Nick Maxwell Two of the competitors featured in this book had strong Irish connections. The pre-race favourite, Tom Longboat, was a Canadian First Nations athlete who was trained by Pat Flanagan of Kilmallock and spent considerable time training in Ireland before the London games. Johnny Hayes, born and raised in squalid New York City tenement apartments, was … Read more
The Olympics are upon us, and Bookworm was recently made aware of a fascinating testimony by Ireland’s first successful Olympian: Heiner Gillmeister (ed.), From Bonn to Athens, single and return: the diary of John Pius Boland, Olympic champion, Athens 1896 (Academia Verlag, 2008, 322pp, no price given, ISBN 9783896654557). Boland may or may not have … Read more
Located on the top floor, ‘Patriot Games’ looks at Irish involvement in the Olympics in the last 100 years—another ambitious project from Louth County Museum. It consists of a series of information panels, video screens and artefacts reflecting not just the development of the games themselves but also the evolution of athletics in Ireland and … Read more
Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s dream of reinventing the ancient Olympian tradition was realised in 1896, when the first modern Olympics were held in Athens. The first medal of the games was won by the Irishman John Pius Boland for tennis, while the first medal won in track and field, and the subject of Bob Quinn’s … Read more
History Ireland marks the passing of James ‘Shay’ Courtney: soldier (he served with the Irish Army on the United Nations peace-keeping force in Cyprus); husband and father of all the Courtney clan; political and community activist; plumber; trade unionist; mature student at Trinity College, Dublin; ebullient conversationalist; folk-singer; historian. A proud Irish republican, Shay had … Read more