RTÉ Sport Journalist
Many years ago when rehearsing an introduction to our coverage of the European Cross Country Championships, I referred to Jerry Kiernan as a former Olympian.
Jerry quietly suggested to me that using the term former could imply one was no longer an Olympian. He was correct, once an Olympian, always an Olympian. I quickly made the required adjustment to the script.
Jerry had a great sense of humour even if the attempt at hilarity was at his expense. On one occasion when he shared punditry duty with Ailís McSweeney, who was then our national record holder in the women s 100m, he barely batted an eyelid when I introduced them as the fast and furious of Irish athletics.