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SYMBOLS OF IRISH sport, 2016 highlight-heroes.
Halloween costumes in row-boats, viral videos, and signs outside businesses with ‘Pull Like A Dog’ written on them.
Poster boys for Olympic success, role models for young rowers, the much-adored ambassadors of west Cork.
But out of everyone, Gary and Paul O’Donovan are the most relaxed about their Olympian status and public adoration.
They’re all about the rowing, and even with that, they feel there’s no extra pressure on them than there was before.
“[We just] get on with it and don’t think about it so much and life’s easier that way,” Paul told TheJournal.ie, and Gary continued the rest for him:
“We’ve kind of been at it for 16 years and it’s all we’ve ever known really so. We’ll just keep doing it, yeah.”
And it’s that charisma that draws people to them and to the sport.
But despite travelling around the world for competitions and races, the boys themselves are still drawn home to Skibbereen.
Mingling with the crowd
Yesterday, Gary and Paul went to Bloom in the Park in Dublin’s Phoenix Park for the first year to take part in a cooking demonstration with model-turned-foodie Roz Purcell.
And the crowd went wild for them, laughing and clapping as the brothers performed a running commentary on Roz’s egg-based dish.
Paul on Roz’s dish: “That’s not going to feed all these people – you didn’t think this through at all.”
Or another: Paul turns to Roz, attentively stirring the contents of the pan, and notes: “This is taking a lot longer than in the test run earlier.” But this is Roz’s turf and she had his measure, turning slowly and saying that it was because he took so long to whisk the eggs.
Gary wasn’t behind the door on the banter either. Earlier, as Roz explained the instructions, Paul interrupted: ”Skillet? What’s a skillet?”
“A pan.”
“Oh right I thought it was a type of bird,” Gary quipped.
After Roz whipped up her dish (and Gary burned his mouth tasting it), Nevin Maguire, performing a cooking demonstration afterwards, came on stage to meet the brothers, telling them they had the crowd in stitches.
He took a selfie with them, as did Roz, and left them to the crowds of children, mothers, fathers and grandparents asking for pictures, handshakes, and autographs.
“Please will you sign this for my sons,” asked a woman who was holding a picture of two boys dressed in sports gear and two white caps flipped backwards.
Paul was only too delighted.
At Bloom at least, they’re proving the country’s favourite Olympic medal-winning, egg-flipping, quick-witted-quipping, rower brothers – but they demur from their status as national heroes.
“We don’t really view ourselves as national treasures at all,” says Paul, as Gary nods.
“We’re much the same as the rest of the people. A lot of people alright they’d pay attention to us and listen to us and read about us… we try to use that for positive things like telling everyone – not just athletes – to eat healthy things.”
“Do you always juggle eggs?” Roz asked Gary during the cooking demo, wondering how he’s become so good at it.
“Anytime we have to take photos with eggs, yeah.”
But despite events like this one, where the brothers are – you’ve guessed it – promoting eggs for Bord Bia, they maintain that nothing’s changed for them since the Olympics.
Paul says:
If we never won the Olympics and never won a medal we’d be out on the lake there anyway, rowing.
Their training at the moment involves two hours in the morning out in the boat, and then going back in the evening to do some high-intensity for up to an hour and a half – “race-based stuff” they call it.
Two or three times a week they do weight-based stuff like deadlifts. in between all of that they give their bodies a break and rest.
It’s not easy-going but you could be doing a lot harder things.
When it comes to how the Olympics have affected their expectations, they remain as steadfast to their ‘strategy’ as ever:
We can only go so fast. And as long as we go the fastest we can, we can do no more than that.
They say they owe a huge amount to the people of Ireland for what they’ve done, and no matter where they’re travelling to, they love coming home to Skibbereen – which is what they’re doing directly after this interview.
I mention it’s a pity they can’t row back down to Skibbereen.
They give it serious thought, with Gary saying it would save them time: “All we need is a straight waterway down!”
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Fabulous, if not dystopian piece Simon. I have to say, the increasing grip private corporations have on everything from our newsfeeds, to our diets, to our medical data is truly frightening. What’s even more frightening though is people’s lack of interest; I give you Alexa, Google Home etc.
@Diarmaid Twomey: Corporations control governments when it’s supposed to be the other way around. Ireland was probably targeted for its light touch regulation.
I mean in the U.S. the corporations literally author the vast majority of bills passed in Washington and the people voting on them have little clue about their contents and it takes a couple of business days to get the 10,000 page document into law.
Welcome to late stage capitalism ladies and gentlemen.
We should all be concerned at such a proposal, your DNA is unique to you , why should a private company acquire your genetic code and use it for profit or God knows what purpose in the future. Be careful if you are asked to sign any documents in this regard and if you are not comfortable with this, just say no.
@Honeybee: Ní féidir sclábhaíocht ar Éire. But, yes, read and say Nó if you don’t comprehend..
Let the government make it illegal, is it not already??
@Mick McGuinness: “. . . The State has pumped approximately €73.5 million into GMI . . .”
@Mick McGuinness: I’d like to know whether the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, any Minister, or any other office-holder has a beneficial interest. Why else would the State be pumping money into a secretive private concern?
@Fachtna Roe: look it up. Not that difficult.
Whats the point of GDPR if things like this are happening???
@Lydia McLoughlin: GDPR is a smokescreen to prevent you finding out these things are happening. Data Protection is worthwhile, but GDPR seems to be used to tilt the scales in such way as to balance Freedom of Information.
@Fachtna Roe: this is a complex area of data protection , your ill informed comment about GDPR does not help as it is completely inaccurate and just plain wrong. GDPR is no smokescreen , it is a large global regulation that required a lot of work and is designed to deter organisations from misusing data collected with some very heavy financial penalties (eg 4% of global turnover is a lot of money just for abusing somebody email data ) – it is not a ‘smokescreen’ – as for the GMI issue in the piece – the author makes a very good case as to why we should not allow privatisation of our genetic data – I would go a step further and point out the risks that this genetic data can be used by private companies in the future ( especially insurance companies ) if they remain unregulated – to risk profile and refuse health cover and life cover or else more likely ‘charge more’ money for individuals they claim are riskier to cover due to their ‘genetic history’ – that level of data abuse really will need the governments to legislate and protect citizens from.
@Dave Hammond: Waffle. Plus, GDPR is an EU regulation.
Neither the author nor his employer are medical professionals. This is a medical project and yet the legal profession feel emboldened to make judgements in the collection of anonymous data that may prove beneficial for future medical research.
This is an ongoing issue, where the pursuit of narrow legal interests out ways the public good. This occurs regularly in medical negligence cases where impossible legal standards are imposed on imperfect medical practices and the outcome deemed negligent and therefore cash generating.
Not all areas of life should be subject to the whims of lawyers, their legal arguments or the interests that employ them to do so.
This incessant creep of legal interference in areas they are not qualified to make judgements in does a disservice to us all.
Any possible leak of data, possibly trivial, from this study should not be considered important enough to interfere with initiatives which may have beneficial outcomes for public health.
Not all data is created equal, and the current fetishisation of the protection of innocuous information is pointless and almost certainly negative for future research.
@Gerard Carthy: Well done for missing the entire point Gerard. In case you forgot the legal profession exist to protect citizens through the use of laws. Just cause you’re a medic doesn’t give you a licence to obtain and process people’s most private data because you say it will be of use for private ends.
@Diarmaid Twomey: Exactly right.
@Diarmaid Twomey: I feel so protected every time I have to answer stupid data protection questions to pay my own bills. Or try to interact with a bank. Or move electricity supplier. Or prove I’m the same person to my own bank. Or hear that the legal profession are going to make swings hazardous implements that need supervision at al times from now on in the pursuit of a narrow and depressingly idiotic argument.
And you thin I’m missing the point and should be grateful to be treated like a child?
@Diarmaid Twomey: it’s the state that exists to protect citizens, not the legal profession per se.
@Gerard Carthy: Gerard if you feel private corporations being made tell you when and if they are processing your information is akin to you being treated like a child, fair enough. That’s your prerogative. However, don’t insinuate that a legal professional, or anyone else for that matter, who expresses concern about private corporations profiting from the processing of private medical data is being pedantic or some sort of pain in the *asre! Feel free to join MAGA rallies and eat chlorinated chicken, if the medical professional (who obviously are above us all) tell you to, but I’ll stick to wanting my data and rights protected and vindicated, thanks very much.
@Gerard Carthy: You absolutely do not have a clue.
@Gerard Carthy: ‘the protection of innocuous information is pointless’ – hmm this is very valuable data ( not innocuous information ) – one example is the risk profiling that a private company will be able to use this data to ‘monetise’ such as health insurance – life assurance – corporations and big pharma will be able to target profiles that are more vulnerable based on genetic data – the author is correct to point out the slippery slope that ‘privatising’ this field is going down – I think you are quite incorrect and missing the point to lump this in as potential innocuous data – it is not about a possible leak or the consequences of such a leak that it the concern – it is that the unique genetic data of individuals can be monetized by private companies – that is the risk that the author correctly identifies as very real and very wrong. There is nothing innocuous about the motivations of large private companies wanting to access important private data.
@Dave Hammond: The database in question has no personal identifiers, is accessible on a read only basis and the amount of information that can be accessed at a time is limited. It would be impossible for an insurance company for example to make any commercial use of it. Since we have a community rated private insurance and pre existing conditions are non exclusionary it’s not even an issue.
It amazes me how often access to fairly useless insurance is a reason why data projects should be cancelled. Weird.
@Gerard Carthy: Excellent comment. I would add that in this whole zone of research, a tremendous new vista is opening. The most popular gift now given in some countries, is an ancestry DNA test, which shows those participating, really interesting information on where one came from back the millennia. What it could also show is the presence of problem recessives. A simple App will then allow prospective parents to do a pre check. This will inform them of the chance of their potential offspring exhibiting some life effecting syndrome, hemophilia, CF or the like. This information will allow them to go for I.V. and pre implantation selection, thus leaving the horror story behind. Who could say no to that, but meddling lawyers could greatly obstruct it.
@Nicholas Grubb: That reads like an advert, or a paid comment.
Informative article
Like any economic or military advantage, genetic engeering is unstoppable. Sadly.
If we (the West) ban it others will get an advantage – and like how we destroyed aborigines in the Americas, Australia and Asia with more advanced technology – they will do unto us.
Humanity didn’t decide to move from hunting to farming 10,000 years ago; it had no choice.
Frightening
Isn’t this the second time in a couple of weeks this article (or a slightly different version of it) has been posted on the Journal?
@This Guy: Were you hoping it would be kept a secret?
I have a problem understanding this whole thing. I can understand How a company can profit from this, by selling the information or an old man I.e. me. A sixty year old man, three major health issues identify unknown but how does it affect me with regard to data protection
@Alan Dignam: A situation might arise where health insurance companies would be able to pick and choose who to insure based on risks associated with your genetic makeup. Not a good situation, essentially removing risk for them.
@Alan Dignam: Your DNA is the most unique and valuable thing you received from your parents, and the most unique and valuable thing you give to your children.
It is also the most complicated thing most of us know of, and printed would be a stack of paper 130m high.
You get that complexity free, and pass it on free for the natural purpose.
A corporation is legally a person, but non-living. Think “Corpse” and “Oration”. This is the type of entity that may end up ‘owning’ the code for living people.
The effect on our planet of these dead-people-speaking is hardly positive. Why trust them with the codes for life?
In that corporations are themselves non-living, but require us living people to survive and propagate, they are functionally the same as a virus.
They can sell mine their defective lol
@Aaron92utd: evidently!
@Aaron92utd: so you can pay higher health insurance premiums, or maybe be deprived of obtaining life insurance for that mortgage you applied for? And you won’t know why unless you pay for the results….
If think we should get a % every time our data is sold whether dna or online usage. We should have the right to have it deleted and to block further sales.
It’s our data about us we should have complete control, but also if someone is profiting from the sale of our data we show also profit.
@Davis Payne: Your DNA also contains information about your relatives, and theirs about you; that’s worth a lot more than the few cent you’d be lucky to get from a corporation.
Data is the new oil……
Very interesting series of documentaries about the oil industry.
Part 3 is called “Data is the new oil”
A fairly comprehensive explanation of how data has become a commodity.
have your say