Declan Hegarty competed in the men’s hammer throw at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, producing what was the best throw ever achieved by an Irish hammer thrower in Olympic competition – a valid throw of 70.56 metres in the qualifying round.

A scholarship student at Boston University who funded his studies and athletic career with stints as a gardener, bartender and dishwasher, Hegarty was the outstanding talent in Phil Conway’s famous hammer circle at Drimnagh Castle CBS in Dublin. He won American and Irish under-age titles, won an American High School title as a 16-year-old, and travelled to Germany and Russia for coaching as a schoolboy.

In 1982 he broke the Irish record twice in a single weekend and in 1983 threw 73.52m at the Penn Relays, which stood as the Irish record at the time of the Games. In the Olympic qualifying round, Hegarty twice failed to get the hammer out of the cage. In a practice throw before the competition he crashed the steel ball into the safety netting and ripped it open; he then repeated the move in his first official throw, delaying the competition by ten minutes.

His one valid throw of 70.56m was almost three metres below his personal best – but it remains the best throw achieved by an Irish hammer thrower in Olympic competition, surpassing those of Matt McGrath, Dr Pat O’Callaghan and John Lawlor. ‘The cynics had such fun at Hegarty’s expense that they failed to recognise that his single throw was and still is the best achieved by an Irish hammer thrower at the Olympic Games.’