the last few years to get here is phenomenal.
‘The general public will never understand quite what it takes to win. Paul is somewhat jokey about it, but these things just don’t happen.’
While Paul has now won three Olympic medals, and makes history by being the first Irish sportsperson to medal at three different Games, Coakley highlighted the role of the other half of this dream team, Fintan.
‘Fintan has never lost an Olympic final!’ Coakley added. ‘It’s not the Paul show either, it's the Paul and Fintan show, this is a double scull and Fintan’s contribution is 50 percent at least. He is an incredible athlete.’
