Chronicles Insight - Irish Olympians

Pictured: Peter O'Connor and his family pictured in Tramore, 1927.  Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

Peter O’Connor - The King of the Spring

Peter O’Connor (1872-1957) was one of Ireland’s earliest competitors at the Olympics. In 1906 he competed in the long jump and hop, skip, and jump events at the Intercalated Games. He won gold in the hop, skip, and jumps, and silver in the long jump. Already a world record holder, O’Connor brought Irish athletes to the attention of the world. However, since Ireland did not have its own Olympic committee at the time, and was still under British rule, it was decided that O’Connor, along with his fellow Irish competitors, would be entering the games under the British flag.

When he won his silver medal for the long jump, O’Connor refused to sit quietly while the Union Jack was raised at the podium. In an act of nationalist protest, he climbed a flagpole in the middle of the field and waved a green flag, emblazoned with a golden harp, and lettering which read, ‘Erin Go Bragh’, Ireland Forever. The crowd of 55,000 including the British Royal Family were in disbelief.  O’Connor may have been officially competing for Britain, but he wanted to make it known that he was an Irishman through and through and represented the standard of athletes which could be found all over the island. 

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Dr Pat O’Callaghan - First Athlete to win under Irish Flag

Patrick O Callaghan (1906-1911) was born in the townland of Knockaneroe, near Kanturk, County Cork. He grew up in sporting family with his uncle Tim Vaughan a nation sprint champion and his eldest brother Seán a champion hurler and younger brother  Con a gifted runner. Con competed in the 1928 Olympics in the decathlon. Pat was an all-round athlete but eventually settled on the hammer. He ‘acquired’ a cannonball from Macroom castle, asked a local blacksmith to attach a handle and off he headed competing around the country.

He was the first athlete to win a medal for Ireland under the tricolour flag at the Amsterdam games for the hammer throw..  As Dr O’Callaghan took to the podium to be presented with his gold medal, for the first time in history, the Irish national anthem rang out across an Olympic stadium as the tricolour flag was raised. This was not the only time that Dr O’Callaghan experienced Olympic glory. He retained his gold medal status at the 1932 games in Los Angeles, though the victory was hard won. The playing surface was not the usual grass that Dr O’Callaghan had trained on, but instead it was made of cinder. This not only rendered his spiked shoes useless but actually meant that they were a hindrance to his performance.

When a delay in the hurdles event meant that he had some spare time, Dr O’Callaghan used a hacksaw to remove the spikes from his shoes. His ingenuity paid off and he once again brought home the gold for Ireland. 

Pat reflected later as to what his victory meant,

“ I am glad of my victory, not for the victory for myself, but for the fact that the world has been shown that Ireland has a flag, that Ireland has a National Anthem, and, in fact we have a nationality.”

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Bob Tisdall - First man under 52 seconds

That same year, Ireland saw another success when Bob Tisdall secured a gold medal in the 400 metre hurdle event. Bob was born in Sri Lanka to Irish parents of landed gentry and raised in his mother’s homeplace of Nenagh, County Tipperary. A promising athlete from a young age, Bob won a number of titles whilst studying at Cambridge University. In 1930 and 1932, he won big at the Irish Athletics Championships as a hurdler. This was how he came to find himself crossing the Atlantic to represent his country at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Bob’s winning time of 51.8 was not just worthy of Olympic gold, but was also a new world record. Although unfortunately the rules at the time stated that since he had knocked a hurdle, his record would not count. Luckily this did not keep him from taking to the podium to receive his gold medal. This was less than an hour before his fellow countryman Dr O’Callaghan made his title-retaining win in the hammer throw. All in all a great day for Irish sport. Bob also competed in the decathlon event that year, placing 8th out of 15 entrants. 

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Other Irish Winners

The Irish went on to have a number of Olympic wins over the years. Twenty years after Tisdall and O’Callaghan’s wins in Los Angeles, John McNally competed at the 1952 games in Helsinki where he won a silver medal in boxing in the bantamweight class. Indeed boxing features strongly in the line up of Irish Olympic wins. A further four boxing medals were won at the 1956 games in Melbourne. That same year saw Ireland take home its first gold medal since 1932, when Ronnie Delaney ran to victory in the men’s 1500 metre race. Current CEO of Sport Ireland, John Tracey is a four time Olympian and won a silver medal in the marathon event at the 1984 in Los Angeles. In more recent times the O’Donovan brothers from Skibbereen took home a silver medal in rowing at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro. Not only did they win the medal, but they also won the hearts of the nation and the world when their interview videos went viral, showing the world the true, fun-loving nature of the Irish. 

Not forgetting the female competitors, Cork native Sonia O’Sullivan won silver in the women’s 5,000 metre race at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. For many years she was also a world record holder, having broken the record for 2,000 metres in 1994 which was not broken until 2017. Katie Taylor, another one of our more recent winners, brought home the gold medal in women’s lightweight boxing at the 2012 games in London. This win was Ireland’s only gold medal at the 2012 games and cemented Wicklow born Katie’s place as one of Ireland’s top athletes and one of the world’s top female fighters. 

Although we are undoubtedly a small country, our sporting background has meant that we have tasted Olympic glory on a number of occasions, and we will always be ready to proudly cheer on Team Ireland.

The following tables include medals won by athletes on OCI teams. All medals have been won at Summer Games.

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