O'Connor and Maxwell have been in our subconscious since Atlanta 1996, when they lost out on a medal place by under a second. Their live television interview, given to Caroline Murphy, was perhaps the most honest, eloquent spoken moment of the entire Games. Their race came early in the Games, so when the athletics came round, the rowers were back home watching television with the rest of the planet. Far from moping, they instead went on to Edinburgh and took bronze in the world championships. This year, Byrne and Towey, both world medal-winning scullers, joined them in the fours.
Scullers are mavericks, governed only by their own souls and wants.
Watching them cope and melt into the team environment has been at the core of this adventure. We have been working well as a team, things get done. Usually I start singing halfway through a race. They could speak about Sydney unconditionally for the first time and, as with Atlanta, the world started noticing them again. We just happen to do a job that gets a lot of attention every four years.