Irish Olympic heroes Gary and Paul O’Donovan are likely to be getting plenty of attention from female fans in the coming months after their performance in Rio.
However, any female admirers will have to get past the lads’ mother first.
The brothers won the silver medal in rowing and have been charming people in Ireland and around the world with their sense of humour and Skibbereen accents.
Now their mammy, Trish has shown where they get their sense of humour from in an interview with the Irish Examiner.
She said: “They will have to go through me first. I will have to vet them all first. But they will all have to be athletes. No one else would understand them.”
While Gary and Paul did the nation proud by coming home with silver, Trish thinks that if circumstances had been slightly different her sons could have gone one better and got the gold.
She said: “They wanted it. They nearly had it. But, what harm? I do think because the way the race was put back it cost them.
“If they had a day of rest before the final it would have been theirs. They want the gold and they know they have the making of it.”
Trish revealed that she knew her sons would be an Olympic success as far back as 2008 when they won gold at the Home International Regatta in Cardiff, Wales. She now plans to follow them to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.
She said: “They stormed it in Cardiff and got the gold. That was when I started saving. I said they are going to the Olympics, they are not going to stop.
“Every week I went up to [Skibbereen] Credit Union and put in a few saving stamps. Did I get pleasure in cashing them in.
“I don’t care now if I have to strap myself onto the wing of the plane for Tokyo, I’m going there.”
Despite their Olympic medals Trish insists her sons won’t let their success go to their heads saying: “Their feet will stay on the ground, absolutely. You can see that. They will take this in their stride”
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