Chapters of Magnificence
Silver medallist in Moscow and five-time Olympian David Wilkins
Chapters of Magnificence, an 11-part series featuring interviews with Irish Olympic medallists, featured five-time Olympian David Wilkins over the weekend, a silver medallist in sailing's Flying Dutchman class at the Moscow Games of 1980.
The 1980 Olympic Games were overshadowed by a mass boycott against Moscow's hosting. 66 countries didn't send teams, others sent significantly reduced teams. Ireland competed under the Olympic flag rather than under the tricolour as a partial show of solidarity.
The president of the International Olympic Committee at the time was Lord Killanin, a previous president of the Olympic Council of Ireland. David was the first person to represent Ireland at five Olympic Games.
2024 marks the centenary of Ireland's participation at the Olympics as an independent nation. With a title taken from a line George Hamilton used when rowers Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan won gold in Tokyo, Chapters of Magnificence will feature specially recorded interviews with Olympic medallists Michael Carruth, David Wilkins, John Treacy, Paddy Barnes, Cian O’Connor, Annalise Murphy, Kenneth Egan, Sonia O’Sullivan, Fintan McCarthy, and Wayne McCullough illustrated with archive from RTE's long standing coverage of the Games alongside a programme based around archive paying tribute to the influence of Ronnie Delany on the Irish Olympic movement.
The series continues every Sunday at 7.30pm on RTÉ Radio 1 and will also be made available as a podcast and on the RTÉ Radio Player.