Three-time Olympic medallist Paul O’Donovan wins RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year
Posted 15 December, 2024
Olympic and World champion rower Paul O’Donovan has been named as the RTÉ Sport Sportsperson of the Year.
The UCD alumnus won gold at the Paris Games this year as part of the Irish lightweight double sculls, along with Fintan McCarthy. In doing so, he became the first ever Irish Olympian to win medals at three consecutive Games.
He won silver with his brother Gary in 2016 and gold with McCarthy in Tokyo.
A native of Cork, the former UCD Ad Astra Elite Sports scholar also won his seventh gold in the lightweight single sculls at the 2024 World Rowing Championships in August.
He is the first Irish rower to win the RTÉ award, whose past winners include Barry McGuigan, Packie Bonner, Katie Taylor, Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Rhys McClenaghan, and Sonia O’Sullivan – who won it on five occasions.
The Skibbereen rower was among the 30 or so UCD sporting students and alumni athletes chosen to be part of Team Ireland at the 2024 Olympic Games.
This group represented the largest ever cohort of past and current UCD Ad Astra Academy Elite Sports Scholars, or recipients of UCD Sport scholarships, to compete at the Olympics.
Paul O’Donovan is the winner of RTÉ Sport Sportsperson of the Year 2024 (opens in a new window)#RTÉSportAwards (opens in a new window)pic.twitter.com/S5KnbfMhnw
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) (opens in a new window)December 15, 2024
Asked what motivates his success, O'Donovan, who studied physiotherapy while at UCD, credited his teammates.
“I like the sport, for one, that helps, I have had some good teammates over the years and that helps get the results,” he told RTÉ.
The 30-year-old had tough competition for the Sportsperson of the Year accolade, with other Olympians making up the majority of the 12 nominations.
Among these were fellow gold medallists from Paris, Kellie Harrington, Rhys McClenaghan and Daniel Wiffen, as well as Rhasidat Adeleke, Katie Taylor, and UCD alum and three-time Olympian Ciara Mageean.
Recognised as one of Ireland’s finest athletes, the track star had her own sporting achievements honoured at this year’s UCD Alumni Awards.
“It was a truly remarkable year and both the extent and nature of success for our remarkable athletes shows how standards simply keep rising,” said Declan McBennett, group head of Sport RTÉ.
“The success is now coming across so many disciplines and codes that 2024 will act as a catalyst for even greater feats in the years ahead as a new generation is inspired to replicate the heroic efforts witnessed across RTÉ channels this year.”
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
