Tiarnan O'Donnell

Tiarnán is a relative newcomer to rowing, has already shown immense potential. The Limerick native initially made a name for himself as one of Ireland’s top wheelchair basketball players. He has won several national titles and cups with his local team, the Limerick Celtics and has also won national player of the year awards as well as European All-Star awards. He captained the Irish U23 Wheelchair Basketball team to the medal podium in Finland in 2023.

He transitioned to rowing through the PTSB NextGen programme and moved to Cork to base himself closer to the National Rowing Centre. His rapid progress and natural talent have earned him a place alongside Katie to compete in Paris in the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls.

In May, Tiarnán won his first international medal at the 2024 World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland in the PR2 single sculls. He followed that up by winning his second medal, another silver, at the 2024 World Rowing Cup III in Poznan again in the in the PR2 single sculls.

Tiarnán was diagnosed with a rare malformation in his right leg at the age of five. He underwent operations every few months throughout the rest of his childhood and when he reached his teens, his condition began to rapidly deteriorate. Following consultation with doctors from the USA, he was re-diagnosed with a rare tumour called a Fibro-Adipose Vascular Anomaly. He was just the sixteenth person in the world diagnosed with this condition. In the summer before his Leaving Cert year, he underwent an extremely risky procedure to try remove a large portion of the tumour from his calf. Unfortunately, during the operation he got severe nerve damage leaving my leg paralysed. He became extremely ill in during his Leaving Cert year due to his treatment and afterward made the difficult decision to amputate his leg. He moved to London in 2018 for the procedure spending two weeks in hospital after the surgery and then moved home to recover. Six weeks later he flew back to London and had to learn how to walk again which took 13 days of vigorous physio and gym work to achieve.

He attended the University of Limerick, graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He was a recipient of a sports scholarship while he was a student there.

He has a twin brother.