P.J. Bermingham was the foremost discus thrower in Ireland and Great Britain in the 1920s, the AAA discus champion of 1924 with a throw of 41.18m - a new British record that also smashed his own Irish record - who competed in the men's discus at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.
From Moyasta, County Clare, Bermingham joined the Dublin Metropolitan Police and discovered the discus in 1919, winning his first national title that year with a throw of 36.72m having borrowed a discus and practised in a Parnell Place field for just three evenings beforehand. By the Paris Games he had won multiple NACAI titles and set an Irish record of 42.14m. In Paris, he carried the Irlande placard at the head of the Irish party in the Opening Ceremony.
In the discus competition he fouled his first throw, threw conservatively with his second to try to qualify for the final, and fouled his third - a throw that reportedly passed the Olympic record flag - finishing 11th overall.
As Dr Tom Hunt records, Bermingham believed for the rest of his life that his disallowed third throw was the winning distance: 'I actually won the world's contest for the discus in Paris in 1924 as my third throw that day was the winning throw but was disallowed for some reason which I never found out.'
Athletics
