Ronald Michael Delany (born 6 March 1935) is an Irish former athlete who specialised in middle-distance running.

Delany's first achievement of note was reaching the final of the 800 metres at the 1954 European Athletics Championships in Bern.

In 1956, he became the seventh runner to join the club of four-minute milers, but nonetheless, he struggled to make the Irish team for the 1956 Summer Olympics, held in Melbourne.

[7] Delany thereby became the first Irishman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics since Bob Tisdall and Pat O'Callaghan in 1932.

[8] After retiring from competition, Delany first worked in the United States for the Irish airline Aer Lingus.

After that, for almost 20 years, he was Assistant Chief Executive of B&I Line, responsible for marketing and operations of the Irish ferry company based in Dublin.

[10] Similarly, two streets in Strabane in Northern Ireland were named Delaney Crescent and Olympic Drive in the 1950s in his honour – however, Delany was not aware of these until it was pointed out that his surname had been spelt wrongly.