John Treacy, the former athlete and Olympic medalist, who represented Ireland at four Olympic Games between 1980 and 1992, hails from the area.
Treacy overtook Spedding with 150m to go, during which the Irish television commentary of Jimmy Magee listed the previous Irish Olympic medal winners up to that time, before culminating: "And for the 13th time, an Olympic medal goes to John Treacy from Villierstown in Waterford, the little man with the big heart."