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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Eamon Doggett

Paul O'Donovan's bizarre interview after winning world championship gold with Fintan McCarthy

Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy cruised to lightweight double sculls gold in the World Rowing Championships on Saturday.

The reigning Olympic, World and European champions never looked troubled in defending their crown and were nearly three seconds clear of second-placed Italy, with Ukraine taking the bronze medal.

It was a fifth World gold for O’Donovan with the pair adding to the gold secured at the Tokyo Olympics.

READ MORE: Katie O'Brien wins gold medal for Ireland at World Rowing Championships

But the Skibbereen man was hilariously blasé about his achievements when interviewed by RTE's David Gillick after the race.

Asked by Gillick how a fifth consecutive World Championship gold medal made him feel, O'Donovan replied: "It's fine, yeah".

When asked "if that was it?", Gillick replied "yeah" with a shrug of his shoulders.

O'Donovan was then asked how he and McCarthy deal with the level of expectation and pressure on their shoulders.

He said: "I don't think there is any expectation or pressure, really. That's just what people talk about, and we wouldn't be too concerned about what people think."

There was also medal joy for Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey who claimed a brilliant bronze for Ireland in the lightweight women's double sculls.

The pair saw off a stern French challenge to finish third behind the U.S.A who took silver and a dominant Great Britain.

Ireland's time of 07:00.62 was just over two seconds ahead of France.

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