Double Olympic champion Fintan McCarthy has described some of the criticism around Irish rowing last year as “very heavy on a certain perspective”, adding that, in his view, “that’s what sells papers”.
Both Rowing Ireland and Sport Ireland appeared before an Oireachtas committee in January to address concerns around athlete safeguarding and welfare within rowing’s high-performance set-up from 2021 to 2024.
The concerns arose following a series of interviews with some former Irish Olympic rowers, including two-time world champion Sanita Puspure, in the Sunday Independent.
“Reading the articles, I was surprised by some of it,” said McCarthy. “I obviously had my own perspective of some of what was included in those articles. But at the end of the day, everyone has their own version of reality, I guess. And you’re never going to get everyone totally on the same page.
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“I just think maybe it was very heavy on a certain perspective, but I guess that’s what sells papers though.”
During the period, McCarthy trained with the lightweight crews under Dominic Casey, along with his doubles partner Paul O’Donovan, separate from the group of Rowing Ireland head of high performance Antonio Maurogiovanni, whose contract was not renewed after the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“What I can say, from my side, is that it was a really, really hard time,” McCarthy said. “Probably the hardest few months of my career so far. I don’t think there’s any point trying to sugarcoat it, it was pretty rough.
“There had been so many changes in my eyes made in order to improve the welfare, and make us a bit more central in the decision-making processes. For all that [criticism] to come after a year where we had so much growth and success was tricky to navigate.”
At the Oireachtas committee hearing, Sport Ireland confirmed it withheld funding from Rowing Ireland, on the eve of the Paris Olympics, for failing to adequately address the concerns. Sport Ireland chief executive Una May also told the committee that the organisation “acknowledge and regret the experience shared by some athletes”.
Speaking at an event organised by Team Ireland’s retail partners Spar, McCarthy also acknowledged the support staff within Rowing Ireland, as he continues his transition into the heavyweight crews ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
“Obviously there’s a change of management, and all that. Look, I’m not saying it was perfect. And I think maybe last year, I guess, a lot of my focus would have been on the governance, and the set-up, and all that. But I just think that’s not really for us to be worrying about.
“We’re so lucky to have the staff that we have here at the moment. We’ve never been in a stronger position in terms of support staff [and] coaches. It’s a testament to the people we have here, the athletes and staff, that we’ve managed to kind of deal with that, and also listen, and look towards improving.”
McCarthy has not rowed competitively with O’Donovan since Paris, and while the former is set to compete in the single scull at the World Cup regatta in Seville at the end of this month, he fully expects his Skibbereen partner to be back for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
“I’m really preferring this year to just focus on the rowing, that’s what my job is. It was tricky last year, because Dominic is kind of our coach, and for him to come in and start coaching everyone, I just wanted for that to go as seamlessly as possible. And for everyone to kind of experience what we’ve experienced from Dominic in the past, which is a really good, and a really positive style of coaching. Which has shown in our results.
“So I guess it was just a bit of a setback in that progressing as naturally as we wanted to. But things seem to be back on track now. Just a little blip.”
