Delany's first achievement of note was reaching the final of the 800 metres at the
1954 European Athletics Championships
in
Bern
. 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
, held in
Melbourne
.
Delany qualified for the Olympic 1,500 metres final, in which local runner
John Landy
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.
[7]
Delany thereby became the first Irishman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics since
Bob Tisdall
in 1932. The Irish people learned of its new champion at breakfast time.
[8]
Delany was Ireland's last Olympic champion for 36 years, until
Michael Carruth
won the gold medal in boxing at the
1992 Summer Olympics
in
Barcelona
.
Delany won the bronze medal in the 1,500 metres event at the
1958 European Athletics Championships
. He went on to represent Ireland once again at the
1960 Summer Olympics
held in
Rome
, 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
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
in
Sofia, Bulgaria
. He retired from competitive running in 1962.
[8]
After retiring from competition, Delany first worked in the United States for the Irish airline
Aer Lingus
. 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.
[1]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Ron Delany
.