Olympic champion Fintan McCarthy chats to KIERAN McCARTHY about life since the Paris Games as he prioritises what’s important to him
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FINTAN McCarthy made one of the toughest trips of his life at the end of September – he flew to London with his dad Tom and younger sister Caitlin to be with his uncle Will in his final days.
The month after Fintan ascended to join the Olympic gods as a back-to-back gold medal winner, life hit his family hard.
‘I would have been pretty close to my uncle. We all were, to be honest,’ Fintan says.
Fintan McCarthy with his late uncle Will Shortt.
Will Shortt, who lived in Holland Park in West London, was only 49 years old when he passed away on September 29th. The suddenness of it all cut deep. It still hurts, and it will for a while. Unlike an A-to-B rowing race, straight line, fast as you can, grieving isn’t a linear process. This will take time to wrap their heads around.
Will was Tom McCarthy’s only brother and youngest sibling, and had that fun, big brother connection with Fintan, his twin brother Jake and Caitlin.
‘Dad and Will were as close as me and Jake are,’ Fintan says, ‘so it’s been very hard on dad, but Will would have wanted us to keep on keeping on.
‘He took every setback so well, he fought so hard through his whole illness after he was diagnosed with lymphoma. It looked like he was getting better, and even when he got sepsis he was so strong and fought it so hard until the very last minute.
‘It was pretty sudden in the end, he was so young, has two young kids Hani and Lumi, so it’s been pretty rough.’
Fintan McCarthy with his twin brother Jake, dad Tom (right) and late uncle Will (back, right) after his breakthrough year in 2019.
In less than two months, Fintan experienced two extremes – there was the elation of defending his Olympic men’s lightweight double sculls crown alongside Paul O’Donovan, and then the pain of his uncle’s passing. But Fintan can take some comfort in knowing how proud Will was of his achievements. To anyone who would listen, Will would fill them in on what all his nephews and nieces were up to. He loved them. They adored him.
‘Around my uncle’s funeral, everyone was saying how proud he was of us, not just because of the Olympics, but how we approach it, how we train, the lifestyle … it's those memories as well,’ Fintan says.
‘It’s a good reason to keep going, to create more memories like that because I am so glad I have those now – they are really positive and special to look back on.’
There has been a lot for Fintan to process post-Paris, his last Olympics as a lightweight rower now that his category has been dropped from the Olympic schedule. He has been trying to figure out what’s important to him and what his life will look like for the next while. In the midst of these choppy waters he found one certainty: the realisation that he wants to commit to rowing for the next Olympic cycle, stepping up into the world of the heavyweights.
Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan celebrate with their Olympic gold medals won in Paris.
That’s his basecamp, the sureness that rowing is his present and his future. It’s not just for the glory days, he insists, but also for the impact it’s had on his life off the water too.
‘I have realised that this is definitely what I want to do. It’s what I enjoy and what I love,’ explains Fintan, who turned 28 years old in November. He’ll be 31 when the Los Angeles Games roll down Hollywood Boulevard so this is a decision that shapes the next chapter of his own story. With lightweight rowing cut from the Olympics, there was an off-ramp to explore different worlds, but the current of rowing is too strong to resist.
‘I had an inkling that it was what I wanted to do, but that was mostly because of the success in Paris. Leading in, I really didn’t know what my plan would be afterwards because it was a hard few months and I wanted to get through Paris and see if it’s worth it or not.
‘In hindsight, when I think back on rowing to this point, I remember all the races and the medals, but a lot of what I remember is funny times with friends or moments when it was really tough and someone was there for me; it’s moments like that with people. I don’t think I would get that in any other walks of life.
‘That confirmed it for me that this is what I want to do, and that’s why I want to keep going, not because it’s great to win Olympic medals, which of course it is. I do get a lot out of the lifestyle, the people, and it’s more the people – the connections that I have is something that is really important to me. I wouldn’t have thought of it that way before.’
It’s the memories, too. They endure. And Fintan has discovered this. Ever since Jake and himself picked up oars with Skibbereen Rowing Club when they were in their early teens, they have been creating memories. Their story has more than most, from the small (when Fintan and Jake won the intermediate men’s double at the 2016 Irish championships and got on the front page of Star Sport) to the Olympic-sized. At the Paris Games, Jake was the back-up to Fintan and Paul in the most dominant men’s lightweight double the Olympics has seen. Incredible memories that tie these twin brothers together even tighter, and also their family.
There’s a photo of Tom, Sue, Jake and Caitlin with Fintan and his newly-minted Olympic gold medal outside the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on that magical Friday morning in Paris. Smiles. Beaming faces. Great times. Pure magic. Bank those feelings and memories.
At the Olympic homecoming in Skibbereen on September 1st, Tom and Sue sat in the seats just in front of the stage that stretched across the Fairfield in the centre of their hometown. Up on the stage, their sons, Jake and Fintan, as well as Paul O’Donovan, Emily Hegarty and Aoife Casey, were given a heroes’ welcome. Magical stuff. The town heaved with the crowd. They came from all over to catch a glimpse of the Skibb rowers. Local heroes. They are memories that last forever – and that matters too.
Fintan and Paul on the Walk of Champions in Paris.
‘I feel like it brings a family together as well. In terms of our family, it has,’ Fintan explains.
‘It’s nice that everyone has something to look forward to and support and be proud of. I have thought about it in a different way as opposed to how great the Olympics are and how great rowing is and regattas are.
‘Rowing isn’t the regattas, it’s the everyday and the training – that’s what it’s about. The regattas come for a few days every year, but the other 350 or what days you are training and you are grinding and it’s hard, but it’s rewarding. It’s not a good time all the time, but there is meaning behind it.
‘I don’t think there are many people who can say they have had moments like we’ve had and they are really special moments.’
The plan is to create more memories, but Fintan’s embarking on a new journey into the unknown, as he leaves his lightweight days behind him. Since they joined forces in 2019, Fintan and Paul won three World titles and two Olympic gold medals – in the sit-up-and-take-notice regattas, they were brilliantly ruthless, meeting expectations head-on and delivering. As dominant as they were in the lightweight double, there’s no guarantee of success as they enter the land of bigger rowers with longer levers. That could, possibly, have a knock-on effect on funding at some stage too. That’s real-life consequences.
The Sport Ireland international carding scheme has three different categories, dependent on results and performances: Podium (€40,000), World Class (€25,000) and International (€18,000). The Skibbereen dream team has received Podium funding in recent years, but Fintan knows he’s entering uncharted waters in the years ahead. It’s why he has been based in Dublin in recent months, to make the most of opportunities his Olympic success has created and safeguard his future as much as he can.
‘The best way forward for me is to make a career out of rowing,’ he explains.
‘I know Sport Ireland is amazing in their funding for us, but that’s only as long as we keep winning medals. That’s not guaranteed over the next year or even years, so if that is the case there will need to be a good source of income. Trying to figure out that is the priority.
‘It’s going to be a huge challenge to go heavyweight and be competitive there so now I am trying to set up life in terms of making sure there is enough money in the bank to keep it going,’ he adds.
‘Rowing is what I love and want to do, but there comes a point when if you make this a career and you’re going to miss out on maybe a different career, you have to make sure that you are setting yourself up for an okay future.
‘I am trying to get to a place where I will be able to push on in all aspects from January on, in terms of life and also get myself in good enough shape to start training properly.’
The bright lights of the capital also reminded Fintan of how special home in West Cork is. The sights, sounds, smells and comfort. There’s also far less traffic, he laughs. It’s also his home. And that matters because of the memories already made and those waiting to be made.
Look at the photo below on this page that captured the first time all of Fintan’s dad’s family – Tom’s mom Anne (Fintan’s grandmother), his late brother Will, sisters Anne Marie and Patricia, and their kids – made the trip from London to Foherlagh, just outside Skibbereen. They are special memories. Just like last Christmas when Will, a regular visitor to Skibb, spent the festive period in Foherlagh with Tom, Sue, Jake, Fintan and Caitlin. Those are times they’ll cherish even more now.
This was the first time all of Tom McCarthy's family from London visited Foherlagh outside Skibbereen. From left, his sister Anne Marie and her son Jude, his sister Patricia and daughter Mary Ellen, Tom, his late brother Will and Tom;s daughter Caitlin, granny Anne, and Sue McCarthy with Jake and Fintan.
‘It was before he was diagnosed with anything, and at the time it was all-go ahead of the Olympics,’ Fintan recalls. ‘He was telling us how cool it is what we’re doing and how proud he is of us; they are special memories to have.’
Will never got to watch Fintan and Jake in action at a regatta, but his pride in their achievements carries an extra meaning now. It’s a pride shared by all his family, watching and cheering and supporting as one of their own makes the extraordinary look ordinary while creating moments and memories that will live on in family folklore. Fintan’s plan is to create more. Everything after that is a bonus.
