A ceremony on the fifth tee at Ballybunion on Satruday, 9th May, brought to mind scenes from the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire.
It was amidst the dunes of Ballybunion’s revered Old Course and specifically the fifth fairway that Ireland’s Bob Tisdall and Dr Pat O’Callaghan trained in preparation for the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.
O’Callaghan, from Kanturk, Co. Cork, had four years earlier become the first athlete from an independent Ireland to win an Olympic medal when he stood on the podium and collected gold in the hammer, while Tisdall, raised in Nenagh, Co.Tipperary, was a 400-metre hurdler.
Both won gold in LA in 1932, within 10 minutes of each other, Tisdall first and then O’Callaghan, and last Saturday morning there was a large gathering around the fifth tee at Ballybunion Golf Club for the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the course’s historic links with the Olympic Games.
Congratulations to the club and in particular the forethought of honorary life member Padraig O’Huiginn whose brainchild it was to bring this project to fruition.
The Olympic Council were represented by Executive Board Member Billy Kennedy.
Pictured Left to right,-Dominic Lynch, President B.G.C., Anne Marie Carroll, Lady Captain B.G.C., Brendan O’ Loinisgh, Captain B.G.C., Billy Kennedy, Olympic Council of Ireland, Padraig O Huiginn, former Secretary General of the Department of Taoiseach & Rose Molyneaux, Lady President, B.G.C.
Photo: Francis J. Bennett, Photojournalist.