Ronnie Delany is a truly iconic figure in this country for many reasons – a lot of it is due to his sporting achievements, but a large measure is also due to his tremendous contribution to Irish society at many important levels.
In his sporting life, he lifted this country, in times of depression and emigration, with his sporting exploits at home and abroad. As a youngster, many here will recall those marvelous nights at College Park in Trinity College, where Ronnie, his brother Joe, Art McGann, Brendan O’Reilly and Ulick O’Connor thrilled the Dublin crowds.
Those were, indeed, heady days for Irish athletics – a grass track, and only a sandpit for the high jumpers and pole vaulters – tough men competing in tough times.
Many in this hall tonight will remember a packed Lansdowne Road for those famous Billy Morton promotions in which Ronnie had epic battles with Brian Hewson and others. What entertainment – nights of passion, close finishes and ‘devil take the hindmost’ cycling thrown in for good measure.
As our Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said at the recent launch of Ronnie’s book, “Ronnie made an important contribution by lending his support to Billy Morton’s campaign to build a cinder track in Santry Stadium”. I would go even further and say that Ronnie Delany’s success was the prime reason that Ireland and Irish athletics got its national athletics stadium.
50 years ago, all over Ireland, the pre-dawn silence of December the First was shattered by whoops and shouts of people as the broadcast of Ronnie’s epic Gold Medal victory came across the airwaves from Melbourne. We couldn’t believe the news – young Ronnie Delany had torn the field apart and streaked to victory in the Blue Riband event of Olympic Athletics – the 1,500 metres! What joy, what celebrations, what an achievement at 21 years of age.
At 21, many young heads would be turned by a phenomenal victory such as this, but not Ronnie’s. He comes from a well-grounded family background and it shows! He was always family orientated – living in St. John’s Road, Sandymount with his parents and siblings, training on Sandymount Strand, playing tennis in Claremont, going to the hops in Pembroke Cricket Club.
He was the normal young Dubliner who never got a swelled head, a guy who measured up to the high values of his parents, a man who, along with his wife Joan, has brought these values into their own fine family, most of whom are here tonight. These strong values have also been evident in his very successful business life and in his many voluntary and civic activities, at home and abroad.
We were thrilled when he accepted the role as the First President of the Irish Olympians Association, the organization that represents our Olympic athletes from the Summer and Winter Games. He will help prepare Olympians to be ambassadors for sport and become true examples for the young.
This is a role that fits Ronnie like a glove because there’s no doubt that Ronnie is a ‘natural’. He’s a natural leader, a natural ambassador, a man who believes in service, a man who believes in putting something back into society. For us in the Olympic Movement, he has been, and continues to be, our best ambassador.
He has time for everyone, young and old, and his optimistic and uplifting approach to all problems is remarkable. Above all, there’s Ronnie’s brilliant smile – it has never changed – you can see it on those 50 year old photo and film clips – as he gets up off his knees after his quick prayer – and you can see it here tonight.
To conclude, let me, on behalf of the Olympic Movement in Ireland, congratulate Ronnie and his family on the 50th Anniversary of his stunning Olympic victory – a victory that has brought so much happiness and joy to Irish people all over the world.
It all happened in Melbourne, a city with many Irish connections, in an Olympic Stadium, the famous Melbourne Cricket Club, in which are displayed, to this very day, the running shoes that Ronnie wore on December 1st 1956.
So on behalf of the Olympic Council and its affiliated National Sports Federations, I would like to invite Ronnie and Joan to take a trip back to Australia at our expense – to see how those shoes are doing – a special Gold Medal trip to re- live that magical 1,500 metres!
