Gearóid Towey competed for Ireland in the men's lightweight rowing at three Olympic Games - finishing 11th in the lightweight coxless four at Sydney 2000, 10th in the lightweight double sculls with Sam Lynch at Athens 2004, and 10th in the lightweight coxless four at Beijing 2008.
From Fermoy, Co. Cork, Towey began rowing at Fermoy Rowing Club in 1985 and made his international debut for Ireland in 1994. He showed exceptional promise from the outset - winning World Under-23 gold at just 19 in 1996 - and was controversially overlooked for the Atlanta 1996 Olympic team as a reserve despite his outstanding form, a decision that shaped his subsequent determination.
His senior World Championship career brought gold in the lightweight coxless pair at Lucerne in 2001 with Tony O'Connor, along with bronze medals in 1999, 2003 and 2006, and five World Cup gold medals between 1998 and 2008. The Olympics, however, never yielded the result his talent deserved.
Between Athens and Beijing, in one of the most remarkable adventures in Irish sporting history, he and Ciarán Lewis attempted to row the Atlantic Ocean in a 23-foot boat. After 40 days at sea - having endured two tropical storms and a hurricane - their boat was capsized in a force-9 storm in mid-ocean and they were rescued.
He returned to competitive rowing, reached Beijing as part of the lightweight four, and retired after those Games. He subsequently graduated in Geography from Trinity College Dublin, studied drama in London, and now lives in Sydney, where he was the founder of Crossing the Line in Sport - an organisation dedicated to athlete mental health and the transition out of elite sport.
Rowing
