Cork brothers Gary and Paul O’Donovan have just won Ireland’s first medal in Rio in the men’s double sculls.
And while the crowds watched on and cheered, it took a moment for their mother to realize.
The moment the O’Donovan’s mother realised her two sons won an Olympic silver medal. Magic. Absolute magic ???? pic.twitter.com/6NM9aBTbMv
— JOE.ie (@JOEdotie) August 12, 2016
Twitter is alight with users congratulating the lads and loving their “Pure Cork” attitudes.
The O’Donovan brothers are absolute heroes #IRL
— Kane Barrett (@kaneyb_14) August 12, 2016
What a pair of brothers O’Donovan with a great motto “just close your eyes and pull like dogs ” Mighty!
— Portumna District (@AnglingBoating) August 12, 2016
The O’Donovan brothers deserve a steak now #shhteak
— Beach (@BeachMusic_) August 12, 2016
“Disappointed not to get gold … but we’ll go home happy” – Paul O’Donovan #RIO2016 #rowing pic.twitter.com/CVtA9Fw2hZ
— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) August 12, 2016
“There’s plenty of people out there with two arms …” O’Donovan on what it means for Irish Rowing.
— Sinead Ryan (@sinead_ryan) August 12, 2016
That was so close! Brilliant stuff from the O’Donovan brothers. Doing the country proud! #Olympics #rowing
— Donal Murphy (@1DonalMurphy) August 12, 2016
The reaction to the news in Skibbereen was captured by RTÉ.
Skibbereen reacts: The moment Paul and Gary O’Donovan won silver in Rio, via @rtenews. #rterio2016https://t.co/MDxb3Eojpm
— RTÉ (@rte) August 12, 2016
It’s not just their athletic prowess that’s quickly making them firm favourites of Olympics viewers, it’s also their brilliantly grounded, unaffected media appearances afterwards.
We first got to meet them a few days ago.
The O'Donovan brothers took the choppy water conditions in their stride to win in Rio today https://t.co/lJNoLL4OrYhttps://t.co/AuWALUfm4W
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 8, 2016
“We handled it very well,” Paul said. “We were almost disappointed we couldn’t race yesterday, it would have been a bit of craic.”
“We’re well used to be a bit of wind,” Gary piped in. “That kind of thing wouldn’t faze us at all.”
It’s an interview that immediately had them acclaimed as being “pure Cork!”
Pure Cork! Rowing brothers Paul & Gary O'Donovan react to reaching Okympic semi-final @RTEsport #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/wewqwHeO2C
— Paul O'Flynn (@OFlynnPaul) August 8, 2016
https://twitter.com/ajryannn/status/763818509952581632
