Meet Gerry O'Reilly — the Irish Olympian who now invests up to $3bn dollars a day

In 1988, he was running for Ireland in the 1,500 metres at the Seoul Olympics. Today, the man from Dunboyne in Co Meath manages the world’s largest total stock market fund for US-based Vanguard

Gerry O’Reilly: the former Olympian oversees a team of 12 traders who collectively manage $5 trillion worth of financial assets for investment fund Vanguard. Picture: Christopher Descano

Gerry O’Reilly is sitting at the end of a long table in the head offices of Vanguard, the global investment giant. It has just turned 9am on what looks like a bright autumn morning on the east coast of the United States.

Over the next hour, the 57-year-old will tell me the story of his career at the very top of corporate America, his early years growing up in Co Meath, and how he fulfilled ...