Former RTÉ athletics commentator Tony O'Donoghue dies

The death has taken place of renowned RTÉ athletics commentator Tony O'Donoghue.

He called the action for over 40 years from the Munich Olympics in 1972 to the London Games in 2012 and was the voice for some of Ireland’s greatest sporting moments.

One of the most famous of those was Eamonn Coghlan’s World Championship 5,000m gold in 1983 when O’Donoghue proclaimed that "Eamonn Coghlan is going to do what he has been threatening to do all his life" as the Dubliner crossed the line in Helsinki.

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A talented athlete himself, O’Donoghue was one of the home representatives in the famed Golden Mile race in Santry in 1958 when for the first time in history five men - Herb Elliott, Murray Halberg, Ronnie Delany, Albie Thomas and Merv Lincoln - ran sub four minutes in the same race.

O’Donoghue was also a noted athletics statistician and his 2005 book Irish Championship Athletics 1873-1914 was launched by one of those who had run alongside him in Santry 65 years ago, Olympic champion Ronnie Delany.