Noel Graham served as cox of the men’s coxed four at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games alongside Iain Kennedy, David Gray, Pat McDonagh and Ted Ryan, finishing 11th of 12 boats.

As cox, Graham was responsible for steering and race-calling for the crew – a combination that was assembled late in the quadrennial and, in the assessment of Pat McDonagh, never fully gelled as a unit.

A rudimentary training camp in Galway did little to assist preparation. Despite the disappointment, the Moscow Games represented the most ambitious Irish rowing programme in Olympic history to that point, with four crews across five events.