Brendan O’Reilly was selected for the Irish team for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games in the high jump but was unable to travel when his club Donore Harriers was unable to raise the required funds – one of the most poignant stories in Irish Olympic history.

O’Reilly, who was based at the University of Michigan at the time, had set a new Irish high jump record of 2.02 metres (6 feet 7.5 inches) at Ann Arbor on 25 February 1956 – comfortably clearing the OCI’s required standard of 1.98 metres – and won the AAA high jump title in 1954.

Developed by the inspired coach Jack Sweeney at St James’ CBS – the same school that produced Eamonn Kinsella and, later, Ronnie Delany – O’Reilly represented a genuine standard of international excellence. He was notified of his selection just one week before the team departed. He had arranged to join the party at Chicago and travel via San Francisco with Ronnie Delany and Eamonn Kinsella, when he received a telegram informing him the funding had fallen through.

He later recalled: ‘My greatest disappointment was being selected for the Irish team and not being able to go.’

O’Reilly later went on to have a career in broadcasting with RTE.