Bob Tisdall won the Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games in a world record time of 51.7 seconds - only the sixth occasion he had contested the event.
His time was not ratified as a world record under the rules of the day because he made contact with the final hurdle, but the performance has been described as the greatest athletic feat ever achieved by an Irishman.
He also competed in the decathlon at the same Games, finishing 8th and setting an Olympic decathlon record for the 400 metres (49.0 seconds).
His gold medal came on a famous day for Irish sport in Los Angeles: Pat O'Callaghan won the hammer throw within hours to give Ireland two Olympic gold medals on the same day. Tisdall's victory came after intensive preparation at a training camp in Ballybunion, County Kerry, and a 51.7-second final in which he crossed the line five yards clear of his friend Lord Burghley - the reigning Olympic champion who had encouraged Tisdall to attempt the event - as well as Glenn Hardin and Morgan Taylor.
His Irish record of 51.7 seconds stood for fifty-one years and 312 days.
He passed away on 27 July 2004, aged ninety-seven; at the time of his death he was the oldest living Olympic medallist. At ninety-three he had carried the Olympic Torch at the Sydney 2000 relay.
Athletics
