Richard ‘Dick’ Hooper competed in the men’s marathon at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, finishing 38th in 2:23:53.

Along with his brother Pat, Hooper made history as part of the first pair of brothers to represent Ireland in the Olympic marathon. A self-coached Dubliner who had raced marathons for six years and accumulated five national titles, Hooper had finished 38th at the Moscow Games under very difficult conditions. He had won the inaugural Dublin Marathon in October 1979 in 2:16:14, the product of a 160-mile-a-week training regime.

He went on to compete at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics where he finished 51st in 2:24:21.