Andy Ronan competed in the men’s marathon at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, leading the Irish contingent for most of the gruelling 42-kilometre race – the toughest marathon course in Olympic history, with the notorious climb of the 150-metre Montjuic hill in oven-like temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius – before suffering an injury around the 25-kilometre mark that forced him to retire from the race at the 32-kilometre point.

A graduate of Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, Ronan was from Wexford and was among the most promising Irish marathon runners of his generation. He was a member of the strong Irish athletic tradition at Providence College under coach Ray Treacy.