Tommy Hughes competed in the men’s marathon at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, finishing 72nd in 2:32:55 in one of the most difficult marathon courses in Olympic history – the final kilometres of which included an ascent of the 150-metre Montjuic hill in temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius.

From Maghera, Co. Derry, Hughes came to serious running well into his twenties, having initially taken up the sport to supplement his Gaelic football training – only to discover that his running skills were considerably more impressive.

From 1984 he reeled off a series of impressive marathon victories including Belfast in 1988 and Dublin in 1991, and in January 1992 dipped one second inside the Olympic qualifying time at one of his favourite races in Marrakech, Morocco. A stress fracture in his foot seriously interrupted his preparation in the months before Barcelona, causing him to miss several weeks of training, and he competed some distance short of full fitness – but stayed the course to finish 72nd.