Course is clear for unsinkable Towey

Rowing World Championships: Seven months ago Gearóid Towey flew into Dublin Airport and straight into a media scrum. With crewmate Ciarán Lewis he had capsized in stormy seas in an attempt to row the Atlantic. Everybody wanted a piece of him.

Yesterday Towey was one of seven athletes who departed from the same airport for the World Championships in Eton, England. Towey is part of a crew, the lightweight four, that won the World Cup series this season, making them strong favourites to win gold in an Olympic event. Yesterday he moved through the milling crowds unmolested.

Towey does not play up the irony of it all. His return to international sport - and medal rostrums - has been an amazing story, but he says he is not driven by a desire to overcome the frustration of not completing the row.

"I don't see the Atlantic as a huge disappointment, to be honest," he says. "Because, if you look at it from the outside it was a disappointment, because we didn't get across. But that whole feeling of not getting across was completely superseded by the fact that we are alive, here, now. Because we shouldn't be, like.

"It was disappointing to see your boat getting destroyed and that, but I think we had a bigger triumph by actually coming back. We were in big trouble there. To actually be on my way to the World Championships seven months later is just weird. It's just very . . ." He trails off.

"Ciarán and I used to talk about it every day when we were out rowing. About coming back rowing, and the international scene, and that kind of stuff. We used to always say that it would be a piece of piss compared to what we were doing there," He laughs.

The dramatic return is not an unthinking embrace for the sport nor an attempt to get back on the horse that threw him. He has distinct aims.

"I can't say I'm back in it for the love of the sport or anything. I'm back in it to win, basically. And this year I was presented with a chance to do that," he says.

The lightweight four, in which he campaigns alongside Eugene Coakley and Paul Griffin, who left from Cork yesterday, and Richard Archibald, who departed from Belfast, have been imperious this year.

"I must say that if it was different - if I was down the field in another event - I probably wouldn't have the motivation to keep going. Because I'm definitely here for Beijing - to win a medal in Beijing. And that's my only focus."

Towey's focus was shared by the other athletes yesterday. The lightweight women's double scull of Sinéad Jennings and Niamh Ní Cheilleachair could win a medal, but face a Chinese crew who shattered the world best time on their last outing. Ní Cheilleachair doesn't do awe, however. "My opinion is you should always go out to win a race. You don't go out to race to come second. You always go out to win."

Two of the men's four overcame their own difficulty yesterday with admirable calmness. Cormac Folan and Alan Martin took the cancellation of their flight from Galway in their stride, taking a lift by car instead. They hope to get into the A final.

Single scullers Seán Jacob and Caroline Ryan talked of their determination to climb up the ranks in their fiercely difficult events. It was impressive stuff.

At the centre of it all was German coach Harald Jahrling. His philosophy? "You have to get close to perfect and then you have a chance."