"There is one lap to go and it is becoming increasingly difficult to remain cool and objective about the outcome of this race... Coghlan and Dmitriyev, the race is between the two. Dmitriyev is holding the lead, Coghlan is waiting.
"Coghlan signals, he's going to go. He looks out, he is supremely confident. Eamonn Coghlan is going to do what he has been threatening to do all his life. He is going to win the world championship, as with total contempt he runs away from the entire field. Coghlan is the world champion. A superb, confident run by a great athlete.
"The trail of heartbreak for Eamonn Coghlan is over. Run out of the medals in Montreal and in Moscow, the Irishman has answered his critics today with a devastating run, which brings him a brilliant gold."
-Tony O'Donoghue (1936-2023), late RTÉ commentator
Eamonn Coghlan finished fourth in the 1976 Olympic 1500m final
14 August, 1983.
The final day of the inaugural World Athletics Championships in Helsinki.
For 5,000m finalist Eamonn Coghlan, a chance to atone for fourth-place finishes at successive Olympic Games.
The 30-year-old is the star of the high-profile US indoor racing circuit: 'The Chairman of the Boards' has broken the world mile record three times, won the renowned Wanamaker Mile in five of the previous seven years and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine three times.
But twice missing out on Olympic medals - in the 1500m at Montreal in 1976 when he hit the front too early, and the 5,000m in Moscow in 1980 when he overtrained and was ill in the lead-up – means some doubt his ability to deliver on the biggest stage.
"Very much so," Coghlan tells RTÉ Sport. "Growing up as a young kid in Drimnagh in Dublin, you have dreams when you get involved in the sport of athletics and you train that some day you'll be an Olympic champion or an Olympian. I had those dreams coming along. I was fortunate enough then to go to Villanova University [in Pennsylvania], fortunate enough to have great coaches around me and fortunate enough to win probably 8 out of 10 races in my whole career. But the two I lost were the Olympic Games.
"Having been disappointed finishing fourth in two Olympics, I made up my mind that I was really going to try and get things right for the World Championships. I didn't want silver, I didn't want bronze, I wanted gold. So the expectations were always there. And thus the doubts came in when the World Championships came along. 'Can he do it?' I knew that burden was on me throughout these years and I wanted to make sure that I could prove myself right and prove those people who doubted I could do it on the championship field wrong."
In the previous 18 months, Coghlan has lost three of the most important people in his life: His childhood athletics coach Gerry Farnan, who moulded the young Coghlan on the slopes of the Phoenix Park, predicting 'There's gold in those hills', his Villanova college coach Jumbo Elliott – who also guided Ronnie Delaney to an Olympic title in 1956 – and his father Bill, who had died while visiting Eamonn in New York ahead of a world record attempt at Madison Square Garden.
"After the Olympics in 1980, Gerry Farnan was gutted that I finished fourth and he said straight away 'let's train for the World Championship'. Jumbo Elliott passed away in 1981. Gerry passed away in 1982 and during that year I was injured. I thought I was going to be gone because I was out for a year but I swore I'd get back, rest up. When the indoor season started in 1983, my father came over to see me run in Madison Square Garden and go for the world record in the indoor mile – I wanted to try and break 3'50 - and he sadly passed away in his sleep.
"I did break the world indoor mile record [3:49.78] and when it came to the World Championships, it was really something special for me. I knew I was in good shape, I knew mentally I was really well prepared, and I just needed the mind and the body to really work in sync that day. That was for those guys, that was in memory of the great people who coached me when I was a young kid."
Before travelling to Finland, Coghlan visits Farnan's resting place in Dublin for the first time and is inspired by the epitaph on his gravestone: 'Don't quit when you are beaten. Fight back to an even more glorious victory, not only in competition but in life.' He plucks some grass from the grave and tucks it into his wallet for luck.
I tried to visualise every time I ran a race, even from when I was a kid
At both Olympics, Coghlan had only travelled in a day or two before his races. In Finland, he is the Irish team flagbearer and spends the week watching the most elite fields in years, either side of Soviet and US athletes boycotting each other's Games in 1980 and '84. He sees the American flag being raised for Carl Lewis and Mary Decker and visualises the tricolour in its place.
The Dubliner embraces what we now call sports psychology: he writes predicted split times for world record attempts in his shoes, tells himself 'you better win this race' in the mirror before every event and shocks Helsinki room-mate Louis Kenny (marathon) by insisting on getting out on the right side of the bed, literally. He spends the week reading 'The Power of Positive Thinking'.
"I used to always use a lot of psychological things. I tried to visualise every time I ran a race, even from when I was a kid.
"I used the same psychological tactics that were instilled in me by Jumbo. Jumbo used to say 'You goddamn Irishman, I want you to run like a horse. You do the running and let me do the thinking'. He didn't want us thinking too much in advance about our races, the days before. Some athletes just fell apart. They got sick, physically and mentally, with the pressure.
"So I used to try and use what he told me, not to think about it. You've done the training, you're looking good, you have the ability, the winning record, there's nothing to fear."
Delaney had advised Coghlan not to take qualification for granted at the Olympics but the latter felt he had spent too much energy before the finals of '76 and '80. In Helsinki, he is content to finish fourth in Wednesday's heat and second in Friday's semi-final, which is narrowly won by the Russian Dmitriy Dmitriyev. The Irishman is confident he could have reeled him in.
I knew I was relaxed and a beer wouldn't do me any harm
In fact, he is feeling so composed that on Saturday, the night before the final, he stuns team manager and Metropolitan Harriers clubmate Bobby Begley by drinking a couple of bottles of Heineken, who miss a trick by not signing him up as non-alcoholic beer Kaliber subsequently do.
"That was my way of keeping it normal. Not that I would have one every night or before races but it was one of those times when I knew I was relaxed and a beer wouldn't do me any harm."
Before the race, Coghlan doesn't join the other athletes on the warm-up track but stays in the tunnel connecting it with the main arena. He's blaring 'Hurts so Good' by John Cougar Mellencamp on his headphones. It's a cool, quiet refuge on a hot day, only interrupted by Finnish soldiers marching by him in formation, a surreal sight which proves a welcome distraction.
Out in the Olympiastadion, he is so convinced of victory that he picks out the tricolour he will retrieve from the crowd for his victory lap: halfway around the first turn after the finish line.
"Sean Callan was there with Harry Gorman. I wanted to make sure that I was going to get that flag, that was a special one because of the special Irish fans that were there who travelled around the world supporting Irish athletics all those years.
"I was really ready for the race. The night before, my agent at the time Brad Hunt said 'What are you going to do tomorrow?'. I said 'See that spot down there [before the final corner], that's where I'll make my final move'. He goes 'You're leaving it a bit late'. But I just decided to keep that routine going. On the day, stay nice and relaxed."
The opening ceremony in Helsinki
The early laps of the 12.5-circuit contest are at a relatively slow pace. Coghlan is content to let others exchange the lead: Dmitriyev and his Soviet team-mate Anatoliy Krokhmaliuk, Englishman Julian Goater, Ethiopian Wodajo Bulti and future Olympic silver medallist Markus Ryffel of Switzerland. Just as long as he keeps them in range for his trademark finishing kick.
"I just hung back, at a distance that would be favourable to me catching them up. Always keep those leaders under control in your own mind. I was controlling the race, they weren't. In reference to people saying 'He can't do it in big championships', after five, six, seven laps, that came to my mind. I could hear the commentators say 'Will Coghlan be able to do it? He's holding back, will he be able to get back up?'. But I was conserving my energy and with about four laps to go I was in a pretty good position. I knew I would be able to close in at any moment but I wasn't in a rush.
"You have Plan A and you have Plan B. Plan A worked all the way through. When it came to four laps to go [1600m], Plan A was still in force and I remember saying to myself 'You're a miler now'. I had broken 3'50 for the mile, nobody else in the field had run a faster mile than me. I knew they were probably afraid of me with four laps to go. So I used that to boost my own psychological well-being and remind myself that these guys were probably hurting as much as me."
There are a dozen runners still in contention heading into the final 1000 metres as Dmitriyev hits the front and goes for it. Coghlan and European champion Thomas Wessinghage recognise the danger and follow him, just behind Bulti. The Russian runs a 57 second penultimate lap and pulls 10 metres clear but Coghlan closes the gap quickly after the bell.
"I thought Thomas Wessinhage from West Germany would probably be the hardest one to beat but with about a lap and a half to go he wasn't making his move. So, coming off the home straight for the penultimate time I said it's time for me to catch up with Dmitriy Dmitriyev and I gradually hauled him in. I didn't want to lash by him at that stage. I wanted to make sure that I was going to make one move and one move only and that was always planned to be coming off the last turn.
"I looked back with 300 metres to go and I saw Wessinhage was back and Martti Vaino, who had won a medal in the 10,000 metres was a danger man too. But I knew that the pace I was going and the distance I was after gaining, I could forget about them now and focus on Dmitriyev up the back straight.
Then comes an iconic moment: still in second place, Coghlan clenches his fists in celebration, looks across to confirm the leader has nothing left in the tank and streaks clear.
"Coming off with 200 metres to go, I was sitting on his tail. I knew this was it, the boys were gone. It was only when I looked him in the eye and I got to that spot I had identified the previous night, 'I got it, I got it for you guys' was the thought that went through my mind.
"When I clenched my fists, all I was doing was saying 'Thank God, I got it'. When I went by the Russian and looked him in the eye, I wasn't trying to be arrogant or cocky, it was just such a relief.
"There might have been a little bit of showmanship in it alright. Again, with about 50 metres to go, I put my hands up in disbelief because I knew there was nobody with me."
Eamonn Coghlan celebrates as he crosses the finish line
Having run the final kilometre in 2'24, Coghlan finishes in 13.28.53, 15 metres ahead of Dmitriyev, who doesn't even get a medal after being caught on the line by East German Werner Schildhauer and then Finn Vaino, who was later expelled from the '84 Olympics for doping.
"I just said a prayer, of disbelief," Coghlan recalls of crossing the line. "That I'm after doing it. And it felt so easy. Why wasn't it easy in the Olympics? Obviously, it's always harder when you lose, but it was just that one moment of time when everything really came together: physically, mentally, tactically and it was just such a tremendous relief to believe 'Wow, I am a world champion'. It was just one of those special moments.
"On the podium, when they introduced me, I stood up and I was almost in a flood of tears. I really couldn't believe this is the feeling that you get when you're standing on the highest podium in world athletics.
"When Amhrán na bhFiann was being played, that's when the memories of the coaches, the friends, the family, the sacrifices, all just came rushing right back in two minutes of anthem.
"It was a wonderful satisfaction to achieve something that you were told when you were 12 years of age in the Phoenix Park that you could do."
In the days before texts and social media, a telegram of congratulations from training partner and Olympic bronze medallist Rod Dixon stands out. The New Zealander's pre-race advice to 'concentrate' had stuck in his mind.
Arriving home, he is stunned to receive a Garda escort to the parental home of his wife Yvonne and a civic reception at the Mansion House.
"Coming out of it and seeing all the people all over Dawson Street, it was unbelievable. What are they out to see me for? But I think it was because people felt so happy, that here is this guy on the world stage from Drimnagh.
"I think people were as disappointed for me when I finished fourth as I was. They were sharing the joy because although I had had many thrills of victory I had also suffered the agonies of defeat with the Olympics. This was a moment that everybody wanted to share and treasure together and I treasure it all those years on."
Eamonn Coghlan arriving at Dublin airport after winning gold
That wasn't the end of Coghlan's running exploits. Although he missed the 1984 Olympics through injury, he won another two Wanamaker Miles, in '85 and '87, and set a (still standing) world mile relay record for GOAL with Marcus O'Sullivan, Frank O'Mara and Ray Flynn. The world indoor record mile time he set in New Jersey in 1983 is still the fourth fastest ever and remained a European record until Scot Josh Kerr beat it last year.
However, his final race was one of the most satisfying – in 1994, having come out of retirement, he became the first man over 40 (41 in fact) to go under four minutes, for the 83rd time of his career, in 3'58.15. Bernard Lagat is the only masters runner to have repeated the feat.
Coghlan later served as a Senator, and was a sports administrator, coach and commentator. He still mentors athletes but nowadays is mostly content to work on his golf score. Though he still runs five miles three times a week with his old Metropolitan clubmates in the Phoenix Park, back where Gerry told him he would be a world champion. And people still want to talk about that historic day in Helsinki.
Eamonn Coghlan wins his seventh Wanamaker Mile at the 1987 Milrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York
"I'm very fortunate. All these 40 years later, almost on a daily basis, people will come over and say 'Congratulations Eamonn, you did Ireland proud. There was nothing happening in Ireland in those days, the economy was bad, the Northern Ireland troubles, you were giving us so much hope'. It's a great honour to have done that and be able to talk about it.
"When you go through losing an Olympic games and then you come back and you win the World Championship, when you look back and see breaking world records, winning World Cups, European Indoor Championships and numerous other things, I say 'Wow, I don't regret losing the Olympic Games'. I thank God that I got a wonderful life out of my sport throughout those years and just look back with pride that I did what I was told I could when I was a young kid."
