The death has taken place of Ronnie Delany at the age of 91, the athlete indelibly associated with his Olympic 1,500m triumph in Melbourne in 1956 and to this day one of the greatest achievements in Irish sporting history.
Delany turned 91 only last Friday and died in Dublin on Wednesday afternoon after a short illness. He was at the time Ireland’s only third Olympic gold medal winner, after Pat O’Callaghan in the hammer (in 1928 and 1932) and Bob Tisdall in the 400m hurdles (also in 1932). Delany remains Ireland’s last Olympic gold medallist in athletics.
Coming in the blue riband event that is the 1,500m, Delany’s gold medal run in Melbourne at the age of 21 also made him a worldwide athletics star, his success on the US collegiate scene with Villanova University also blazing a trail for a generation of Irish athletes who followed in his footsteps.
He often recalled his Olympic success with a sense of destiny.
“There was no moment in Melbourne when I didn’t believe I was going to win,” Delany told this newspaper in 2006, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his Olympic triumph. “I think at that stage I did feel an element of fate. Once I struck and flew by everyone, I was not going to lose. I don’t do maybes, but it is terrifying to think about my life if I hadn’t won that Olympic gold medal.
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