Indo Daily
Irish rowing has delivered some of the country’s greatest sporting moments. But behind the medals and headlines, troubling questions have emerged about the environment within the High Performance Unit.
In this first episode of our two-part special, Kevin Doyle is joined by Sunday Independent journalist Paul Kimmage, whose reporting has examined allegations around communication, culture and athlete welfare within the programme.
Kimmage outlines how the story began in 2023 with an email from the mother of Olympic medallists Gary and Paul O’Donovan, and how that message prompted him to start digging into concerns being privately raised by a number of current and former rowers.
Through transcripts, interviews and records shared by athletes, Kimmage charts the arrival of High Performance Director Antonio Maurogiovanni in 2017, the reaction of senior rowers to his coaching style, and claims that tensions grew during training camps and squad selections.
The episode also looks at the experience of rower Monika Dukarska, who documented how pressures around performance, injury, selection and communication affected her on the road to the Tokyo Olympics.
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