Willie Ryan competed in the men’s coxed four at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and went on to compete at the Moscow 1980 Olympics in the coxless pair, finishing 7th at both Games. His Montreal journey was one of the most remarkable in Irish rowing history – he had ‘hardly known there was a sport of rowing before he joined An Garda Síochána’, yet within three years of discovering the sport through the Garda Síochána Boat Club (GSBC) he was an Olympian. The GSBC’s transformative strength and conditioning programme, designed by Hugh O’Callaghan, was central to this rapid development.

In Montreal the coxed four of Ryan, Michael Ryan, Jim Muldoon, Christy O’Brien and cox Liam Redmond finished 7th overall after winning the little final, following the heartbreak of three crabs in the semi-final that cost them a final place. At Moscow four years later he again finished 7th in the coxless pair alongside Pat Gannon – winning the little final on that occasion too.