Fintan McCarthy won double Olympic gold in the men's lightweight double sculls with Paul O'Donovan at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, becoming the first Irish duo to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals.
The Tokyo victory was Ireland's first ever Olympic rowing gold medal. With O'Donovan he won three World Championship titles in 2019, 2022 and 2023, and two European titles in 2021 and 2022. In 2025 he transitioned to the heavyweight class, winning bronze in the men's double sculls with Philip Doyle at the World Championships in Shanghai, and adding a fourth World Championship gold alongside Margaret Cremen in the inaugural mixed double sculls event - Ireland's first world champions in that discipline. This achievement with Doyle was recognised with a Team of the Year prize at the 2025 Olympic Sports Awards.
McCarthy also won European Championship bronze in the double sculls with Doyle in 2025, and won European bronze in the lightweight single sculls in 2020. McCarthy took up rowing after watching the London 2012 Games and won his first Irish title four years later alongside his twin brother Jake. He studied at University College Cork and rows with Skibbereen Rowing Club.
Rowing
