The Olympic Federation of Ireland has officially selected the rowing team to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

A record number of crews has qualified for Team Ireland at these Games, with sixteen athletes to compete across seven boats.

It has been our most successful sport over the last two Olympic Games, with Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals all secured.

Two of those have been won by Paul O’Donovan who is on the team again for Paris.

The rowing events, which take place in Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, southeast of Paris, run from 27 July until 2 August.

The Team Ireland rowing team includes nine Tokyo Olympians and six rowers with Olympic medals. The qualification process for rowing at the Olympics involved crews winning quota spots for the nation at the World Championships last year for the pairs and doubles and at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne this year for the fours.

While the crews that will compete in Paris contain the same athletes who qualified those boats, the standard of rowing within Ireland ensured that the selection competition for the crews was hard-fraught.

Today, Thursday, 20 June, is the official team day for the Team Ireland rowers. The athletes will receive their kit and be honoured in front of their families and friends. Following this team day, the lightweight crews will continue on to Banyoles, Spain, where they finalise their training. The rest of the team will train in Varese, Italy, before meeting in Paris in July.

“It’s been a great Olympic cycle for the whole team, and we are excited to just get out there in Paris and perform to our best,” said Tokyo Gold Medalist Fintan McCarthy.

“These opportunities don’t come around too often, so I’m looking forward to putting in the final touches over the coming weeks and enjoying it.”

“In Paris, the atmosphere will be something else and a very different experience to Tokyo, and that’s something we are also excited about.”

“In Ireland, we have such a strong tradition in rowing and in Olympic rowing,” added Olympic Federation of Ireland Chef de Mission Gavin Noble.

“In our centenary year, we should be entering a team of this calibre. The qualification of seven boats demonstrates the success of the high-performance rowing programme at the National Rowing Centre in Cork.”

“We look forward to supporting the entire team and their ambition as they approach the Olympic regatta in Paris next month.”

“We are delighted to be able to officially announce the team of rowers that will represent Ireland at this year’s Olympic Games,” said Antonio Maurogiovanni, Rowing Ireland Performance Director.

“This event only occurs every four years and showcases the pinnacle of rowing, with only a select few of the best crews in the world getting the opportunity to compete.

“This is the largest rowing team that Ireland has ever sent to a games, with 16 athletes set to race on the Olympic course. The focus remains on the preparation over the next five weeks, but today is a very exciting day for all athletes, coaches, families and support staff.”

 

 

Here is the Rowing Ireland Team announced this morning:

 

Men’s Lightweight Double Scull:

Paul O’Donovan (Skibbereen, Co. Cork)

Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen, Co. Cork)

Women’s Lightweight Double Scull:

Margaret Cremen (Rochestown, Cork)

Aoife Casey (Skibbereen, Co. Cork)

Men’s Double Scull:

Philip Doyle (Banbridge, Co. Down)

Daire Lynch (Clonmel, Co. Tipperary)

Women’s Double Scull:

Zoe Hyde (Killorglin, Co. Kerry)

Alison Bergin (Kildinan, Co. Cork)

Men’s Pair:

Ross Corrigan (Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh)

Nathan Timoney (Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh)

Women’s Pair:

Aifric Keogh (Na Forbacha, Co. Galway)

Fiona Murtagh (Moycullen, Co. Galway)

Women’s Four:

Emily Hegarty (Skibbereen, Co. Cork)

Natalie Long (Cobh, Co. Cork/Johannesburg, South Africa)

Eimear Lambe (Cabra, Dublin)

Imogen Magner (Killavullen, Co. Cork/Cambridge, England)

Holly Davis (Ballincollig, Cork) (reserve)

 

This brings to forty-eight the official number of athletes who have so far been selected to represent Team Ireland at Paris 2024, a Games that will see us celebrate our centenary competing as a nation at the Olympic Games.

The team announcements for each sport will follow over the coming weeks, with the final team announcement scheduled for the beginning of July. The Olympic Games in Paris will run from July 24 to August 11, 2024, with the Opening Ceremony taking place on July 26.

 

 

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