Cuddled up in bed hearing about Delany’s Olympic win

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

I know exactly where I was on Saturday December 1, 1956. It was 8.30 am when my brother ran into my parents’ bedroom to tell us that Ronnie Delany had won the 1,500 metres Olympic medal in Melbourne.

I was cuddled up beside my mother in bed.

Ireland has won many sporting awards since that day but Delany’s achievement had something very special about it, at least for me. Though I have a sneaking suspicion, I’m not the only person who sees Delany as one of the giants of Irish sporting history.

Last month a statue in honour of the great man was unveiled in his native Arklow. The statue  depicts him wearing that famous singlet with the number 102 emblazoned on it along with the shamrock. There is also a housing estate called after him in Arklow, indeed there is a street in Strabane called Delaney Crescent. Unfortunately, they misspelled his name.

It would be another 36 years before we would win another Olympic gold when Michael Carruth won at the Barcelona Games in 1992.

I remember going to Billy Morton’s Santry Stadium in 1958 with my brother and cousins to watch him run. I was now the ripe-old age of nine and I can still remember the disappointment that evening as Herb Elliott won the race and Delany finished third. 

I didn’t then appreciate the historical significance of that race. It was the first time that five men in the same race broke the four-minute mile barrier. An estimated 25,000 people were there that evening to watch the great race.

Every time I read or see anything about Ronnie Delany, who is now 86, I think of that Saturday morning and that summer evening.

I know nothing about the man except what I see and read about him in the media. I am aware that he is honorary ambassador for Friends of the Elderly and every year, coming up to Christmas, I hear his voice on radio advertising for the agency. 

Once I hear that voice I’m back thinking of that Saturday in December 1956. He certainly comes across as a real gentleman, a man of kindness and wisdom, who seems to have been privileged to have led a healthy and happy life. And it’s by no means over yet.

 

When I see how much attention is given to sport these days and the multi-billion business it is, I’m often left confused and can’t quite understand how young people, indeed, people of all ages can get so caught up in all the different sports and sports’ personalities. I’m always nervous when people talk about sporting personalities as being role models.

And yet, I would never want anyone ever to take away from me the memory of the exuberant joy I experienced that morning when Delany won gold in Melbourne.

I’ve never met Ronnie Delany and probably never will. And still I feel some sort of affinity towards him and he also always reminds me of that December morning when I was cuddled up beside my mother in bed.

President Michael D Higgins, marking the unveiling of the statue in Arklow, sent a message describing Delany as a ‘true sporting legend and a wonderful ambassador for Ireland.’ That he is.