Jaye Renehan competed in the men’s coxless four at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games alongside Andy McDonough, Martin Feeley and Iain Kennedy, a crew that was eliminated at the repechage stage. His path to Olympic rowing was one of the most unlikely in the sport’s Irish history. After a year at UCD he joined the boat club simply to improve his non-existent fitness. By 1974 he had progressed to the college’s senior eight – in which capacity the UCD crew won the Ladies Plate at Henley Royal Regatta, the premier international university rowing competition, becoming the only UCD crew to win at Henley and the first Irish crew to do so in several decades.

In his first year as a senior he was included in the national squad, and in 1975 was part of the impressive Irish performances at the World Championships in Nottingham that prompted the IARU’s ambitious Olympic preparation programme.