The former Irish international, who coached the New Zealand men’s eight to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, was powered on by a sporting motto you will not find in many books on inspirational quotes.
That motto: you will always pass out before you die.
"It’s not one you want to spread around when you are trying to get kids to join the sport," O’Connor said with a chuckle.
O’Connor was in Dunedin at the weekend to pass on some of his knowledge at a coaching conference organised by Rowing New Zealand.
About 20 coaches from around the region gathered. He also did some coaching and was impressed by the talent on display.
But as for whether there was another Hamish Bond emerging in Otago, well, that would be something.
Bond won back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the coxless pair before switching to the eight for the Tokyo Games.
"There are a few good kids here ... but you wouldn’t even want to suggest that. You just want them to have a bit of fun for the first couple of years and enjoy it and stay with it."
As good as Bond was, one man cannot make that much difference in an eight, even if it looked that way to the uninitiated.
Where Bond was able to have a big impact, O’Connor said, was in inspiring his team-mates to dig deeper. He also intervened to make sure Rowing New Zealand did not abandon the programme.
"One guy can’t make a difference but he was instrumental in a number of ways and one was ensuring the eight was not scrapped.
"We had a lot of young guys in the team and guys who have posters of Hamish Bond up on their wall when they were teenagers and then they were rowing with him.
"When you are rowing with your hero, you try the best you can to get to that level and you elevate yourself. But as time went on, it became apparent that we had four pairs who were similar in speed and Hamish was just one of those pairs.
"At that stage, Hamish said, ‘Basically my job is done, these guys are as good as me and I can step back’."
From the outside, gold seemed very unlikely for New Zealand in the men’s eight at Tokyo.
The crew won a last-chance regatta just to qualify for the Olympics and had to get through a repechage after losing its heat to the Netherlands.
But in the final, New Zealand timed its move perfectly and surged past Germany and Great Britain to win.
"We never talked about winning — it was always about getting better and better."
