Olympic silver medalists Paul and Gary O’Donovan have arrived home to Ireland after their stint in Rio. The brothers landed in Cork airport last night and received a heroes welcome.
The brothers, who won their medal for lightweight double skulls, touched down at 9:30pm last night and crowds went wild. Their win was made even better by Paul’s success at the World Rowing Championship in Rotterdam over the weekend where he took home the gold.
Cork airport arranged an honour welcome for the athletes and their Aer Lingus plane was taxied through a water arch which was created by two fire brigade units, and the lads were invited into the cock pit.
More than 200 people filled Cork airport’s arrivals hall wearing yellow Rio t-shirts, and the brothers were shocked by the warm welcome that they received. Paul said that they had been looking forward to their return ever since they left for Brazil.
“We’ve been looking forward to coming home to west Cork and Skibbereen since we left Rio. There were times in Rio when we heard about the celebrations back in Skibbereen and almost wished we were back there to enjoy it all,” he said.
There will be a welcome home parade in Skibbereen tonight in honour of the O’Donovan brothers, and it’s set to be a huge event!
