Jim McNamara competed in the men’s marathon at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, finishing 39th in 2:24:57 – the first of the three Irish marathon runners to cross the line. Selected on the basis of his second-place finish (2:14:54) behind Danny McDaid in the high-quality national championship in Limerick on 11 April 1976, McNamara was one of three Irish marathon runners at Montreal alongside McDaid and Neil Cusack.

From Bunratty Road, Coolock, in Dublin, McNamara had the distinction of being a neighbour of his Irish team colleague Christy McLoughlin, the Irish boxing representative, who also lived on Bunratty Road – an unusual instance of two Olympic team members from the same street.