August 2016 is proving to be incredibly memorable for Ireland's Paul O'Donovan.
First he and his brother took home a silver medal at the Olympics by finishing second in the double sculls rowing in Rio.
And now he has added a gold medal from the World Rowing Championships in Rotterdam, doing so single-handedly this time in the single sculls.
Last night in an in-depth interview, he told Newstalk that "as soon as the Olympics final was over, I kind of switched my focus straight away and started concentrating on" the World Rowing Championships.
Ultimately he powered his way through the heats and semi-final in style before finishing nearly four seconds clear of Hungarian Peter Galambos.
Thus he won by open water so to speak and it's something he had promised to do.
"The first stroke was bad, but then the second one was good so I went from there," he said after the race.
"At 500 metres left, I remembered I told my friends when I was in Rio that I would win here by open water, so I thought I should probably keep my promise. Then at 200m to go I guess I started smiling a little."
O'Donovan - "At 500m to go, I remembered I promised my friends in Rio that I would win by open water, so I thought I should keep my promise"
— World Rowing (@WorldRowing) August 27, 2016
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