Death of Ronnie Delany, Olympian with strong Meath connections

1956 1,500 metres Gold medallist in Melbourne

The death has occurred, just days after his 91st birthday, of Ronnie Delany, Ireland’s Olympic gold medallist of 1956, who had strong Meath roots.

The Arklow, Co Wicklow native, who grew up in Sandymount, Dublin, won the Gold Medal in the 1,500 metre event in Melbourne’s Cricket Grounds, on 1st December 1956.

The Delany family is an old Meath family which had many athletes in its midst. Ronnie's father, Patrick, was from Batterstown, and it was Ronnie's older brother Joe who first displayed the athletic talents in their branch of the family. Patrick Delany moved from Batterstown, where family members still live at Growtown, to Wicklow, and later to Dublin, where young Ronnie grew up.

Like all young Dubs, he was sent down to his grandmother and aunts and uncles in Meath for the summers, which he spent in Growtown and on his aunt Winnie's farm at Alexanderaide, outside Navan. Prior to Batterstown, the family originated in the Kilmessan area.

His grandfather had died at an early age, and grandmother Mrs Delany, a member of the Kellaghan family, of whom he had fond memories, lived at Growtown, where Ronnie's uncle Tommy ran the farm. His aunt, Molly, was also there.

While Growtown was the farm where he learned all these manly activities, he recalled his aunt Molly's Alexanderaid farm near Casey's Cross as a very fulfilling and educational experience.

Tennis, rugby and cricket were the schoolboy sports that Ronnie participated with success in Dublin. It was his older brother, Joe, who later emigrated to Canada, who was the athlete. Joe was the outstanding schoolboy athlete of his time in Ireland, winning numerous championships.

Ronnie was 17 when he ran his first championship race in the Leinster Colleges in May 1952. It was to be the start of a remarkable period in which he would come to dominate international athletics. One of his teachers in the Catholic University School, Joe Sweeney, recognised that he had the genes to be an athlete.

For a lad who had never taken it seriously, he duly won the Leinster and Irish School Championships half-mile title in 1952, and again the following year, in unremarkable times. Then, in 1953, he became the first Irish schoolboy ever to break two minutes for the half-mile in a men's half-mile race in College Park. He was displaying that he had the speed as well as the stamina, and decided to take it more seriously. He had developed the Delany 'kick', a decisive move where he would sprint past the leaders at a chosen point from the finish during the last lap.

In a Meath Chronicle interview some 20 years ago, he recalled: “The story of that part of my life is that I had to take hard decisions. I became a zealout in relation to training. Luckily I achieved success at the end of it. Because a lot of decisions wouldn't have stood up to analysis. I had a cadetship in the Army, which I left, a big move in the 1950s. I realised you couldn't be an athlete and an officer at the same time. Then, my next decision was to go to the US. When I left for America I didn't know if I'd be coming back.' He had been awarded a scholarship to Villanova University, where he was to come under the wing of coach Jumbo Elliot, and departed these shores in September 1954.”

When Roger Bannister became the first man to break the four minute mile in May 1954, Ronnie Delany had never run a mile and never even been out of Ireland. Two years later, he was to become only the seventh runner in the world, and the youngest ever, to break the still-magical four minute barrier, when he ran a time of three minutes 59 seconds in California.

His stint in Villanova saw him compete against the top athletes in the world. Tom Courtney was one of his tougher opponents. His first major defeat was to Norwegian Audun Boysen. He competed against John Landy. And even though there was uncertainty back home in Ireland as to whether he'd travel to Melbourne, he himself knew he would be.

“I had faith that I was going to the Olympics. I never doubted it. I hadn't run well that June in Ireland and it was a media issue, not politically driven, as to whether I'd go or not,” he said. "There was no athletics rep on the Olympic Council. But instinctively, I knew I was going. Instinct plays a huge part in my life, and I would tell a person not to be afraid and to follow their instinct.' In October, he learned through media reports that he would be going.

Australian local boy and favourite John Landy had a 'Delany kick' of his own in the final of the 1,500 metres and suddenly sprinted going down the backstretch for the last time. Ronnie reacted immediately and slipped into his wake, following him by the other struggling competitors. It was now time for Delany's own kick, and with 150 yards to go he opened up with everything. He approached the tape 10 feet clear of the field.

Ronnie recalled: "I could hardly believe I had won. My eyes swelled with tears, and I dropped to my knees in a prayer of thanksgiving. John Landy, who finished third, came over to me, helped me up to my feet and warmly congratulated me. The Australian crowd was showing its sportsmanship by generously applauding me. It was the happiest day of my life. I had set out to win the 1,500 metre crown and with the help of Jumbo Elliot, I had achieved my goal. The rest of my athletic career would always be a sort of anticlimax."

While Ronnie Delany is always remembered for his gold medal, he has much more to his credit, including an unprecedented and unsurpassed 40 straight indoor victories in America from 1956 to 1959 including 33 mile races. He broke the indoor world record for the mile three times, before injury in 1960.

His degree from Villanova was in economics, and Ronnie returned to Dublin where he became assistant chief executive of B&I Line with responsibility for the marketing and operations of the Irish ferry company for almost 20 years. In 1988 he set up his own marketing and sports consultancy company.

Living in Carrickmines, Dublin, Ronnie was married with a family of four, and was honoured in 2006 with the Freedom of Dublin City and a postage stamp as a tribute. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of his gold medal win, he published his autobiography, ‘Staying The Distance’, with O'Brien Press.