Jim Hogan won the European Marathon Championship for Great Britain in Budapest on 4 September 1966 in 2:20:04 – one of the finest performances by any athlete of Irish birth at a major championship in the 1960s – and set a world 30km road record of 1:32:25 later that year.

His Olympic career began at Tokyo 1964, where he represented Ireland in the 10,000 metres and, in a remarkable act of improvisation, also competed in the marathon just seven days later – his first attempt at the distance.

Born Jim Cregan in Croom, Co. Limerick, he moved to England in 1960 and changed his name to Jim Hogan by deed poll, joining Walton AC in Walton-on-Thames. On 11 July 1964 at the AAA six-mile championship at White City he finished third in 27:35.0, the fourth fastest time in the world for the season.

In the Tokyo marathon, in only his first attempt at the distance, he ran alongside eventual winner Abebe Bikila and Australia’s Ron Clarke in the leading group, passing through 20km just five seconds behind Bikila before eventually being forced to retire from exhaustion and dehydration with just three miles remaining – a silver medal tantalisingly within reach at that late stage.

Following a dispute with Irish athletics officials in 1965 he declared for Britain, for whom he ran the 10,000 metres at the Mexico 1968 Olympics, finishing 26th.

He passed away in Limerick at the age of 81 on 10th of January 2015.