Jerome Hartigan competed in the men’s modern pentathlon at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, finishing in the top 40 of a 43-man field overall – the best-placed of the three Irish competitors.

He was the best Irish performer in the shooting phase, scoring a notable 191 shots from 200 (934 points), and led the Irish trio home in the cross-country run, finishing 13th in that discipline.

From Banktown, Baltray, Co. Louth, where his father Tim farmed before becoming a lecturer in electronics engineering at Kevin Street College of Technology in Dublin, Jerome was educated at the exclusive Glenstal Abbey School in Co. Limerick where he became a respectable 400m runner.

He and his brother Mark hunted regularly with the Louth Hunt, became involved in the Louth Pony Club and represented Ireland in the World Junior Fencing Championships as graduates of Salle Duffy.

Jerome and Mark were based in Reading from January 1980, training full-time at Arborfield – the hub of Britain’s modern pentathlon programme – under coach Mike Westgate, a deputy headmaster whose school in Dorking provided swimming, fencing, and cross-country facilities. Among those who helped with their swimming was Duncan Goodhew, the British gold medallist at the Moscow Games. The Irish team finished 12th and last in the team competition, well short of their target.