“The other guys all came up to salute me, I saw my Irish teammates, and it was a beautiful moment.”
So said Ronnie Delaney after winning 1500m gold at the Melbourne 1956 Olympics.
Click here to read more.
“It was probably the greatest field ever assembled,” he added. “And it’s still a lovely race to watch. It was so exciting. In fact, the guy who was meant to be ringing the bell for the last lap was so excited watching it, he forgot to do it. The field was packed, and the race began on that last lap.”
Ireland’s boxers also excelled at Melbourne 1956 with Fred Tiedt winning silver amd John Caldwell, Freddie Gilroy and Anthony Byrne taking home bronze.
That haul helped Ireland finish in 7th in the boxing medals table.
Ireland finished in 21st position in the final medal rankings in Melbourne, with one gold medal and five medals overall. It was the first time Ireland would win medals at two different sports, and the five was a record total for an Irish team at the Olympic Games. This record stood until the 2012 London Olympics, where Ireland won six medals.
Four of those London 2012 medals were secured the boxing event by Katie Taylor (gold), John Joe Nevin (silver), Michael Conlan (bronze) and Paddy Barnes (bronze).