Northsider Eimear helps Ireland win first medal of Tokyo Olympics

Northsider Eimear Lambe has helped Ireland to their first medal of the Tokyo Olympics after she and her teammates Aifric Keogh, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty had an exceptional finish to claim the bronze medal in the women’s four final.

Cabra native Eimear, who had already followed in her older sister Claire’s footsteps by qualifying for an Olympic final, and her crew mates didn’t make the best of starts that in windy conditions at the Sea Forest Waterway.

After 500m they found themselves in fourth place however they dug deep in the second half of the race.

Coming into the final 500m they put the pressure on Great Britain who had been in the bronze medal position for most of the race.

The also had to fend off a challenge from China before the caught up and overtook the GB team to claim the bronze medal.

Speaking to RTE Sport afterwards, Lambe said the Irish team kept believing.

“We knew we could win a medal, it was just about whether we could pull it off,” she said.

“We also knew that every crew was also capable of winning a medal so it was just about who got down the course as well as they could in these conditions.

“It was a bit touch and go.

“Throughout the race I’m like ‘we’re coming fourth, fifth …’

“I was looking out and I knew we were slipping back and we kind of said to ourselves that if that happened we’d just go early.

“I think in the last kilometre we back ourselves and everyone else out there knows that in the last 1k we just start to go.

“We could kind of hear it left and right, ‘don’t let them, don’t let them’.”