Today 24th August the Olympic games finished in China and will now move to London in 2012. The first games I remember was 1956 in Melbourne This was held in December, the Australian summer. This was the first year I began to take a serious interest in athletics. I was a part of the Rainey Endowed school junior athletics team which came second in the Northern Ireland Grammar School athletics championships held at Cherryvale in Belfast. It was the year Ronnie Delaney won a surprise gold medal for Ireland as he also set an Olympic record in the 1500 metres. The next Olympics was 1960 in Rome. This was the year I left the Rainey School and set off for England. Ireland did not win any medals in 1960.
