The Irish athletics team manager, Mr Patsy McGonagle, said in the course of the Olympics controversy that he would always be proud of what he had achieved in his "own place", the Finn Valley Athletic Club, Co Donegal.
At the club base in Stranorlar there is equal admiration for him. "He has been the driving force behind all the club has achieved. He has a great passion for athletics and for Finn Valley and is very highly respected," said Mr James Gibbons, a committee member.
It has been suggested that the success story of Finn Valley could be a blueprint for sports in Ireland. It has made efforts to get children in nearly every primary school in Donegal involved in athletics. It organises sports days in different regions of the county and then up to 1,000 children go on to compete in finals at the club grounds.
"For many kids that is their first taste of athletics and we try to encourage them to keep training then. It's not that we're poaching from other clubs, but you have to try to find talent some way," Mr Gibbons said.
Finn Valley has a team of coaches who work with different age groups, but even with special attention it is still difficult to keep youngsters involved. "For every 100 that you put through, you are likely to get only one or two to stay on. Running is a tough discipline, and as a people we seem to have got softer especially in the past few years," he said.
The club's reputation has had a snowball effect. Many of the best athletes in the county leave other clubs to join. Its facilities are also among the best owned by any club in the State.
A disused factory has been transformed into a modern sports facility, and there is a 1,000-metre grass circuit and a 400 metre running track. A hostel, which is part-owned by the community, has been built this year.
The club has some 500 members. The women's cross-country team have been Irish champions for the past eight years.