Pat O'Callaghan is one of the greatest athletes in Irish history, the winner of two consecutive Olympic gold medals in the hammer throw at the 1928 Amsterdam and 1932 Los Angeles Games - the first Irish athlete to defend an Olympic title - and the man who delivered Ireland's first Olympic gold medal.
From Knockaneroe, Derrygallon near Kanturk, County Cork, the son of a farming family and the product of Derrygallon National School and the Patrician Academy in Mallow, O'Callaghan entered the RCSI at sixteen and graduated in 1926 - at twenty years of age, one of the youngest graduates in the history of Irish medicine.
He had never seen a hammer until arriving in Dublin, where he borrowed the implement of Garda Sergeant Paddy Ryan and taught himself the event. He joined Croke Athletic Club and sought the guidance of Garda Superintendent Denis Carey, a sixth-place finisher at the 1912 Olympics, whose coaching philosophy was grounded in the principle that power was lost whenever contact with the ground was broken.
O'Callaghan spent the summer of 1926 throwing cannonballs from Macroom Castle - wired by the village blacksmith - in a makeshift circle near Kanturk, perfecting his technique.
He won his first NACAI title in 1927 (43.36m) and by 1928 was throwing consistently over 50 metres.
In Amsterdam, he entered the final series in third place and produced a winning throw of 51.39m from his second-to-last attempt, using the hammer of Swedish competitor Ossian Skiold - the world rankings leader - after Skiold initially refused O'Callaghan's request but the referee intervened.
At Los Angeles in 1932, with his spikes unsuitable for the cinder circle and Dr O'Callaghan filing them down with equipment borrowed from ground staff, he produced a dramatic final throw of 53.92m to retain his title.
He went on to establish world-leading marks in 1931 (56.04m at the Clonmel Garda Sports) and win six national titles at the 1931 NACAI championships.
He was also a versatile all-round athlete who competed in the decathlon, the shot put, discus and high jump at national level.
Athletics
