Jeremiah ‘Jerry’ Kiernan competed in the men’s marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, finishing 9th in 2:12:20 – a performance that as one of the finest in the history of Irish Olympic athletics, achieved despite never having had the opportunity to train as a full-time athlete.

From Brosna, a village in the Sliabh Luchra area of north-east Kerry, where his father was a member of An Garda Síochána, Kiernan experienced a moment of epiphany in 1964 when he watched the Tokyo Olympics in a neighbour’s house. He abandoned Gaelic football when he left Kerry in 1971 to train at St Patrick’s College Dublin and joined Clonliffe Harriers.

He became a sub-four minute miler (3:59.02 in 1976), and on a windy night in May 1977 at Crystal Palace became the first Irishman to break eight minutes for the 3,000 metres (7:56.12).

He won the Dublin City Marathon in 1982 in 2:13:45 – a time that stood unbeaten for 23 years – and the Cork City Marathon in 1983. He won the national cross country title in February 1984 and the marathon title in April (though subsequently disqualified due to the lettering on his Adidas singlet breaching IAAF advertising rules).

His Olympic preparation was funded by a school fundraising campaign organised by his principal Donald O’Meara at St Brigid’s School, Foxrock, who handed Kiernan the proceeds with the instruction to ‘do the best you can.’

Six idyllic weeks at his friend Mike Long’s beach house in San Diego – training twice daily, benefiting from massage for the first time – delivered energy levels he had never previously experienced. He ran the first 20 miles ‘only jogging’, joined the lead group at 19 miles alongside de Castella, Seko and Lopes, briefly held the lead, but began to cramp after 22 miles and was forced back to 5:10 pace. He made two short stops in the final kilometre. He was the only top-20 finisher who was not a full-time athlete.