Ronald Michael Delany (born 6 March 1935) is an Irish former

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who specialised in middle-distance running. He won a gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 1956 Summer Olympics. He later earned a bronze medal in the 1500 metres event at the

1958 European Athletics Championships The 6th European Athletics Championships were held from 19–24 August 1958 in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, Olympic Stadium of Stockholm, Sweden. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Medal summary C ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. Delany also competed at the

1954 European Athletics Championships The 5th European Athletics Championships were held at Stadion Neufeld from 25–29 August 1954 in the Swiss capital Bern. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Medal summary Complete results were publis ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

, though he was less successful on these occasions. He retired from competitive athletics in 1962. Delany is one of Ireland's most recognisable Olympians and international ambassadors.

Early life

Born in

Arklow Arklow ( ; ; ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the Battle of Arklow, bloodiest battles ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

, Delany moved with his family to

Sandymount Sandymount () is a coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside, Dublin, Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.

Dublin 4 Dublin 4, also rendered as D4 and D04, is a historic postal district of Dublin, Ireland including Baggot Street Upper, the southernmost fringes of the Dublin Docklands, and the suburbs of Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Irishtown, Merrion, Ringsend ...

when he was six. Delany later went to the Christian Brothers' O'Connell School, North Richmond Street (where there are all-weather, floodlit sports facilities named in his honour), to Sandymount High School and to

Catholic University School Catholic University School ''(C.U.S.)'' is a private (voluntary) secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1867 by Bartholomew Woodlock as a preparatory school for the Catholic University of Ireland, the predeces ...

. At Catholic University School (CUS), Delany was first coached by Jack Sweeney (mathematics teacher), to whom he sent a telegram from Melbourne stating "We did it Jack". Delany in 2008 said about Sweeney, "Other people would have seen my potential but he was the one who in effect helped me execute my potential". Delany studied commerce and finance at

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

in the United States. While there he was coached by the well-known track coach Jumbo Elliott.

Career

Delany's first achievement of note was reaching the final of the 800 metres at the

. In 1956, he became the seventh runner to join the club of four-minute milers, but nonetheless, he struggled to make the Irish team for the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

, held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Delany qualified for the Olympic 1,500 metres final, in which local runner

John Landy John Michael Landy (12 April 1930 – 24 February 2022) was an Australian middle-distance runner and state governor. He was the second man to break the four-minute mile barrier in the mile run and held the world records for the 1500-metre run ...

was the favourite. Delany kept close to Landy until the final lap, when Delany started a crushing final sprint, winning the race in a new Olympic record. Delany thereby became the first Irishman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics since

Bob Tisdall Robert Morton Newburgh Tisdall (16 May 1907 in Nuwara Eliya, Ceylon – 27 July 2004 in Nambour, Queensland, Australia) was an Irish athlete who won a gold medal in the 400-metre hurdles at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Tisdall was ...

and

Pat O'Callaghan Patrick O'Callaghan (28 January 1906 – 1 December 1991) was an Irish hammer thrower and double Olympic gold medallist. He was the first athlete from Ireland to win an Olympic medal under the Irish flag rather than the British flag. Early ...

in 1932. The Irish people learned of its new champion at breakfast time. Delany was Ireland's last Olympic champion for 36 years, until Michael Carruth won the gold medal in boxing at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

in Barcelona. Delany won the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

title in the 880 yards event at the

1957 AAA Championships The 1957 AAA Championships was the annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA). The event took place from 12 to 13 July 1957 at White City Stadium White City Stadium in London, England, w ...

and won the bronze medal in the 1,500 metres event at the

. He went on to represent Ireland once again at the

held in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, this time in the 800 metres. He finished sixth in his quarter-final heat. Delany continued his running career in North America, winning four successive AAU titles in the mile, adding to his total of four Irish national titles, and three

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

titles. He was next to unbeatable on indoor tracks over that period, which included a 40-race winning streak. He broke the World Indoor Mile Record on three occasions. In 1961 Delany won the gold medal in the

World University games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. He retired from competitive running in 1962.

Retirement

After retiring from competition, Delany first worked in the United States for the Irish airline

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

. After that, for almost 20 years, he was Assistant Chief Executive of B&I Line, responsible for marketing and operations of the Irish ferry company based in Dublin. In 1998, he established his own company focused on marketing and sports consultancy. Ron Delany coached athletics for a period at Franciscan College Gormanston in the 1960s.

Honours

In 2006, Delany was granted the

Freedom of the City of Dublin The Freedom of the City of Dublin is awarded by Dublin City Council after approving a person nominated by the Lord Mayor. Eighty-two people have been honoured under the current process introduced in 1876. Most honourees have made a contribution ...

. He was also conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

in 2006. In 2019, a housing scheme in Arklow, where Delany was born, was named Delany Park in his honour. He attended the opening in person. Similarly, two streets in

Strabane Strabane (; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,507 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Government Li ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

were named Delaney Crescent and Olympic Drive in the 1950s in his honour – however, Delany was not aware of these until it was pointed out that his surname had been spelt wrongly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delany, Ron 1935 births Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Irish male middle-distance runners Living people Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1961 Summer Universiade Olympic athletes for Ireland Olympic gold medalists for Ireland Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) People from Arklow Athletes from County Wicklow FISU World University Games gold medalists for Ireland Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Villanova Wildcats men's track and field athletes NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century Irish sportsmen