Ian Wiley was educated in primary school at St. Mary’s Boys National School, Lucan and Chapelizod National School and secondary school at Coláiste Phádraig, a Christian Brothers school in Lucan, and studied marketing for two years at the Accountancy and Business College, Dublin but gave it up to concentrate on training for the Olympics. In July 1984 he won the K1 slalom at the European Youth Championships and also won the K1 slalom at the 1996 European Senior Championships. He was second at the 1990 European Senior Championships in 1990 and also finished second at both the 1991 and 1997 Canoe Slalom World Cup. Ian Wiley later lived in Rathfarnham, Dublin and was a client sales executive at Colt Technology Services Limited, a telecommunications company.