USSR and Cuban dominance

USSR and Cuban teams began to make their presence felt on the Olympic boxing medal tables from the mid-1950s and early 1970s respectively. Both countries had replaced the concept of ‘professional’ sport with a comprehensive egalitarian ‘sports for all’ philosophy. The Cubans developed a scientific planning system and technical coaching methodology in their boxing programmes. … Read more

Ireland ‘slam-dunked’: basketball at the 1948 games

The proximity to London in 1948 encouraged several Irish federations, including basketball, to sample the Olympic menu for the first time. In 1945 the Amateur Basketball Association of Ireland (ABAI) was founded with the intention of introducing the game to the civilian population. Prior to this it was confined to the army. The version of … Read more

‘A first-class split’:political conflict in Irish athletics, 1924–40

For a brief period, in 1924–5, the National Athletics and Cycling Association of Ireland (NACA) enjoyed undisputed jurisdiction over the island in athletics, cross-country and cycling, receiving formal recognition from the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF). The association was the product of an uneasy post-independence embrace between the Athletics Council of the separatist GAA and … Read more

Ireland’s footballers at the Paris Olympics, 1924

The Paris Olympics of 1924 represented the official debut of Ireland on the Olympic stage. Although Irish representatives competed in some of the artistic events that preceded the games proper (see Jack B. Yeats’s Liffey Swim, pp 26–7), the first sporting competitors for the new nation were sixteen footballers, culled from four clubs playing in … Read more