Patrick ‘Pat’ Gannon competed in the men’s coxless pair at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games alongside Willie Ryan, finishing 7th overall after winning the little final. The pair qualified for the semi-final with relative ease but could do no better than 5th there, which confined them to the little final.

In this, they held off a late French challenge to win – providing one of the brighter moments for the Irish rowing team in Moscow. For Willie Ryan it was the fourth time in his career he had finished 7th in a World or Olympic championship – a remarkable and frustrating consistency.

The coxless pair result was one of the more satisfactory outcomes in a Moscow rowing campaign disrupted by the widespread illness that struck several crews.