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Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Griffin strokes his way to the history books
By: Kieran McCarthy
WHAT a year it has been for Killarney oarsman’s Paul Griffin. Within the past 12 months, Kerry’s first ever Olympic rower has lived at either side of the sporting spectrum, experiencing both the highs and lows, as the Athens hangover set in.
Leaving 2004 behind him was a bittersweet moment for Griffin as he said farewell to the Olympic year and his Greek adventure but the prospect of 2005 presented him with fresh challenges and a new coach.
But Griffin’s fairytale year threatened to turn into a nightmare earlier in the year when the Fossa native picked up a rib injury that seemed fairly innocuous at first but it turned out to be much more serious that people first thought – a rib stress fracture. And it couldn’t have come at a worse time as a new coach, Harold Jahrling was narrowing down his search for the perfect Irish Lightweight Coxless Fours crew for the forthcoming season – when it rains its pours.
It couldn’t possibly get harder for Griffin. Or could it? The answer was a resounding yes as Jahrling unveiled his new criteria for crew selection – a rower would be selected depending entirely on their time in the single sculls. Cruelly, that was Griffin’s Achilles heel.
But it’s in the face of such adversities that heroes are born and, as Griffin rose from the depths of despair, the clouds dispersed and the sun shone on the young Olympian once more.
The Killarney man made light work of the obstacles before him and by April, he had taken his rightful place as stroke of the Irish crew and the season was just about to enter its busy period.
The first taste of success came on Sunday, June 20 when Griffin and fellow crew members Richard Archibald, Tim Harnedy and Eugene Coakley won bronze medals in the World Cup in Munich.
Griffin and the crew clawed back France’s early lead and were fighting the gold medal for most of the race. However they were unlucky not to have won silver medal when they began to fade over the second part of the race as France and Germany finished ahead of them.
France won and the German crew finished just two tenths of a second ahead of them.
But Griffin’s year was about to get a whole lot better when the Irish lightweight crew took part in the next World Cup event in Lucerne, Switzerland – a race that Griffin described as "the biggest of the lot."
Griffin, rowing at his customary stroke position, was inspirational as Ireland destroyed a world class field to win the country’s first ever gold medal at a World Cup rowing regatta. With the same crew that rowed in Munich, the Irish team qualified with ease for the final to take their place alongside Germany, Poland, Spain, Russia and Holland.
To the final itself and the Irish quartet were in imperious form as they led throughout the race to ease home by nearly three seconds with the German crew a distant second and the Polish in third, overturning the result from Munich weeks previously.
From bronze to gold, the only colour that was missing was silver but no one was to know that the collection would be completed in the biggest race of them all – the World Championships in Gifu, Japan.
Ant yet again it was Griffin who served as the inspiration as the Irish crew sensationally finished second to win a highly coveted silver medal. There was only 1.35 seconds between the Irish men and the winners, France, while the Italians finished in third place.
So, after a year that promised very little when Griffin was struggling with his rib injury, he very nearly got it all as he enjoyed a tremendous year in his green Irish singlet.
This sets the current crew up nicely for next year and with confidence growing in the camp, eyes are already being cast forward to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when the Irish Lightweight Coxless Fours should finally deliver on their undoubted potential.
If this turns out to be the case, then they should return to these shores with an Olympic medal. A life-long dream realised perhaps?
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