Mary Tracey-Purcell was the dominant figure in Irish women’s distance running throughout the 1970s, the first Irish woman to compete in the Olympic 1,500 metres – an event introduced for the first time at Munich 1972 – and the holder of thirteen Irish national titles across track, cross country and road.

She competed at two Olympic Games: the 1972 Munich Games, where she ran both the 800 metres and 1,500 metres, and the 1976 Montreal Games, where she set a personal best and Irish record of 4:08.63 in the 1,500 metres heats.

In a twelve-year career she broke twelve Irish records, represented Ireland in two European Athletics Championships and five World Cross Country Championships, and went unbeaten in Ireland from 1972 to 1976. She won three British titles and in 1980 won a bronze medal in the 1,500 metres at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Sindelfingen.

Her Olympic debut at Munich came within a year of her first track season, having joined Guinness Athletic Club and run 2:04.2 for 800 metres at Santry, qualifying for the Games in what was only her first proper season of competition. She set that time while working full-time as a pharmacist – a combination she maintained throughout much of her athletics career.

After the Games, she set her 800m personal best of 2:02.82 in Rome in 1974, moved up to longer distances in the late 1970s, and in 1983 won the Dublin City Marathon. She was inducted into the Athletics Ireland Hall of Fame in 2018.