- See Less -Ray Flynn was born in Ireland and grew up in the small town of Longford, where Gallic football was king. Flynn was not the footballer type so he decided to run. Ray?s father and a few friends started a running club in Longford and Ray excelled at the mile. When Ray was 17 he won the Great Britain Championships against other Irish, Scottish and English high schoolers. Ray?s times earned him a scholarship at East Tennessee State, where he started off slow but finished as one of the best track athletes in the country. Ray broke four for the first time his junior year and finished second to Steve Scott at the 1978 NCAA finals. Ray broke four 88 more times, 89 total, in his great career and made two Olympic teams one in the 1500 meters and one in the 5,000 meters. Ray?s fastest mile and current Irish mile record came on July 7, 1982 in Oslo at the Bislett Games Dream Mile in Oslo, Norway, where he ran 3:49.77. In 1989 when Flynn realized he running career was coming to an end he decided to start a sports management firm called FSM (Flynn Sports Management). Flynn has been as successful if not more at his current endeavor then his racing one. Flynn has represented some of the sports best athlete?s from Donovan Bailey, the 1996 double gold medalist in the 100m and 4x100m and former world record holder, to bronze medalist marathoner, Deana Drossin-Kastor. Ray continues to tour Europe every summer like he did as an athlete, now he is there as a representative and as a fan.
