Rower Paul O’Donovan has become the first Irish man to win three medals in three consecutive Olympic Games.
He won his first Olympic medal - silver at Rio 2016 - with his brother Gary, saying they secured their victory by “pulling like a dog”.
On Friday Cork duo O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy won the lightweight double sculls at the Olympics in Paris taking home another gold for Team Ireland.
The Skibbereen pair eased past Greece and Italy them before halfway and kept pushing to move away over the last 500 metres.
McCarthy and O’Donovan crossed the finishing line in six minutes 10.99 seconds, over two seconds clear of silver medallists Italy with Greece taking bronze.
Speaking to RTE after their triumph, O’Donovan said: “It was always in doubt for everyone else. I mean, no-one else believed we could do it.
“Against all the odds we stuck with it, trained hard and Italy out there today were the number one seeds and really put it up there today.
“Greece were underdogs like ourselves, also put in a big day again today and got onto the medal podium and unfortunately Switzerland missed out after some good performances earlier this year.
“But very happy to prove the doubters wrong. So it’s a good day for the Irish.”
President Michael D Higgins congratulated the pair on their back to back win as they followed up their gold medal from Tokyo three years ago.
“Congratulations to Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy on their brilliant achievement in retaining their Olympic title with a wonderful gold medal in the lightweight double sculls. Paul and Fintan are phenomenal sportsmen who have represented the country with immense distinction”.
Their triumph is Ireland’s second gold medal of the games after swimmer Daniel Wiffen won the 800m freestyle on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, it was not meant to be for Fermanagh duo Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney
They finished in sixth place in the men’s pair final to bring their debut Olympics to a close.
The pair slipped to fifth at the halfway mark of the race and were still firmly in medal contention. However, they dropped back in the closing stages and had to settle for sixth place for Team Ireland.
